Consumers Are Experiencing 7-Eleven All Over Again

On a regular basis client’s call us and ask ‘What new food item is hot, What’s driving sales?’ The one thing that Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® continues to pontificate on is  that consumer discovery is not one thing it is a combination of new menu items consisting for grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared portable food and service’.

Differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist according to Johnson it is in the bundled offering of increased fresh foods that consumers are finding discovery, product  trial and where customer migration is taking place. 

Not surprising to the team at Foodservice Solutions® convenience store chain 7-Eleven made the cut of the top retailers delivering quality customer experience. In fact 7-Eleven achieved a rating of 73 percent in the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience benchmark of companies based on a survey of 10,000 consumers in the United States. 

Temkin Group asked the consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: Success (can you do what you want to do?), Effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and Emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). These three scores were then averaged to produce each company's rating. A score of 70 percent or above is considered "good" and a score of 80 percent or above is considered "excellent."

The retail industry overall averaged a 74-percent rating in the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, placing retail in third place out of the 20 industries rated. Leading the retailers were Ace Hardware and Dollar Tree, which tied for first place with a rating of 82 percent. Rounding out the top five were Family Dollar (81 percent), ​BJ's Wholesale Club (80 percent) and Amazon.com (79 percent). ​

"Ace Hardware and Family Dollar lead a strong group of retailers. In fact, more than three-quarters of retailers earned good or excellent scores," said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

More good news for retailers is that the average rating of the retail industry improved over the last year, rising 0.5 percentage points from 73.9 percent to 74.4 percent between 2017 and 2018.

Looking for new fresh foods to drive your sales? Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us  the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information