Metropol

M&S is a place for the aspiring middle classes to go when they want to feel upmarket.

Waitrose on the other hand attracts posh folk who wouldn't dream of shopping anywhere else.

As for the food quality, I'd say they're about equal, except when it comes to fruit where M&S is consistently excellent.

all new Phil wrote:

WillPS wrote:none of the supermarkets would say they appeal downmarket

Observe the image above. That is appealing downmarket. It is ghastly and cheap-looking.

Observe the other half of the sentence you quoted.

With the exception of Iceland and Asda (and this recent swathe of confusion from Morrisons)

WillPS wrote:

all new Phil wrote:

WillPS wrote:none of the supermarkets would say they appeal downmarket

Observe the image above. That is appealing downmarket. It is ghastly and cheap-looking.

Observe the other half of the sentence you quoted.

With the exception of Iceland and Asda (and this recent swathe of confusion from Morrisons)

I think that Fruit & Veg POS is a misguided attempt to look like a Fruit & Veg stall, rather than trying to appear downmarket specifically.

Unfortunately the outcome is it looks like they've had a job lot of old POS from KwikSave.

There's a new Morrisons Loyalty Card on the way and stores are finally getting a much needed refurbishment!

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/ ... 73.article

The only supermarket which I know has very small ques is Asda.

barcode wrote:The only supermarket which I know has very small ques is Asda.

To be fair, what helps Asda is the higher amount of Self-checkouts, In even in my local smaller Asda, it has 10 self serving checkouts along with 15 checkout with half usually open. While the Bigger Asda has 10 smaller units but 5 bigger units with convenor belts.

Nearly all the Tesco Extras only seem to have six smaller units and Morrisons only have four of the smaller units.

I'll notice Tesco has also installed a huge self scanner area for club card holders in which you take the scanner with you and scan everything while you shop. It most have at least 100 scanners, and I'l only ever seen one or two people using it with most of the scanner never being used. What a waste of money... This is another reason why Tesco is losing money. Actually in the local Tesco Fights have broken out, demands to see the mangers and people leaving full trolleys of food due to the size of the ques..

barcode wrote:I'll notice Tesco has also installed a huge self scanner area for club card holders in which you take the scanner with you and scan everything while you shop. It most have at least 100 scanners, and I'l only ever seen one or two people using it with most of the scanner never being used. What a waste of money... This is another reason why Tesco is losing money. Actually in the local Tesco Fights have broken out, demands to see the mangers and people leaving full trolleys of food due to the size of the ques..

Well, actually, no.

The scan'n'go system in Dundee gets a LOT of users, because it massively cuts the queues. If you use it, there is NO queue at all. You're into the payment area, scan a barcode and have paid for your entire shop within about 45 seconds. Also the newest tesco self-scan layout has a far more efficient bank of eight self-scan machines with a proper queuing system, and a second identical bank of them further up the store.

I would agree Asda have a vast number of excellent self-scan machines including the fab belted ones however Asda also have a system called Q-matic [sic?] where if you look above every checkout there is a little sensor and you get reports back to the computer about the size and average wait time with stores being marked on getting the wait times down.

Morrisons use the hideous Wincor-Nixdorf system rather than the superior NCR fastlane which hobbles them a bit. You'll also notice as the NCR terminals are replaced in Tesco (the latest ones have a beige body rather than blue) they take up less and less space therefore packing in a better density. Partly due to Tesco's excellent lower basket shelf that lets you park the trolley over it, but also because the newer ones recycle their change rather than having separate input and change hoppers (thus also reducing the amount of manual cash handling they need).

Pete wrote:Morrisons use the hideous Wincor-Nixdorf system rather than the superior NCR fastlane which hobbles them a bit.

Indeed, with the most over sensitive scales I've ever experienced. However, Waitrose and the Co-Op also use them and I don't get as many problems with them as I do at Morrisons.

Wincor-Nixdorf? Is that a bit of the original Nixdorf empire that didn't go to Siemens?

I met Heinz Nixdorf a few times when I was working on some of his machines back in the seventies.

Martin Phillp wrote:

Pete wrote:Morrisons use the hideous Wincor-Nixdorf system rather than the superior NCR fastlane which hobbles them a bit.

Indeed, with the most over sensitive scales I've ever experienced. However, Waitrose and the Co-Op also use them and I don't get as many problems with them as I do at Morrisons.

The Co-operative Group use IBM stuff don't they?