Speed of service is important but not at the sacrifice of good manners when choosing where to eat

UK (SANEPR.com) June 26, 2008 -- With the British public spending in excess of £9 billion on fast food, takeaways and sandwiches and purchasing over 2 billion QSR meals*, Retail Eyes, the fastest growing customer evaluation company in the UK, has revealed interesting details about consumer behaviour and the factors that influence people’s decision to visit a quick service restaurant.

While 2 in 3 customers expect the purchasing process from the point of joining the queue to completing and receiving their purchase should take less than three minutes, only 1 in 10 said that they usually feel like a valued customer when paying at the till.

The survey revealed that customer service and the interactions with frontline staff are the key drivers in the customer’s decision making process and for 86% of respondents the way staff interact with them affects their decision to visit a location. Staff knowledge was highlighted to be important to customers with 79.5% saying that they expect staff to be able to recommend serving suggestions.

There is also good news for retailers; 81.2% of respondents said that they like to be made aware of offers, suggesting that there are plenty of opportunities to achieve higher margins.

The appearance of staff also has a significant effect on customers. 91.6% of respondents said that staff appearance affects their overall impression of the service they receive.

Tim Ogle, CEO at Retail Eyes commented, “These interesting results have demonstrated that consumers are becoming ever savvier about the choices they make when wanting a quick bite to eat and getting the best value for their money. The traditional pillars of the fast food ethos – Quality, Value and Convenience are no longer enough in today’s discerning consumer arena. Service – and this extends past speed alone – will continue to differentiate in the high street and nowhere more so than in the QSR landscape. Retailers must work closely with their frontline staff to ensure they understand the importance of their appearance, interactions and the fact customers love to be made aware of deals and offers.”

The Retail Eyes survey was conducted 25-28 April 2008, and surveyed 2,752 people nationally.
* www.horizonsforsuccess.com

About Retail Eyes

Retail Eyes is the UK’s fastest growing customer service evaluation business and ranked 37th in the 2007 Sunday Times Tech Track 100. With over 50 staff operating from its UK offices in Milton Keynes, Retail Eyes combines world beating technology with an innovative approach, to deliver customer service evaluation and business development programmes to clients across a variety of sectors.

Renowned for their unique approaches to providing the UK’s leading customer service development programmes, Retail Eyes produces empowering actionable insights and improvements to all levels of their clients’ businesses.

Clients include Virgin, O2, William Hill, BAA, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Thresher, SUBWAY™, Thomas Cook, JD Wetherspoon and Red Bull. For more information, visit www.retaileyes.co.uk.