Nearly three quarters of Winchester market town businesses offer an ‘outstanding’ or ‘very good’ customer experience
Over 50 people representing retailers in Alresford, Denmead, Bishop’s Waltham and Wickham are expected at an awards ceremony on 14 April in Bishop’s Waltham to celebrate the results of ‘Up Your Game, Up Your Gain’ 2016.
The Winchester City Council funded scheme was designed to give the district’s market towns a boost by offering a helping hand to those retailers and service providers whose businesses would benefit from further enhancement in their customer experience offering
40 independent businesses were visited by mystery shoppers who rated them on a range of factors including window display, interior layout and customer service.
Those businesses whose overall score demonstrated their ability to offer an outstanding customer experience will be recognised at the awards ceremony, with trophies for the two highest scoring businesses over all four towns, and a trophy for the overall highest scoring town.
Jim Smith of Shopper Anonymous, who carried out some of the surveys, said:
The results show that all of the towns have a high number of shops and businesses that give customers a great experience, a vital factor if visitors are to return. Repeatable footfall is what all High Streets crave, so this is great news for retailers who suffer intense competition from bigger neighbours and the internet. I’m looking forward to the results being announced on 14 April.
Heidi Isa, Market Towns Development Office for Winchester City Council said:
Having had a preview of the results, my conviction that our market towns offer customers an unrivalled shopping and dining experience has been reaffirmed. I’m immensely proud to be working among such a great group of businesses offering such fantastic customer service.
After the awards ceremony, all businesses who took part in the scheme will receive a full report on their results as well as a one-to-one session with a customer service expert. This will allow them to further enhance their customer experience offering, resulting in the highest standards of customer service across all four towns.