Challenge: Plan-it has collaborated with Stop & Shop/Giant on a wide variety of projects to better understand and address issues within specific departments of the store.

Objective: A key area of interest has been the meat and seafood departments to better compete with high-end grocers. One set of studies included focusing on identifying strategies for improving the customer experience and sales in those critical departments.

Solution: A combination of qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted. Through qualitative in-store discussion groups and “shop-alongs,” Plan-it was able to gain an in-depth understanding of customers’, managers’ and employees’ perceptions of these departments, including key reasons and barriers to shopping these sections. Key learnings from the exploratory phases were then used to develop rich, in-depth quantitative surveys to confirm departmental issues.

Result: Based on learning and insights from both phases, Plan-it recommended operational, merchandising, and communications strategies to help build long-term customer loyalty to these departments.