Mystery Shopping for supermarkets: secret weapon against critics

Mystery shopping project – is an opportunity, not a punishment

With the high competition rate between different supermarkets and grocery stores, being one step ahead is not an advantage, but a necessity. Market leaders need to be sure that all service standards are being met day by day, though it may be quite hard to gather all relevant information. 

Considering the balance between the service level of each store in the supermarket chain, it’s vital to determine different areas which need improvement. It would be advantageous to have someone to provide you with the full picture. 

That is where mystery shoppers can be very useful to supermarkets, as they help not only by reporting on the current situation but also by shedding some light on some service areas which need development in order to increase customer satisfaction. 

A mystery shopper is a real customer who provides structured feedback. It works well for those store directors who are interested in a real picture of the service received and are ready to take concrete actions.

All market leaders work on their service, and we would like to give you an example of their results from mystery shopping projects. So let numbers speak for themselves.

Supermarket “A”

More than 7,000 evaluations were performed in 3 areas – supermarkets, cafeterias, restaurants.

Progress:

• Sales at the cash desk increased by 14%
• One of the main Sales Standard, as a greeting by the cashier, increased by 26.85% (from 66.7% to 93.55%)
• NPS (Net Promoter Score) – has grown by 2.35% (from 46.5% to 48.85%)
• Adherence to service standards by staff – increased by – increased by 3.87% (from 88.02% to 91.89%)

Supermarket “B”

The program is ongoing, the employee motivation system depends on the results of the program.

Progress:

• 17% fewer complaints. 
• Standards of Sales: increase in service standards by 12.16% (from 79.08% to 91.24%)
• The growth of subjective indicators by 11.38% (from 68.03% to 79.41%)

10.83% increase in the offer rate for issuing a loyalty card at the checkout

Supermarket “C”

“Z” has been cooperating with us since 2012 and to this day carries out the Mystery Shopping program in the direction of Supermarket and Hypermarket. Completed more than 5,076 ratings from 2012-09-012 to 2016-07

Progress:

• The speed of serving an employee behind the counter decreased from 2.58 minutes to 1.40 minutes.
• Standards: greetings for the customers at the cash office grew by 18% (from 37% to 55%) 
• Net Promoter Score: the decrease in complaints by 7% (from 15% to 8%) 
• Desire to visit chain stores (as the main factor of service quality) grew by 5% – from 17% to 22%

Supermarket “X”

Completed 1 980 assessments for the period March 2015 – March 2016

The program is carried out on an ongoing basis, all on-line data goes directly to the store and to the Director, the staff works well with the results, the employee motivation system depends on the results of the program. Reports in the form of location ratings (ranked) are submitted to the client every month.

Progress:

• 31% decrease of the level of complaints
• Such service standard as “The seller politely completed the conversation” grew by 31.8% (from 38.7% to 70.5%)
• NPS – growth of the net support index by 27.8% (from – 13.50% to 14.30%)
• The influx of new customers increased by 16.9% (from 8.6% to 25.5%)

Supermarket “Z”

Scheduling Worldwide conducted “Mystery employee” investigation (Motivational monitoring for employees). The project started in October 2015. Over this period, more than 800 assessments have been completed.

Among Ukrainian supermarkets, the chain has moved from 5th place to 3rd in terms of loyalty index.

Progress:

• NET PROMOTER SCORE – the growth of the net support index by 0.84% ​​(from 9.38% to 10.22%)
• After the presentation of the results of the 1st wave of the project, training for regional directors was held. Thanks to this training, the subjective evaluation of each employee grew by more than 2.5 points.

Do you want to see the progress of your supermarket and start earning on service?

Order a free sample for your business and stay a leader in your market!