Farm Fresh Interview Questions
Interviewee: Store Director of Gene Walters(W. 21st Street) Colleen McCabe
Store Director for a total of 14 years
1.) How many shoppers do you usually have in the store at one time?
Weekly 11,000
Daily 1,500- 1,600
2.) How many shopping carts does each store have?
On average 70 carts
3.) What features do you think would be important for our product to have (nutrition
information…etc.)?
Nutrition facts for diabetics, past product purchases (product history),
running cart total
4.) How would Farm Fresh feel about a technical device on the shopping cart?
Yes, “The President of the company always wants the company to be on
the cutting edge of everything.”
5.) Why does Farm Fresh not use shopping cards?
“We offer the customers the lowest prices, therefore they do not need a
card.”
6.) How does Farm Fresh perform data collection on their customers?
Colleen explained that Farm Fresh puts out a survey once a year to their
customers called a “Spotting Survey.” The survey consist of questions
such as: where do they(the customer) shop, age, how many dependents,
what they spend on average during a shopping trip…etc.
7.) How does Farm Fresh use this data?
Use if for demographic reasons such as: where to put a new store, and
what products should they carry that they do not already carry.
8.) How successful is the online shopping feature for the consumers?
“Successful thus far.” “Its still building its momentum.”
9.) Who are your major contributors to Farm Fresh Stores (i.e products
advertisements)? See question 26
Pepsi, Coke, Kraft, and Supervalue who is the main warehouse
10.) What days of the week do you have the most traffic? (i.e peak period)
“Saturdays are the busiest days.”
11.) What hour of the day do you have the most traffic?
“Usually between the hours of 12pm – 1pm and 2pm-4pm.”
12.) What new technologies has Farm Fresh incorporated into their stores? What
have they considered?
“We have tried incorporating web design technology, as well as a scan based data
system to determine what items are selling and what items are not.
13.) Could we take photographs in your store for our presentation?
“Yes you can we can get the o.k from Susan Mayo.”
14.) How many items do you have in the store?
Over 100,000 different items (also # of items depends on the store)
15.) Do you have a means to locate items located throughout the store (database
access, digital map)
“NO, we use UPC codes and catalogs at the present time.”
16.) How often do shoppers ask for locations of items?
“Yes all the time.”
17.) Is the goal of grocery stores to keep the shopper “confused” and looking for
products? Or would it be willing to assist the shopper by offering the PSA?
“Absolutely not, our goal is not to keep the shopper confused.” We try to make
shopping as easy as possible. Would be willing to assist customer by offering
PSA. “Yes definitely.”
18.) Have you noticed shoppers using PDA’s while shopping?
“Yes I have especially during the evening hours when people are just getting off
of work.”
19.) If Farm Fresh/GW were to invest in PSA , do you think it should be software
based where customers would have to use their own PDA’s or would you offer it
as a device where it can be supplied to the customer for free?
“Well I know for a fact that advertisers would pay for pop up ads on the device
and it would not cost the store anything.” “No way, we would go with the PSA as
a device, because all customers do not own PDA’s and we would not want other
customers or loyal customers to be at a disadvantage.”
20.) Have you heard of the Safeway Magellen or the Klever Kart? Your thoughts…
“Yes , I think they are very interesting, I think all these type of devices would
benefit by giving pop up advertisement on brand new items that are coming out.”
21.) Would a running cart total assist shoppers? “Yes, customers would love that.”
22.) What problem do you think the PSA could solve (problem statement help)
It would assist as well as add to the shopping experience. It would be a faster way
to shop.
are shoppers looking for a better way to shop?
“Yes, I believe so.”
Are shoppers looking for an enhancement to their shopping experience
“Yes”
Are shoppers looking for better customer service (would the PSA help with this)
“Yes, because a big part of shopping is based upon customer service. ”
Are shoppers asking for more technology in the storing easier.”
“Maybe.”
23.) Besides sales, how does Farm Fresh generate revenue?
“Slotting fees- charged to put new items on the shelf(millions of dollars),
promotional displays-(for additional items).”
24.) Would your shoppers want to shop faster (with the PSA) , would that be beneficial
or detrimental to Farm Fresh? “Yes.” “ It would be beneficial because customers are busy
and are working.”
25.) What is the company’s vision statement?
“Our goal is to serve the customer to our greatest ability.”
26.) Do most shoppers use shopping lists? “Yes.” Do you think that these are often
misplaced and not brought to the store? Yes
27.) Would having a virtual shopping list help to increase revenue? “Yes, it could.”
28.) Do you believe the increase uses of the internet for on-line shopping has affected instore business?
“Yes, for Farm Fresh.” In what ways? “For GW we have 9 or 10 orders a day
by phone from just elderly customers.”
29.) The Farm Fresh website offers many useful features such as price comparisons, food
safety information and weekly specials. Do you believe access to these features
while shopping in the store would benefit the customer and possibly increase sales?
Yes, it could.” What features do you think would be most beneficial/useful? Refer
to question 3.
30.) How does Farm Fresh view increasing technology in the store? Do you think it will
alienate those “non-technical” customers? Do you think it would attract new
customers? What type of customers (age, gender, social status) do you think this
technology would attract?
“We are always looking for new technology.” No it will not alienate nontechnical customers because they just would not use it.” “Yes, it probably would
attract new customers.”
31.)Based on current shopper demographic data, what type of customer (age, gender,
social ) is most/least likely to shop at Farm Fresh? “For this particular store we get
elderly people as well as middle to high income, dual working families.”
32.) What are other resources that would be available for me to use to gather more
information on Farm Fresh as it pertains to our project? **Susan Mayo, Head of
Consumer Affairs, telephone: 306-2080