Market
Image enhanced - sales increased
tegut... learned of its strengths and weaknesses by means of a customer survey and successfully implemented the results
THE CHALLENGE
tegut... gute Lebensmittel, the trade company, has more than 300 branches in Hesse, Thurinjin, Bavaria and Lower Saxony. In 1998, the trade lines "ha we ge" and "okay!", which, up to that point, were run independently, were integrated into the tegut... brand. Both names were firmly anchored among the customers. At the same time, the name tegut... had to be equally established on the market by means of suitable advertising and publications. In 2002, the management wanted to find out whether the message had got home.
Soft factors
Buying decisions are largely unconscious and made on the basis of emotional criteria. This needed to be ascertained. "We finally wanted to know and understand - in black and white - why our customers buy from us, how they see us and why they buy some things from the competition", said Thomas Gutberlet, Marketing Manager and grandson of the company founder, Theo Gutberlet. nextpractice GmbH was chosen as the investigation partner.
THE SOLUTION
nextpractice used the nextexpertizer interview and analysis method for the image analysis. 100 people, half tegut... customers and half customers of competing companies, were interviewed about their buying habits and various shops.
nextexpertizer is a qualitative method with which unconscious and emotional buying criteria can also be measured. This is an open method where the interviewees can express themselves completely freely. Nevertheless, the answers can be quantified in the same way as a questionnaire method.
The interview partners compare a series of elements with each other and describe similarities and differences in their own words. In this case, the elements were the tegut... supermarkets, the relevant competitive supermarkets, including Rewe, Edeka-Neukauf, Aldi and the "bakery next door", including value elements such as "ideal shop", for example.
THE RESULTS
The company learned that it had already succeeded in positioning tegut... as a brand. The special strengths of the brand lay in the well-being dimensions: Atmosphere and merchandising, friendliness and efficiency of the personnel, organisation and smart appearance.
However, there was clearly also a gap in the customer perception: it was not apparent, in particular to non-customers, whether and to what extent, tegut... offered special deals and low prices.
On the basis of the results, tegut... decided to put out a stronger "good food" message. At the same time, it wanted to increase perception of special offers, discounts and price reductions.
In a workshop in which the nextmoderator moderation method was used and comprised of directors from all branches, the participants devised specific measures. Among others, these measures concerned merchandising, advertising strategies and the involvement of employees.
The measures were not only implemented, but soon showed effects. According to tegut..., sales have increased considerably since then. "We have definitely gained new customers", said Gutberlet.
