Do you think you have a good understanding of what customers want from your store? Wouldn’t it be better to know you do? During February's The NGA Show in Las Vegas, attendees learned about independent grocery retailers using multichannel customer feedback — from store assessments and always-available feedback forms to tailored surveys — to gain a deeper understanding of each stage of the customer journey.
IGA leadership and Geissler's Supermarket President and CEO Bob Rybick spoke on how the voice of the consumer methodology is being used in operational planning to help store teams identify and fix issues, elevate the buying experience, and ultimately increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and sales.
Watch the full presentation on how to build shopper loyalty & improve store culture with multichannel consumer feedback.
Key Takeaways:
This multichannel customer feedback program is made possible through the IGA Coca-Cola Institute and ADvay, IGA's sales and marketing analytics group.
“We’re finding that it’s really more of a 360º approach as to what’s going on in your store and what customers perceive is happening," said ADvay President Leigh Engelbrecht. "Customer perception is reality. If your customers' perception does not match what is happening at your store and with what your employees are having, then you will have a loss in sales, a loss in margin, and you will eventually lose customer count.”
Engelbrecht said it's important for independent retailers to understand the following about multichannel customer feedback:
- Most customer feedback is from a small clique of shoppers.
- Retailers who understand their shoppers' perceptions sell more product than others who don’t.
- Retail workers who are aligned with shoppers' perceptions have stronger work environments.
The IGA Coca-Cola Institute collects shopper perceptions through these tools:
"The idea is to promote change inside the organization," said IGA Coca-Cola Institute President and CEO Dr. Paulo Goelzer. “By having feedback, by having what Leigh does with research, the idea is for us to start and get elements of how you can manage and evolve that [company] culture.”
Rybick has used these surveys to better understand the true perceptions of customers and associates at his seven stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He noted the surveys have open the eyes of management, allowing them to learn of troublesome employees, customer preference of digital versus print communication, and even what customers think of the parking lot.
Interested in gaining deep insights into your shopper and/or employee perceptions of your store(s)? Engelbrecht said the survey process takes about six weeks from start to finish: two weeks of planning; two to three weeks to implement at store level, and a week to compile the results.
Multichannel customer feedback is an essential tool for independent grocery retailers to gain a deeper understanding of their customers' perceptions and improve their overall shopping experience. This feedback program can promote change inside the organization and help evolve the company culture. In just six weeks, retailers can gather valuable information about their customers' preferences and perceptions so they can then make data-driven decisions and improve their business operations.
Want to know more about using data to build shopper loyalty? Click here to get started.
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