This month sees a continuation of the fresh food battleground as our GAPbuster evaluators test the knowledge, advice and overall service at the cheese counters of the four leading UK grocery retailers

The Cheese Counter

Fresh food is increasingly becoming a prime target category as the convenience retailers such as Spar and Budgens make this category one of their key points of difference, along with their local service.

Challenging both the top four grocery multiples and the convenience retailers is the independent specialist delicatessen. So this month, we are pitting our top four multiples against the sector specialist. GAPbuster sent its experience evaluators into 10 outlets nationwide of each of these retailers to measure the typical customer experience. Each evaluation covered staff friendliness, staff interaction, the till transaction and finally, staff/store presentation. In addition, store staff were tested on their product knowledge and were asked two specific questions to test their service level quality in their in-store delicatessen section.

Variable 1: speed of Service

Overall, a poor performance with scores around 50% for all retailers and Tesco being the number one performer with a score of just 55%.

GAPbuster evaluators measure not just queue waiting time but also time taken during service. The targets are to have to queue for less than one minute.

For the independent delicatessen, this is a disappointing score.This is an area where its expertise and experience would hopefully lead to fast service and a clear point of difference versus its supermarket rivals. What has to be achieved is a balance between providing good advice and service and not causing discontent through long queue waiting times.

Variable 2: Staff Friendliness

A tremendous performance from the independent delicatessen, who has clearly outperformed the top four grocery multiples.

The specialist has demonstrated the local friendliness that it needs to exhibit to compete against its powerful rivals, achieving a perfect score of 100% and hitting the number one position in this section.

Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury�s all achieved scores that met the GAPbuster customer advocacy score target of 90%, demonstrating the high standards that are consistently being achieved by all of the players.

However, what this indicates is a need to continually raise performance standards as the consumer expectation will rise to match performance. Continuous measurement of performance linked to a clear action plan for improvement at store level is vital to deliver this improvement and maintain

competitive advantage.

Variable 3: Staff Interaction

In addition to staff friendliness, one of the other key drivers of customer satisfaction is the level and quality of the staff interaction with the customer.

This is particularly true within the deli experience, where stores are trying to encourage browsing and additional purchases. To measure this, each GAPbuster evaluator asked two specific product related questions of the person serving them. This month they asked, �What percentage of fat does low fat cheese typically contain, compared to full fat cheese?� and, �Should the best before/use by date be followed strictly for cheeses � I have heard that cheese is generally best at or past this date?�.

The evaluators also measure the extent to which staff encourage an additional purchase. Encouraging this within the deli environment is a very natural up sell.

So how did our rivals compare? Morrisons was a very clear winner with a score of 90%, followed by Tesco and the independent delicatessen on 70% each.

Sainsbury�s and Asda both performed very poorly, scoring 57% and 47% respectively.

Morrisons� result was driven by its score for inviting the additional purchase where, with a score of 70%, it is performing at twice the level of most of its competitors � a clear lead and one that will lead to high levels of incremental sales.

Variable 4: The Transaction

Another first place for the independent delicatessen, scoring an impressive 95%, with Morrisons matching its score and Sainsbury�s and Tesco close behind on 93%.

This section measures queue waiting times, efficiency of the transaction and the interaction between the staff and the customer at the till. These are basic hygiene factors that consumers expect to be delivered correctly � and we are seeing that this is consistently the case each month.

Variable 5: presentation

There are major differences in performance this month in the staff presentation section, where the measurements of performance in counter cleanliness and stock levels, store tidiness, wearing of staff uniform and name badges and appearance are recorded. Morrisons leads the section with a commendable score of 96%, following up on its 90% section winning score last month. This score is driven by its consistent delivery of smart staff in uniform and wearing name badges � an area that all the other retailers perform poorly in.

Round 11: Summary

The winner of Round 11 of the GAPbuster Supermarket Spy customer experience evaluation is Morrisons, with an excellent score of 88%. Tesco ended in second place, closely followed by the independent delicatessen. Morrisons� performance demonstrated true consistency, with all sections apart from speed of service, scoring above the GAPbuster 90% level that delivers customer advocacy and recommendation to friends and family. Asda and Sainsbury�s both performed very poorly this month due to poor scores in the staff interaction section.

GAPbuster Worldwide is the world�s leading customer experience agency, operating in 37 countries worldwide for over 80 retail clients in a wide range of categories including grocery, fast food, fashion, petroleum and banking.

The unique GAPbuster system identifies the gaps between the brand promise (customer�s expectations) and the reality of their in-store experience, quantifying the issues that create the �gap�.

The GAPbuster system utilises information gathered from mystery shop visits, store audits and/or customer satisfaction surveys. No analysis is required at head office or store level, leaving store teams to focus on actions and creating fast track performance improvement based on best practice within their organisation.

Each store will receive an individual action plan within three days of the evaluation, highlighting the three key actions for the store to deliver a significantly improved experience for their customers.