A good grocery store has a wide selection of products. A good grocery store is in a convenient location. A good grocery store is well organized.
But a great grocery offers impeccable customer service.
Providing exceptional grocery store customer service can transform your business from a reliable local store into a community favorite — and at a time when prices and competition are higher than ever, it’s important to take every advantage you can get.
In this blog, we cover why focusing on customer service is particularly important for independent grocery stores — plus, we’ll give you some easy tips and tricks to improve the customer experience at your store.
Why Is Customer Service So Important for Small Grocery Stores?
It’s not exactly a business secret that good customer service is important.
However, the reality is that large businesses with more resources and brand recognition also have more leeway when it comes to the quality of their customer service.
If a customer can’t find what they want or has a bad interaction with staff in a big chain supermarket, they’ll probably still come back because it’s convenient or lower priced.
In an independent grocery store, one bad experience could turn them off of your store for good — and for businesses that rely on reviews and word of mouth, that can be devastating.
This is why independent grocery stores need to put extra effort into creating a welcoming and memorable customer experience.
Related Read: 7 Tips To Improve the Grocery Checkout Experience
How To Perfect Grocery Store Customer Service: 5 Tips & Tools
Here’s the good news: Focusing on customer service is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to improve the shopping experience at a community grocery store.
Here are five tips and tools you can try today to improve your grocery store’s customer service.
1. Train Employees To Proactively Greet and Help Customers
Even if your store is beautifully designed and in a great location, your staff plays a huge role in defining a customers’ first impression of your brand.
So, make sure your staff is trained to put their best foot forward. Greet customers when they enter the store and proactively offer to help them find what they need.
And since staff in small businesses are often busy juggling multiple tasks, set up signage that encourages customers to ask questions and train employees to check in on customers (within reason) when they need help.
Great customer service doesn’t just create an inviting atmosphere — it’s also an excellent way to solicit feedback about your store. For example, if certain items are repeatedly asked about, it might indicate that it’s time to refresh your store layout or order some new stock.
2. Optimize Staffing Levels
There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a long checkout line with only one cashier or searching for an item with no one around to ask for help.
Staffing is a big expense for a small grocery store, but cutting back at the wrong times can have massive impacts on the quality of customer service. That said, you’d just be burning through money to keep extra staff on at all hours.
Instead, use the reports on your point of sale (POS) system to see your peak hours and seasonal sales data. This will tell you what days and times you typically need more people on the floor (and when you don’t).
3. Base Decisions On Customer Feedback (and Data)
We mentioned how useful customer feedback is — and finding multiple sources of feedback will make your store even better.
One of the easiest (and most direct) ways to solicit opinions from customers is to simply ask. Have suggestion boxes with forms shoppers can fill out or create an online survey that you link to at the bottom of your receipts. You can also look at online reviews on your Google Business Profile.
Of course, customers’ words aren’t the only feedback they provide. Their actions in your store also speak volumes.
Use the sales data on your POS system to learn about:
- Bestselling items and which products attract customers to your store
- Which areas of the store are over or underperforming
- What discount codes and promotions were most popular
- Which items are frequently bought together
All of this gives you invaluable information that customers may have a hard time articulating. You can then use it to improve store layout, identify cross-selling opportunities, and plan more impactful promotions.
4. Start a Customer Loyalty Program
Getting new customers into your store is only half the battle — what’s most important is keeping them coming back for more.
Offering a customer loyalty program is an effective way to lure back customers through discounts and perks. To get the most out of your customer loyalty program you should:
- Advertise it with signage throughout the store and clearly explain the benefits.
- Tell customers how many points they have at checkout or print it on their receipts.
- Send exclusive discounts to loyalty members to encourage signups and repeat visits.
Most grocery store POS systems allow you to build and customize a customer loyalty program directly in the backend. So, if you don’t already have a loyalty program in your store, it’s time to start one.
5. Don’t Forget To Share Your Personality Online
These days, most people start online when searching for local businesses. In fact, just under half of all Google searches are for local topics. This is why it’s more important than ever to showcase your friendly personality both in store and online.
Here are some tips for creating a friendly online presence:
- Use social media: Post regularly on social media to highlight your products, staff, recipes, and other fun announcements.
- Build a website: Build a website that incorporates your brand colors and shares your story and passion, even if you don’t plan to sell groceries online.
- Respond to reviews: Regularly check reviews and respond to them (good and bad) to show you’re committed to great customer service.
- Write a newsletter: Write a once-a-week newsletter to tell people what’s new and share information about discounts and promotions.
When you post online, the key is to post regularly. This helps you move up in algorithms and local search and gives people a reason to follow you.
Improve Grocery Store Customer Service With The Right Technology
As anyone who works in retail knows, customer service is as much an art as it is a science. While having data and online surveys can help, you need to use your intuition and business sense to make the right choice.
In other words, technology can’t improve grocery store customer service for you, but it can help you make more informed decisions.
IT Retail was built on the back of 25 years of experience. With tools specifically catered for small grocery stores and supermarkets, we’re dedicated to giving your business everything you need to stay competitive and delight your customers.
Schedule a custom demo today to see how IT Retail can improve customer service at your store.
