Tag: grocery

We recently saw a communication from one of our grocery store clients. A store manager received his mystery shopping report and reminded his employees, “Remember, exceptional service is our best weapon. WalMart is right across the street!”

In the war among grocery retailers, competition for new customers remains fierce. Grocery consumers remain store-loyal and non-traditional grocery stores continue to enter the grocery playing field. Giants like Wal-Mart and Target add even more intensity to the competitive mix. Given these challenges, it’s no wonder that many grocery store chains have mystery shopping in their arsenal. For some grocery retailers, mystery shops go beyond

In 2009, our own Rob Barry, Confero Account Executive, spoke with the Wall Street Journal’s “The Numbers Guy” blogger Carl Bialik forhis Waiting Game article. Rob provided insight from his experience managing mystery shopping programs for grocery store clients. Technology is moving at a much faster pace than 2009, and customer waiting time is a topic worth revisiting. 

Whether you manage a bank, restaurant, service or store, you know that it’s not realistic to reduce wait times for customers in every circumstance. If your company is one that prides itself on impressive and personalized service for every customer, wait times are inevitable. There are ways, however, to create more enjoyable waits for customers, and generate additional sales at the same time.

Developing customized mystery shopping programs across many industries has allowed us to see a variety of wait time strategies.  Through measurement of these strategies and our own observations, here are ways that some organizations convert tiresome wait times into positive customer experiences:

• Automotive or food service companies arrange retail space so that customers view the employees working, whether it an associate who cooks a food order, or an employee who repairs or washes your vehicle.  This is a great way to show customers the quality behind your service while at the same time eliminating boring waits.
• At some Chick Fil-a locations, employees stand near the drive thru entry point and key in orders with

Confero’s 25 years in the customer experience research field has allowed us to interact with various industries over the years.  With our experience in so many diverse industries, we apply knowledge to new projects in unique ways.  Here’s a list of 25 types of businesses that Confero has worked with over the decades, by providing them with services including onsite, telephone-recorded and email mystery shops, competitive pricing studies, retail audits, brand representation at retail, and customer satisfaction surveys: