Shopper Anonymous to report on customer experience at more than 200 stalls across 10 markets.
The Scottish Agricultural College, working on behalf of the Scottish Government, have this week announced the successful bidder for a contract to mystery shop Scotland’s 10 top farmer’s markets.
The contract, funded by the Scottish Government and approved by the Scottish Association of Farmer’s Markets, will involve mystery shopping and reporting on the customer experience at more than 200 stalls across the country. The contract has been won by Shopper Anonymous, one of the UK’s top mystery shopping companies (www.shopperanonymous.co.uk). Mystery shoppers will be checking factors including stall layout and cleanliness, staff product knowledge and customer service as well as the functionality of the whole market environment including overall presentation, signage and facilities.
The mystery shopping project will start immediately and run until late August. The final report is due to be presented by the end of August.
David Lamb, who leads the Food and Drink team for the Scottish Agricultural College says the mystery shopping project is about building important retail skills:
“The quality of the produce available at Scotland’s farmer’s markets is not in question but we wanted to improve retail skills among stallholders. We want stallholders to understand the customer’s expectations in terms of service and presentation and the relationship between meeting or exceeding those expectations and higher footfall, repeat business and increased basket size. We chose Shopper Anonymous due to the quality of the shopper feedback they provide.”
Jonathan Winchester, Managing Director of Shopper Anonymous says that this type of proactive approach to improving customer service really pays dividends:
“We’ve been working with farm shops, attractions and markets across Scotland and the UK for a number of years now and it’s become clear that it doesn’t matter how good your produce is if the service isn’t of a similar standard. A lot of people working in this sector come from agricultural rather than retail backgrounds so it’s important that they understand what the modern customer expects when they shop, especially with supermarkets starting to encroach on the ‘local produce’ sector.”
ENDS
For all enquiries about Shopper Anonymous please contact Steve Bustin on 07803 729208 or media@shopperanonymous.co.uk.
