Grocery chain Foodland has upstaged its biggest rivals Aldi, Woolworths and Coles to become the best-rated supermarket in Australia.
The independent supermarket, based primarily in South Australia, has taken out the top spot in CHOICE‘s 2021 supermarket satisfaction survey after 3,200 consumers voted for their favourite grocery chain.
Shoppers were asked to rate the supermarkets based on 19 different categories – including value for money, quality of products, helpfulness of staff, ease of locating items, speed of checkout, store layout and stock availability.
Foodland claimed the top spot, followed by Drakes, Harris Farm Markets, Aldi, Costco, IGA, FoodWorks, Woolworths, Coles and the Friendly Grocer.
Grocery chain Foodland, based primarily in South Australia, stands out ahead of all the major supermarket stores after claiming the top spot for the best rated supermarket in Australia
Foodland has the happiest shoppers after receiving a stellar 82 per cent. The chain kept its title as the best rated supermarket for the second time in Choice’s survey after first claiming the top spot in 2019.
The supermarket was rated best for 14 criteria out of 19 – including range of products and brands available, ease of locating items, helpfulness of staff, speed of checkout, ease of using self-service checkout, store appearance and layout.
Drakes finished in second place with a score of 79 per cent.
The chain, which has more than 60 stores across South Australia and Queensland, was voted best for offering the amount and availability of specials and discounts, availability of staff for assistance and helpfulness of staff.
Following closely behind in third place is New South Wales’ Harris Farm Markets with a score of 78 per cent for offering the best quality of fresh produce and produce availability – but the grocery chain fell short in the ease of parking category.
What is Foodland?
Foodland is an independently owned supermarket chain, based primarily in South Australia and a few stores in Northern Territory.
There are 90 stores across SA – with weekly catalogues offering ‘hundreds of great specials’.
The chain prides itself on selling Foodland branded products made in Australia, with more than half of them made in South Australia itself – meaning there are zero imported foods in the supermarket’s exclusively owned label range.
The supermarket has been rated best for:
- Range of products and brands available
- Availability of locally produced food products
- Stock turnover (food products are within use-by and best-before dates)
- Product availability (shelves are stocked with items as labelled)
- Opening hours
- Ease of parking
- Ease of locating items you want
- Helpfulness of staff (e.g. checkout, refund/exchange, assistance)
- Ease of use of shopping trolleys/baskets
- Speed of checkout
- Availability of your preferred type of checkout (i.e. self-service, staff-assisted)
- Ease of using self-service checkout
- Store appearance and layout
- Clarity of unit-pricing signage
Drakes, which has more than 60 stores across South Australia and Queensland, finished in second place with a score of 79 per cent
Drakes, an independent grocery retailer, was voted best for offering the amount and availability of specials and discounts, availability of staff for assistance and helpfulness of staff
Following closely behind in third place is New South Wales’ Harris Farm Markets with a score of 78 per cent for offering the best quality of fresh produce and produce availability – but the grocery chain fell short in the ease of parking category
The three supermarket chains earned the highest overall scores for supermarket satisfaction. The trio also rated higher than their major rivals across various criteria including range of products and brands, and availability of locally produced foods.
ALDI was rated best in the value for money category as the supermarket continues to differentiate itself on price.
The German-owned chain landed in fourth place, alongside with Costco after the duo scored 75 per cent.
IGA/Supa IGA supermarket chain scored 74 per cent, followed by FoodWorks with 72 per cent.
ALDI was rated best in the value for money category as the supermarket continues to differentiate itself on price
Woolworths finished in eighth place with 71 per cent, closely followed by Coles scored 69 per cent. Friendly Grocer rounded up the top 10 with 67 per cent.
Coles and Woolworths rated above average for availability of preferred type of checkout, range of products and brands available, and ease of using trolleys and baskets.
However, the only criterion the duopoly rated best for was their opening hours. The two major supermarkets rated lower than at least some of their competitors on all other criteria.
Consumers were asked to rate their shopping experience at their go-to supermarkets on a seven-point scale ranging from ‘excellent’ to ‘terrible’. The numbers were then converted into a percentage score.
A total of 3,182 Voice Your Choice members across Australia were surveyed in February and March 2021.