Mystery Shopping - Assignment Example

Module title: Statistics for Social Sciences Module Code: FC040 Module Tutor: Richard Welford Assignment title: Group report on findings of “mystery shopping” observation research for three companies Student ID no: Submission date: Words: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background 3 Purpose of conducting this observational research 3-4 Research finding 4 Primary observational research form 4 Findings analysis 5-8 Recommendations 8-9 Conclusion 9 References 10 i) Introduction A research comprising three business institutions was done through mystery shopping exercise. The facilities involved in the research were all supermarkets, and they included Aid, Asda, and Budgens. The primary observational research was used to collect data from the three sites. Data analysis was done and represented in a report with recommendations before it was presented to the institutions involved for improvement. The reasons for conducting the research study using observational method were: In order to evaluate customer handling and client satisfaction, to provide in-depth understanding of the real situation and experience of clients and to receive the first-hand experience in the institution’s compliance with policies, safety, health and required standards (Zikmund and Babin, 2012) ii) Background Aldi is a large supermarket that has several branches worldwide. It sells goods such as toilet papers, food, beverages and health articles (Welcome to ALDI , 2016) Asda deals with the marketing of grocery, general merchandise and offers financial services to its clients. It also has several branches distributed in various locations globally (ASDA, 2016). On the other hand, Budgens provides retail services of a variety of goods. It has its branches in the UK and wales. Each of these supermarkets aims to provide better services and attract more customers for itself (Budgens, 2016). iii) Purpose of conducting this observational research The purpose of doing this research in the three institutions is to identify the human factors that directly influence the customers to do their shopping in a particular supermarket and not the other. Hypothetically, these factors include speed of service, quality of service, environmental cleanliness and safety, customer care and guidance services, arrangements, professionalism of the service providers, friendliness, and general experience and they directly correlate with the client's experience and views on the services offered. Data was collected through a primary survey, observational research and from the institutions’ websites. iv). Research finding Primary observational research form Supermarkets Rating scale for scoring the shopping outlets: (1 = very weak, 2 = fairly weak, 3 = average, 4 = good, 5 = excellent, NA = not applicable) 1. Institution’s environmental face appearance 1 2 3 4 5 2. Are the arrangements in the premises standard? 1 2 3 4 5 3. Is the supermarket inside offer safety? 1 2 3 4 5 4. What is your perception of general appearance? 1 2 3 4 5 5. Are you satisfied with the speed and quality of services offered? 1 2 3 4 5 6. Were you satisfied with the procedure of payment in the supermarket? 1 2 3 4 5 7. What is the score of staff friendliness and professionalism? 1 2 3 4 5 8. Was the general experience pleasant? 1 2 3 4 5 9. What is your recommendation to others about the supermarket? 1 2 3 4 5 Findings and analysis Aldi Asda Budgens 1. environmental face appearance 5 4 5 2. Are the arrangements in the premises standard? 3 4 3 3. Is the supermarket inside offer safety? 5 5 5 4. What is your perception of general appearance? 4 3 3 5. satisfied with the speed and quality of services offered 4 3 5 6. satisfied with the procedure of payment in the supermarket 3 5 4 7. What is the score of staff friendliness and professionalism? 2 5 4 8. Was the general experience pleasant? 4 5 4 9. What is your recommendation to others about the supermarket 5 4 3 Mean 3.9 4.2 4.0 Mode 4 5 4 Median 4 4 4 Aldi supermarket Asda supermarket Budgens supermarket Findings from observational research and analysis An ordinary shopping was conducted in the three outlets and data results recorded on the predetermined aspects such as appearance, experience and satisfaction. According to the findings represented in the graphs and table, Asda supermarket appears to perform excellently in almost all the considered aspects but not different with a large margin when compared with Budgens supermarket. However, the general quality of services in Asda are just average while it is excellent in Budgens. Additionally, with the arrangement in the premise, Asda provides a pleasing and attractive experience for clients as it has a rating of 5 while in the case of Budgen, it is considered to be just average expressing the need for improvement. On the other hand, Aldi supermarket has an poor average score when compared to the other competitors as it has a mean of 3.9 which can be perceived in business not to be satisfactory. Due to personal experiences, the recommendation to other clients is high for Aldi, and this can be attributed to its face appearance and safety offered. This is so since there are individuals who come with their properties such as vehicles and wouldn’t be a pleasant experience if they are destroyed or stolen. Moreover, security and safety for the client and young children are guaranteed. From these particular findings, it can be noted that employee behaviour may have little impact on the customer satisfaction and experience as compared to appearance and safety Aldi The performance of this supermarket was above average but not without unpleasant experiences such as professionalism and friendliness issues which scored a poor rating of this may lead to clients not being satisfied with the services. The mode indicates that the supermarket score was good despite some aspects being excellent such as safety and appearance. Asda The overall performance can be deemed to better than the rest of the supermarkets featured in the research since it scored a mean of 4.2 according to the rating besides having an excellent mode of 5 in factors such as payment procedures, general experience, friendliness and professionalism exhibited by the employees. Nevertheless, it needs to improve on ways to create customer satisfaction which is currently rated as being average. Budgens With a mean score rating of 4, it is above average, and the mode of 4 also indicates that most of the services provided are satisfactory. However, the scores of 3(above average) in arrangement and general appearance that are not pleasant may affect the influence of clients on others to do their shopping from its outlets. Therefore, improvements need to be done on these aspects. v) Recommendations Aldi The institutions’ management should invest more in training its employees on how to improve arrangement in the premises and enhance face appearance The institution should provide time to time seminars for staff on how to demonstrate friendly nature to clients and its importance in business besides the high level of professionalism. Asda Premise organization and arrangement of commodities require an improvement and therefore assistance can be sought experienced personnel to offer advice and technical knowledge in order to avoid injuries and accidents due to improper storage of tools and commodities. Besides, inadequate arrangements are attributed to lack satisfaction about appearance and quality of service to the clients according to this research’s findings. Budgens The general performance in all aspects of the institution was above average. Nonetheless, the authorities should provide more training on communication and hygiene skills to their employees in order to maintain and perfect their services to clients. This also improves the face appearance and customer experience. vi). Conclusion In conclusion, the research report and analysis applied statistical skills to calculate measures of central tendencies such as mean, mode, and median that was useful in reaching the establishment of recommendations to the supermarkets. Graphs and tables were also used to represent data that was comparative and correlational inferences could be made from them. To improve the businesses, the institutions are required to carry out some improvements in appearance, professionalism, friendliness of the employees and speed of service delivery among other aspects. Bibliography Welcome to ALDI (2016) Available at http://www.aldi.com/ (Accessed: 20 June 2016). ASDA (2016) Online food shopping, George, & more. Available at: http://www.asda.com/ (Accessed: 20 June 2016) Budgens (2016) Available at http://www.budgens.co.uk/ (Accessed: 20 June 2016). Zikmund, W.G., and Babin, B.J. (2012) Essentials of marketing research. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More