Co-op Group polls customers at the till

Convenience store retailer Co-op Group is using its electronic point-of-sale (Epos) system to save money on customer satisfaction surveys.

The retailer has developed a system in-house to poll customers using the PIN pad. It is built on an application integration tool from Smart Technology Solutions and runs on top of its IBM Storepay payment technology at the till.

silicon.com Retail & Leisure

Get the latest retail and leisure news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the R&L newsletter today!

The retailer can now survey up to 300,000 customers and process the data within 24 hours, according to Co-operative Group development manager Lawrence Freeman. The system removes the need to use third party researchers - known as mystery shoppers - which can cost up to £100,000 per survey. It is understood that the retailer used to commission such research around five times per month.

The system builds on an existing Epos upgrade which was driven by the migration to chip and PIN payment methods in 2006. At the time the majority of the retail sector was making the move to chip and PIN, it was often suggested that the new systems would be able to add valuable new features to store's checkout process. Co-op Group is one of the few retailers to add such a feature to date.

Co-op's Freeman said the system has been installed in 20 per cent of the retailer's 1,700 stores (which is soon to be increased to 2,400 by acquisition), with full rollout slated for six months' time.

Typically, as the customer pays for their shopping, a request for customer attitudes on the store, staff service or a particular product will be displayed on a small screen. The customer can then respond using the PIN pad they use to authorise payment. Freeman said the system has the ability to collate customer behaviours at store level.

He said: "Up to now the system has been used principally by the marketing team to get some insight into how the brand is perceived. Now though, the operations guys are starting to use the system to learn about the customer experience within the store."