Strategic Report
We know our
customers better
than anyone else
Understanding our customers is essential to
achieving our goal to be the most trusted retailer
where people love to work and shop. Our customer
insights inform the decisions we make each day.
A key source of customer
insight is our Nectar loyalty
scheme. This not only helps
us to know our customers
better than anyone else, but
also enables us to tell our
customers about products
and services that are most
relevant to them.
During the year we introduced a new
customer database system that gives us a
more holistic view of our customers, resulting
in an even better understanding of our
customers, allowing us to meet their needs
in a personalised and more effective way.
We consult with our customers regularly in
a number of different ways. We launched
our online consumer panel, Trolley Talk, 18
months ago through which we talk to 4,000
customers every week on a range of issues.
The insight we gain from these conversations
helps us to make the right strategic decisions.
We conducted considerable research with
our customers on pricing. They told us that
multi-buy promotions do not meet their
shopping needs today and that they were
confusing, creating storage challenges in the
home and unnecessary waste. This led us
to simplify our pricing, reducing prices on
hundreds of lines across our grocery ranges
in favour of lower regular prices. We will be
the first major retailer in the UK to remove
multi-buy promotions across the vast majority
of our grocery business by August 2016.
This year we are replacing our Brand Match
scheme with lower regular prices. All the
money from the scheme will be reinvested
into lowering the price of popular products.
We will continue to monitor the prices of
branded products to ensure we remain
competitive, and offer customers great value.
Since we introduced this simpler pricing
strategy our price satisfaction scores have
increased1 and we have seen growth in
volumes and transactions.
14
Similarly, we asked thousands of
customers what was important to them
about Christmas, and we developed our
award-winning ‘Christmas is for Sharing’
campaign, featuring Mog the Cat. It was
deemed the most popular Christmas
advertising campaign in terms of online
views and by industry experts. Mog’s
Christmas Calamity book topped the UK
book charts for four weeks and, together
with author Judith Kerr and publisher
Harper Collins, we donated more than
£1.5 million to Save the Children to support
their literacy campaign in the UK.
Our Nectar loyalty scheme is another key
source of customer insight. Over 15 million
Nectar card holders shop with us in stores,
online and with Sainsbury’s Bank. We can
reward them for their loyalty across our
different products and services. Bonus point
events, such as Nectar Double-Up, Swipe
and Win and 10x Nectar points on fuel, are
extremely popular with more customers
participating every year.
Our Little Twists campaign inspired many
of our customers to break from their routine
and give everyday dishes a delicious
new twist, such as adding horseradish
to macaroni cheese and ginger beer to a
traditional roast lamb.
1. CSI – Customer Satisfaction Tracking for superstores 2015/16
Knowing our customers helps
us to serve them better
Leading
customer
Reward &
insights
loyalty
Effective
My local store
stocks a wide
variety of products
and I can usually
get everything
I want
SAINSBURY’S CUSTOMER
WEST MIDLANDS
campaigns
#LittleTwists - Add
ginger beer to your
lamb for a twist on
your favourite roast