Customers - "those who buy our products and services"

Overview

First and foremost, customers judge us on product range, shopping experience and our value proposition. But increasingly they use other criteria, such as where a product is sourced from and how it is made. The judgement customers make on these issues inevitably becomes part of how they see our brands and respond to the Group. There is also growing evidence that customers consider less tangible issues like ethics, integrity and responsibility in their overall view of a retailer and we aim to ensure these factors are positively associated with our brands.

Environmental and ethical shopping behaviour has hitherto been most noticeable in the food and consumable markets, but is spreading into non food markets via issues like sustainable timber sourcing and conflict diamonds. We expect this to continue in other product markets, for example electrical goods, as stakeholder concerns about climate change and energy consumption give rise to demand for energy saving and energy efficient products.

We believe that in order to grow as a retailing business, we need to understand our customers’ requirements. We know that customers look for quality, price and service and their opinions on all three of these are carefully measured and benchmarked. With ethical issues joining this list in the minds of customers, it is important that we meet their expectations in order to develop and retain their brand trust and loyalty.

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