Service with a Smile?

Supermarkets in the south of England are the country's worst performers in terms of customer service, says retail specialist ESA. Three of the UK's most southern regions scored lowest in a survey looking at whether staff greeted customers with a smile, stated the cost of purchases and managed to say Please, Thank You and Goodbye.

London and the South East was the worst-performing region overall, with Meridian and the West Country second and third worst respectively. Staff in the Granada region were the least likely to take customers to find a product if asked.

Scottish region Borders was the area with the friendliest staff with many supermarkets scoring full marks for their friendly welcome, their helpful nature and their pleasant goodbye - Anglia and Grampian took the next spots. The only area where Borders scored badly was in stating the cost of the purchases.

Head of Marketing Guy Palmer says such details 'make the world of difference to your shopping experience in the supermarket. If customers are greeted and treated with indifference, or in some cases not at all, it colours their perception of every branch of that retailer'. Palmer explains the difference in service levels in terms of competition for staff: 'Stores that are forced to rely on casual workers - particularly prevalent in London - find it more difficult to instil the culture and values of the company in their staff. Areas where there are fewer jobs means a more stable workforce who you can train, motivate and retain'.

ESA's qualified mystery shoppers visited 600 large supermarkets across the UK. ESA, which was started in 1979 and employs over 65 people at its head office in St Albans, UK, works for a number of the UK's major supermarkets and non-grocery retailers, as well as companies in many other sectors. It is online at www.esa.co.uk

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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