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Mystery Shopper – University Park and Jubilee

Written and Compiled by Sophie Fox, January 2017

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Contents University Park ..................................................................................................... 3

Demographics .................................................................................................... 3

Staff ................................................................................................................. 6

Product Quality .................................................................................................. 9

Environment .................................................................................................... 15

Satisfaction ..................................................................................................... 18

Jubilee ............................................................................................................... 20

Demographics .................................................................................................. 20

Staff ............................................................................................................... 23

Product Quality ................................................................................................ 26

Environment .................................................................................................... 32

Satisfaction ..................................................................................................... 35

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University Park

Demographics

12 people visited the University Park campus SPAR shop to take part in the Mystery

Shopper programme, over a period of time from 10th October 2016 to 13th December

2016. The charts below detail some demographics of the customers who took part in the

programme.

Everyone who took part in the programme at the University Park campus was aged 18 –

21. Almost two thirds of those who took part resided in off-campus accommodation and

almost 10% live on another campus. Just over ¼ students who visited actually live on

the University Park campus.

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40% of those who visited the University Park shop were in their first year of study, 30%

were in second year and a further 30% were in third year; all students were

undergraduates.

During sign-ups, shoppers are given the option of what time they would prefer to visit

the shop. The two choices are 12 – 2pm, so that it is representative of a usually busy

lunchtime period, and any time after 3pm to represent a normally quieter shopping

experience. The table below shows which time slots people visited the shop, with the one

visited being highlighted in green.

Day of Visit Time of Visit 12 – 2pm 3pm Onwards

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

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The above graph shows the distribution of the shoppers and what days they visited,

Monday and Wednesday were the most frequently shopped days, with no one visiting the

shop on a Friday during the programme.

The average spend across the 12 shoppers was £5.31, with the total amount that they

could claim back being £5.00.

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Staff

On average, when the shoppers visited the SPAR, there were 3 floor staff and 2 till staff.

Of the staff that the shoppers saw, all floor staff were wearing name badges and over

4/5 till staff were wearing name badges.

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When asked to rate how upbeat and helpful the staff who served the customers were,

staff achieved a rating of 4 out of 5, so it can be taken that staff were quite upbeat and

helpful towards the customers.

When asked to rate the presentation of the staff that the customers saw, staff achieved

a score of 4 out of 5, meaning that the staff who interacted with the customers were well

presented.

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Customers were asked to rate how efficient and organised they felt that the staff were,

with staff achieving a score of 4 out of 5, it can be seen that the staff were well

organised and efficient.

Customers were asked about their waiting times, which ranged from under a minute to 5

minutes. The average waiting time was around 2 minutes.

The shoppers were asked to comment on why they gave the staff the rating that they

did, the comments have been split into positive and negative below.

Positive Comments

Cashiers were friendly as always.

Staff were particularly helpful and managed to check stock for me and continued

to serve customers in an efficient manner.

Very cheerful despite how busy the shop was.

Very friendly and answered queries well.

Polite and fairly energetic.

Uniforms were tidy.

Cashiers were fast and efficient.

Floor staff were helpful and well presented.

Staff were efficient to make sure people were not waiting too long during the

lunchtime rush and were apologetic to people that had been waiting and served

people quickly.

Negative Comments

Staff working on the tills were not overly chatty.

Staff seemed to be so busy and tired that not many of they were not pleasant

when serving customers.

One of the tills was a cash only till and most people in the queue wanted to pay

by card, so it felt like there was only one functioning till.

One of the staff members had to ask someone else where something was.

Cashier entered price for items wrongly and had to be reminded about the

discount for the purchase, a receipt was not offered.

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Product Quality

Of the shoppers who visited the SPAR shop on University Park, almost 1 in 5 students

bought non-food products, over 90% bought food and close to half the shoppers

purchased stationary.

Of the 90% who did purchase food, only 18% purchased a meal deal, a 67% decline

from the last Mystery Shop which saw 85% buy a meal deal.

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Those who did purchase a meal deal bought:

Burrito, packet of crisps, Pepsi and popcorn

All day breakfast sandwich, Kettle chips, Lipton lemon iced tea, Peppa Pig candy

bite

The shoppers that did purchase a meal deal rated it as very good.

Customers were asked if they would buy a meal deal from the shop in future, 36% said

a definite yes, a 22% increase from the last mystery shop. 45% said maybe which was a

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17% increase from the last report and only 18% said no, a decrease of 40% from the

last report.

When asked what would make customers more likely to buy a meal deal from the SU

shop in future, answers included:

Hot food

Cheaper price

Better tasting food

Better quality food

If could use DailyBites card

Better range of food combinations for the meal deal

More extensive range

Those who did not purchase a meal deal bought:

A4 paper, highlighter, drawing pins

A can a Pringles, Galaxy chocolate bar, Minsterels, pack of Angel Cakes

Doritos Chilli heatwave, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Kelloggs, Squares cereal bar,

Coco-Pops cereal bar, Pukka navy project book

Milk, Cookies, HobNobs, Document wallets

Pick’n’mix, Extra chewing gym, sparkling water apple, sparkling water peach,

forest dried fruit

Maryland Chocolate Chip cookies, sweetcorn, skimmed milk, pantene shampoo,

crème egg

Fresh tagliatelle, lettuce, flour.

Bag of salad, paracetamol, academic diary, Mr Kipling Angel Slice.

2 cans of Monster energy drink, pack of 6 crumpets, folder dividers, mid year

diary

People who did the Mystery Shop rated the quality of the products that they bought on

average as 5, meaning that they were very satisfied with their purchases.

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Customers were asked to specify what products or ranges that they would want to see in

the SU shop, these were:

Sensations Thai sweet chilli crisps

Waffles

2 litre semi-skimmed milk

Schwarzkopf shampoo

Yoghurt and bread

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Customers who visited the shop rated the range of stationary, food and clothing as

good; the non-food products range was rated as average.

Across all four aspects, stationary, food, non-food products and clothing, all were rated

as average in terms of value.

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Shoppers were asked to explain the ratings that they gave, reasons included:

Product quality overall is good.

The stationary section looks unorganised.

Meal deal isle can become congested.

Food, stationary and non-food products are generally worth their price and good

value for money.

Clothing and other UoN related products are expensive.

The shop sells what students mainly need and in general is good.

Some of the products are more expensive compared to Boots opposite, and some

of the variety and quality is better at Boots.

Can tend to be slightly pricier than a local supermarket.

Sizes not normally available in hoodies and jumpers.

55% said that the question was not applicable to them, 9% said that they had seen a

positive change. Just over 1 in 4 shoppers said that they had seen changes and gave

explanation for the changes, these were that there was a much wider range and better

value.

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Environment

The shoppers were asked to rate the tidiness and cleanliness of the shop, which they

rated on average as good.

The shoppers were asked to rate the presentation of the shop, which they rated on

average as good.

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The shoppers were asked to rate the branding and advertisement of the shop, which

they rated on average as good.

Customers were then asked to explain why they had rated the shop with these scores,

comments are listed below:

The shop can become congested at times.

Shop overall was very clean and tidy, the microwave however was not which was

off-putting.

Presentation, branding and advertisement were good as it was very clear which

offers were on at what time.

Products were neatly displayed and easy to locate.

Appealing how the offers were neatly organised as the customer enters the shop.

There were sweets all over the floor by the pick’n’mix section.

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The shoppers who attended commented that point of sale and promotional information

on display was up to date.

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Satisfaction

Customers were asked whether they would return to the SU SPAR shop based on their

experience, which scored an average of 9 out of 10, meaning that it is extremely likely

that the shoppers would return to the store.

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When asked if customers would recommend the SPAR to others based on their

experience, an average score of 9 out of 10 was achieved; it can be taken that others

would almost certainly recommend the store based on their experience.

Customers were asked if there was one thing about the SU SPAR shop that they could

change, what would it be, the answers are listed below:

Lower prices.

To change the suggestion board to have deals of the day on it instead.

More staff during the busier periods.

To be able to pay with student cards.

More extensive range of alcohol.

To rearrange the section at the back of the shop as it is difficult to navigate.

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Jubilee

Demographics

5 people visited the University Park campus SPAR shop to take part in the Mystery

Shopper programme, over a period of time from 1st November 2016 to 14th December

2016. The charts below detail some demographics of the customers who took part in the

programme.

3 out 5 of those who took part in the programme at Jubilee were 18 – 21, with the

remaining 2 out of 5 being aged 22 - 25. 80% of those who took part resided in off-

campus accommodation and just 1/5 students who visited actually live on the University

Park campus.

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40% of those who visited the University Park shop were in their first year of study, 20%

were in second year and a further 40% were in third year; 60% of students were

undergraduates and 40% were postgraduates.

During sign-ups, shoppers are given the option of what time they would prefer to visit

the shop. The two choices are 12 – 2pm, so that it is representative of a usually busy

lunchtime period, and any time after 3pm to represent a normally quieter shopping

experience. The table below shows which time slots people visited the shop, with the one

visited being highlighted in green.

Day of Visit Time of Visit 12 – 2pm 3pm Onwards

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

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The above graph shows the distribution of the shoppers and what days they visited,

Tuesday and Wednesday were the most frequently shopped days, with no one visiting

the shop on Monday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday during the programme.

The average spend across the 5 shoppers was £7.93, with the total amount that they

could claim back being £5.00.

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Staff

On average, when the shoppers visited the SPAR, there were 1 floor staff and 2 till staff.

Of the staff that the shoppers saw, only a third of floor staff were wearing name badges

and over 2/5 till staff were wearing name badges.

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When asked to rate how upbeat and helpful the staff who served the customers were,

staff achieved a rating of 4 out of 5, so it can be taken that staff were quite upbeat and

helpful towards the customers.

When asked to rate the presentation of the staff who served the customers were, staff

achieved a rating of 4 out of 5, so it can be taken that staff were well presented.

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When asked to rate the efficiency and organisation of the staff who served the

customers were, staff achieved a rating of 4 out of 5, so it can be taken that staff were

well organised and being efficient.

Customers were asked about their waiting times, which ranged from under a minute to 2

minutes. The average waiting time was around 1 minute.

The shoppers were asked to comment on why they gave the staff the rating that they

did, the comments have been split into positive and negative below.

Positive Comments

Happy and polite staff.

Quickly got stock from the stock room when what the customer wanted was not

on display.

Friendly

Well-presented staff.

Staff were cheerful.

Negative Comments

Till staff were sitting on the till desk and talking with the floor staff.

One item was reduced but not labelled to show this.

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Product Quality

Of the shoppers who visited the SPAR shop on Jubilee, 1 in 5 students bought non-food

products, 3 in 5 purchased food, and 1 in 5 purchased stationary or clothing.

Of the 60% who did purchase food, only 20% purchased a meal deal, an 80% decline

from the last Mystery Shop which saw 100% buy a meal deal. However during the last

programme only one person mystery shopped Jubilee.

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Those who did buy a meal deal bought:

Blackcurrant Ribena, Egg and Bacon Sandwich, Melon Medley.

The meal deal was rated as 3 out of 5, which can be seen as average.

Customers were asked if they would buy a meal deal from the shop in future, 40% said

a definite yes, a 60% decrease from the last mystery shop; again it is worth mentioning

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that only one person mystery shopped at Jubilee. 60% said that they might buy a meal

deal and no one said a definite no.

When asked what would make customers more likely to buy a meal deal from the SU

shop in future, answers included:

Lower prices

Better choice

Include hotdogs

Those who did not purchase a meal deal bought:

UoN Baseball unisex long sleeve t-shirt.

Lanyard, shower gel, energy drink and chewing gum

2 x Dettol cleaning wipes, forest mixed nuts

10 x coca cola zero, packet of munchies, Heinz tomato soup

Customers were asked how satisfied they were with the quality of the products that they

purchased, an average score of 5 out of 5 was achieved so it can be taken that the

customers were very satisfied with the quality of the products they bought.

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There were no products or ranges that the shop currently stocks that the customers

wanted them to.

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Customers who visited the shop rated the range of stationary, non-food products and

clothing as good; the food products range was rated as very good.

Customers who visited the shop rated the value of non-food products, food and clothing

as good; the stationary range was rated as average.

Customers were asked to explain the ratings that they gave, their comments are

included below:

Clothing is expensive

Small food items seems overpriced compared to the co-op and newsagents

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40% said that the question was not applicable to them, 20% said that they had seen a

positive change and another 20% said that they had not noticed any changes. 1 in 5

shoppers said that they had seen changes and gave explanation for the changes, this

was that there was more value SPAR stuff.

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Environment

Customers were asked to rate the tidiness and cleanliness of the shop, which scored 5

out of 5 meaning that the shop was very clean and tidy.

Customers were asked to rate the presentation of the shop, this scored an average of 4

out of 5, meaning that customers thought the presentation of the shop was good.

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Customers were asked to rate the branding and advertisement of the shop, this scored

an average of 4 out of 5, meaning that customers thought the branding and

advertisement of the shop was good.

Customers were asked to explain their ratings, the comments are included below:

Good exterior and branding.

Floor is quite damaged in parts.

Products are arranged neatly and easy to locate.

Did not notice many advertisements around the shop.

Shop floor was tidy.

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60% of the customers said that the point of sale and promotional display was up to date.

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Satisfaction

Customers were asked whether they would return to the SU SPAR shop based on their

experience, which scored an average of 8 out of 10, meaning that it is likely that the

shoppers would return to the store.

When asked if customers would recommend the SPAR to others based on their

experience, an average score of 8 out of 10 was achieved; it can be taken that others

would be likely to recommend the store based on their experience.

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Customers were asked if there was one thing about the SU SPAR shop that they could

change, what would it be, the answers are listed below:

Lower prices

Play music inside the shop

More clothing products to be made available at Jubilee