UK's Budget supermarket Iceland best in online service: survey

Budget supermarket Iceland had overtaken Waitrose and Ocado in best online service, a customer satisfaction survey revealed.

While the frozen-foods specialist – which offered free delivery for orders over £35 - topped the online list, the Co-operative (Co-op) shops fared poorly, with worst in-store satisfaction - for the third straight year.

Waitrose bagged the top honours for its physical stores for the second year running in the annual Which? supermarket survey, scoring a customer satisfaction rating of 75 per cent.

The upmarket chain scored over rivals in the quality of its own label products, staff helpfulness and store appearance.

But Co-op, with a score of 57 per cent left  consumers dissatisfied for not keeping products in stock, being poor value for money and its small product range.

However, a Co-op spokeswoman described the survey as "backward-looking" and insisted that service had improved.

She said, "This backward looking survey does not reflect the massive strides we have taken recently, belfasttelegraph.co.uk reported.

"Our prices are lower, our produce is fresher and our products more exciting than they have ever been, and that's why the latest market share data out last week showed Co-op as the fastest-growing and most frequently visited supermarket."

Iceland was also fourth in the Which? in-store supermarket table with a customer score of 66 per cent, beating Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and the Co-operative.

The Which? customer score is based on a survey of more than 7,000 members of the public in November 2015, and uses a combination of customer satisfaction with a supermarket and the likelihood that they would recommend it to a friend.

Iceland founder and chief executive Malcolm Walker said, ''We are thrilled to have received this huge accolade from such a discerning publication as Which?,

"Iceland pioneered home delivery in the UK 20 years ago, and launched the first nationwide online shopping service in 1999, so I can say with confidence that we have more experience in this area than anyone else.

"Since we relaunched online in 2013 our service has grown rapidly thanks to our easy-to-use website, great products and brilliant people – and we now make around nine million home deliveries every year.

''We are committed to delivering an exceptional range of great tasting and great value products through Britain's best online shopping service and to bringing our customers continued excellence in all aspects of the Iceland shopping experience.''