The Which? Awards has ranked the best and worst brands in the UK on customer service, product and reliability – it also looked at how the UK’s biggest firms reacted to the Covid-9 crisis in March

At the height of the crisis, the winner more than doubled its weekly online delivery slots to 190,000 (Image)

Retail giant Waitrose has been named ‘supermarket of the year’ in a new report on how Britain’s biggest brands reacted to the Covid-19 crisis.

The grocer came top of the supermarkets, seeing off competition from shortlisted rivals including Asda, Iceland, Sainsbury’s and the country’s biggest grocer, Tesco.

The report, carried out by Which? said the chain was one step ahead, after the country went into a panic-buying frenzy in Match.

It said Waitrose offered customers a “range of ways to shop” and praised the way it handled an increase in demand during the pandemic.

At the height of the crisis, Waitrose more than doubled its weekly online delivery slots and click and collect slots from 60,000 to 190,000.

It also reserved 25% of its slots for elderly and vulnerable shoppers. Like many rivals, it offered priority access to NHS workers.

Anabel Hoult, Which? chief executive, said: “This has been especially pertinent this year given the significant impact COVID-19 has had on consumers.