Iceland review

Iceland is best known for its frozen food, but it also stocks non-frozen store cupboard essentials and a small selection of fresh food. So should you do your main supermarket shopping there?

In the annual Which? supermarkets survey, 165 Iceland customers who told us they shopped in Iceland stores, and a further 86 who had shopped with the retailer online, rated it on everything from queuing time to the quality of its food and value for money. 

This enabled us to work out star ratings for different factors related to in-store and online shopping with the retailer, as well as an overall customer score.

Are Iceland supermarkets any good?

Iceland keeps its ranking

Iceland once again came in joint-fourth place this year, alongside Lidl. It doesn't quite match Lidl or Aldi's four out of five stars for value for money though, with a middling three stars for this measure. 

Customers were impressed with Iceland's stock availability and range of products, where it was rated four stars. It received three stars for all other measures, including the quality of its own-label and fresh products, the appearance of its stores and queuing times.

One happy customer said about their experience of in-store shopping at Iceland: 'Fantastic. Always have a wide range of products and staff available to help on the shop floor.'

Another said: 'Love the variety of food available especially the restaurant ranges. Queues are often long, particularly if a customer is having home delivery.'

• Find out more: see how the big players compare in our guide to the best and worst supermarkets

Is Iceland's online delivery service any good?

A great performance online

Iceland is in joint-second place this year, along with Waitrose, slipping from first place last year.

Its customers were wowed by the availability of its collection and delivery slots, rating this a full five stars. Online customers also awarded it good four-star ratings for its range of products, the ease of using its website or app and customer service.

It received an average three stars for stock availability and the quality of its products, as well as for value for money, while it was rated a poor two stars for its substitutions. One Iceland customer told us they received strawberries instead of refuse bags.

One satisfied customer said: 'I've not had any bad experiences. Any delivery driver I've talked to has been friendly, and the website is very easy to use and has a large selection for a good price.'

Another added: 'Good reliable straightforward efficient service. Easy to use and navigate through the website and app. Excellent bonus card loyalty discount. Friendly delivery driver on time.'

We didn't make Iceland online a Which? Recommended Provider this time because Iceland hasn't committed to traffic light labelling on food and it performed poorly in our supermarket sustainability investigation, in which it was ranked bottom in our table of 11 supermarkets. We found that it used a lot of plastics and had higher greenhouse emissions than competitors, possibly due to powering all those freezers.

How fresh is the food in Iceland's deliveries?

In August 2021, we went undercover to find out how the different supermarkets compare for freshness, using a team of mystery shoppers to order hundreds of groceries in the first – and biggest – comparison of its kind.

We couldn't include Iceland in the final rankings because it had so many missing items or incomparable substitutions. However, we ran a separate analysis using the six comparable items we did manage to get from Iceland, and in this much smaller comparison, Iceland ranked last out of seven.

• Find out more: which online supermarket delivers the freshest groceries?

Iceland in the news

Iceland has extended its £1 price freeze throughout 2023 across 600 frozen products to ease the pressure on households due to the rising cost of living. The discount was launched in 2022, and on a single day in December 300,000 customers utilised the discount. 

In August 2022, Iceland announced that it would be introducing new energy saving cooking guidance onto food packaging to help customers choose the most economical methods, such as using air fryers, microwaves and slow cookers.

In the same month, it launched the Iceland Food Club in partnership with charity-owned lender Fair for You. This was to give flexible interest-free micro loans to customers to help them with costs at times when expenses rise, such as during school holidays, and to avoid food poverty.

Since May 2022, Iceland has been offering a discount of 10% off every Tuesday to shoppers over 60 to minimise the impact of rising prices.

• Find out more: what supermarkets are doing to help with the cost of living

Which? Affordable Food For All campaign

Which? has launched an Affordable Food For All campaign after it found millions of families are skipping meals to survive the cost of living crisis. 

In an innovative new study, undertaken with researchers from the Consumer Data Research Centre at the University of Leeds, we've identified 50 of the most at-risk areas for finding affordable food in the UK.

We're calling on supermarkets to commit to clear pricing, better access to budget ranges that enable healthy choices and more offers for those who need them most.

• Do you want to see supermarkets take action? Sign our petition