When choosing the best supermarket what do you look for?
Is it the appearance? the shop floor lay out? customer service? luxury feel? budget deals? food quality? or the product prices that attract you?
Two of the supermarkets in the Netherlands Albert Heijn (AH) and Jumbo attract a variety of shoppers depending on location. ( I chose to focus on these two as they are my most local competitors that I visit regularly)
Albert Heijn (AH) for example seems to have dominated all food retailers in the city centre of Den Haag (The Hague) with five stores all within walking distance from each other, with another XL Superstore just outside the city centre area. Their customers are mainly commuters working in the Hague who visit to buy lunchtime supplies or ingredients for dinner as a quick stop on the way home from work.
AH has certainly dominated the market in this location as there are no other “convenience stores” located in the city centre that I’m aware of to date.
Jumbo however has concentrated on locating themselves more in the residential areas of town with large stores within convenient reach to most customers.
In general Jumbo does have larger (but fewer) stores than AH and most of their products appear cheaper. This then leads to the question of quality?
Jumbo stores and products do give you the impression that you are in a budget supermarket, as for the food packaging it doesn’t look as glitzy and attractive as AH packaging and you can see that less thought has gone into product packaging and design. Is it all about appearance though?
In my opinion there is very little difference in food quality, AH are very good at marketing and use some psychological tricks in order to appear like the best supermarket in The Netherlands. AH obviously spend alot of time and effort deciding how to market their products with advertising and special offers such as bonus savings and special deals.
Whereas Jumbo may be the cheaper supermarket they fail drastically with their marketing of their products, offering little along the lines of special deals. Not everyone wants to buy 3 get a 4th item for free, their offers can sometimes be unclear and confusing, occasionally offers are displayed before the offer release date which can be misleading.
AH have recently caught onto the buy one get one free system which offers great savings without running up a hefty shopping bill with multi save offers .
They have a bonus card system which allows you to enjoy savings on certain promotional items. I am sure taking advantage of these bonus and multi save offers along with purchase of their own brand products makes Albert Heijn a cheaper shopping choice than Jumbo.
Then comes the question of shop floor layout and most importantly customer service.
Dutch supermarkets in general don’t opt for the traditional isle layout, (GPS navigation is sometimes advised). This could be due to space constraints in many stores which leads them to put nooks and crannies in the oddest places resulting in customers wandering around aimlessly like headless chickens. This system however ensures customers navigate the whole store… perhaps intentionally (or are they that smart?) Personally, I find AH’s layout more user friendly in general.
As for customer service, speaking from personal experience I find Albert Heijn staff much more customer orientated and attentive. Disputes are handled in a timely friendly manner. Without going into too much detail or turning the feature into a public flogging on numerous occasions disputes or enquires have not always been handled in the best way by Jumbo staff.
To add Jumbo has a policy which states if you are the 4th person waiting in line and all tills are open then you can claim your shopping for free. This system does not work, for one, catching a member of staff and claiming your 4th spot right at that moment when you are the 4th person in line is impossible.
What signal are you supposed to give? Jump up and down and scream? Then when the queue goes down and you are then the 3rd person in line does the next 4th person in line also get their shopping for free???
You see, without me going into too much detail how this system/idea just does not work? Please don’t turn queue waiting into a pointless stressful game Mr Jumbo! It’s bad enough waiting in a long queue without having the stress of trying to claim you are entitled to free shopping!
Jumbo would attract more customers by perhaps offering discount vouchers or small/sample products to customers faced with long queues. Take a leaf out of Ikea’s book. (they give away free ice cream vouchers to those waiting in a long queue)
So on picking the best supermarket for your needs..this all depends on what you value most? Cheaper food, good customer service, convenience, location etc etc take your pick.
As you have probably guessed my personal preference is AH, however this is not saying that Jumbo is all bad it is just different, different offers that run for longer durations and of course some great deals. I still continue shopping at both stores, is it good to remain open minded and keep your eye out for special offers.
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