I mean, not everyone is going to go home and fill out an online feedback form.
Personally if a customer tells me I am doing a good job, that is what I take to heart, not some electronic gobbly-gook that supposedly says we need to do a little better.
Yea every department could improve but I don't need a computer telling me that. A computer doesn't see the woman who couldn't walk that well whom I went in and shopped for while on the clock as she waited in the handicap space in her car outside. A computer can't tell me thank you for helping to unload their groceries. A computer isn't going to tell me I am doing a good job because in less than two minutes I took back three go-backs and still made it back in time to the same register to help bag for the next customer.
I guess it's not really the computer for me though, as it is my initial thoughts. I see it similar to Nielsen ratings. The Nielsen ratings tell what people are watching, sure, but not everybody in America is watching that show, and the boxes are only picking up that particular family or individual watching the show as the box records the fact that it is being watched in the first place.
I do a good job, and treat people with utmost respect, and make sure they are "Highly Satisfied" without bugging the **** out of them for your stupid survey.
Elementary statistics tells students that voluntary response surveys like that are of limited use. Everyone at Kroger's customer satisfaction team(s) knows that.
However, you have to remember that OSAT isn't the measure of average satisfaction, but the percentage of customers who are highly satisfied (5), so your score's OSAT of 79% means that 79% of your customers are 5 and 21% are 4 and below.. This allows Kroger to target customers who are loyal enough to do the survey but not exclusive to Kroger, as well as angry customers, finding out what they want to be different about our stores. We implement the most popular changes and turn angry and moderately loyal customers into very loyal customers (or lose them through inaction).
I don't think my store will ever see a score of 79. We've been stuck at 60~ no matter how many good comments we get. Most days we get mostly 5s but we still are stuck at 60-62. I think that thing is rigged.
We went from a 63 to 55! They ask what are you going to do to move it? I am like it's not my department! It's the others that's lowering the score. I don't know how it is at other store but the front end and rx gets 5s
We moved from 52 to 63, but it's so difficult as you've got so many people who post comments like "I gave you only a 'Satisfied' because it's just a shopping trip blah blah blah", and people who put in a 4/5 (which counts as much as a 0...) but have no complaints whatsoever (to balance that out, you've got people who list a litany of complaints, then rate us a 5 O_o). Management keeps pushing us to get past 70%, but the only thing we can realistically do is pester customers to give a 5/5 on the survey when management's not around to hear us =/
We were stuck in the 40s, managers were celebrating because our scores went into the 60s. People just keep saying satisfied or complaining that we don't have a fuel station. I don't care anymore. I mean we're just determined to shoot ourselves in the foot, whats the diffrence between highly satisfied and satisified at the end of the day?
I don't care. If you want me to put on a suit and talk about the options in a can of sauce I will. Or what you can expect when you open a bag of chips whatever. If you see a customer who looks confused ask them if they need anything. Its common sense.
The customers that they lose over time are ones the company will never hear from because most of the time they leave their basket and leave. No receipt
All stores are supposed to be shooting for 80% on the customer receipt tracker by the end of this year. Our score fluctuates between 61%-70% and it typically settles at 65%. We could hit 80% and beyond, but corporate refuses to provide the hours needed to get all the departments in tip-top shape. Produce, grocery and front end, in my view, are the departments that need more hours the most as deli, bakery, drug/gm and meat market always appear to have enough help to serve the customers and provide the customers with what they want.
The produce department needs more hours in order to ensure the produce is always well stocked (as long as they have the product in the back) and have the time to check the produce to ensure no bruised or bad produce is out there. Produce was our focus department where the deep dive was done, and it was an utter failure (not my opinion, I saw the paperwork and notes) and why was it a failure? Not enough hours to ensure a great looking and fresh department for the customers. Want to be stingy, corporate? Forget about "Winning in Each Store", then.
Grocery too needs more hours. Then, there might be fewer empty spaces on the shelves because the product could be sitting on a pallet in receiving. Just like in produce, if the customer sees the product they want and, in the case of produce, the product looks fresh and nice, he or she will buy it, thus adding to the store's sales. Grocery has a hard time keeping up with sale items, and while focusing on sale items, other non-sale items may need replenishing too. Sometimes, we have one guy 10:00AM-6:00PM and another 2:00PM-10:00PM, but sometimes we only have a closing grocery clerk plus the associate manager, and that's not enough to keep the aisles full of what customers are looking for. When a customer sees an empty spot on the shelf rather than what he or she is looking for, that person isn't going to leave highly satisfied.
Front end... what a mess. More checkers and more baggers, and watch the OSAT numbers go up. Customers will be happier if they aren't waiting for surge help to show up. Customers will be happier if they don't have to bag their own groceries. Customers will be happier if they come into the foyer and actually find shopping carts during busy times/days.
For the numbers to go up, corporate needs to invest in its stores and employees. Pay more and hold employees accountable. That's what's important. Corporate won't though and that's a shame, because I think Kroger could grow even more as a company if that happened and the employees could grow with the company, too.
Our main issue is wait times, and more staffing. We keep telling them that well get higher scores if we schedule more people. They keep saying "No, we need to make our target." (Seriously, we NEVER see ANY bonus corporate dishes out. So...why should we care if management makes a bonus for staying on target?) if you don't want to schedule more help then you have NO room to complain about low OSAT scores.
Our main issue is wait times, and more staffing. We keep telling them that well get higher scores if we schedule more people. They keep saying "No, we need to make our target." (Seriously, we NEVER see ANY bonus corporate dishes out. So...why should we care if management makes a bonus for staying on target?) if you don't want to schedule more help then you have NO room to complain about low OSAT scores.
Kroger works in a funny way. If they need to schedule more people, they will hire 3 part timers to replace 1 full timer and think that there is more work being done even though the 3 part timers can't tell a T-bone from a pot roast. XD
We went from a 63 to 55! They ask what are you going to do to move it? I am like it's not my department! It's the others that's lowering the score. I don't know how it is at other store but the front end and rx gets 5s
The meat dept kills the OSAT's for some reason. I really don't know what customers expectations are with the meat dept. I imagine most store focus dept is meat. Ours has been for like 2 years.
We went from a 63 to 55! They ask what are you going to do to move it? I am like it's not my department! It's the others that's lowering the score. I don't know how it is at other store but the front end and rx gets 5s
The meat dept kills the OSAT's for some reason. I really don't know what customers expectations are with the meat dept. I imagine most store focus dept is meat. Ours has been for like 2 years.
meat used to be a big deal In stores butcher used to mean something most customers are under the impression that everyone in the meat department is still the butcher that gets paid well and so they expect good service and quality product.
As far as hours go partimers are fine it's just for reason fulltime dept heads feel entitled to early shifts. Times have changed things for the most part have gotten easier department heads should work 9 to 6 and actually manage not only will they be there for most of primetime they'll also be there to work with thier morning and night people. Instead of leaving at 1pm and complaining about things not getting done. Plug partime.shifts around the full time 8 hour 9 to 6 shift.
-- Edited by Santino on Thursday 22nd of May 2014 09:33:13 PM
It's a foolish concept. You can always find something wrong if you nitpick, and believe me, a lot of people like to nitpick. Just greet the customer with a smile, "how're you doing today sir/ma'am?", and that's all we can do.
