Sainsburys

The Challenge

As one of the UK’s leading supermarket brands, Sainsbury’s faced increasing pressure from discount retailers and premium grocers alike. To defend its market share and strengthen loyalty, Sainsbury’s needed a deeper understanding of customer behaviour, expectations, and perceptions across both in-store and online shopping.

Key objectives included:

Tracking customer satisfaction and loyalty in a rapidly changing grocery environment.
Understanding how different segments of shoppers (e.g. families, young professionals, budget-conscious customers) engaged with the brand.
Identifying friction points in the shopping journey — from store navigation to delivery experiences.
Testing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, promotions, and loyalty schemes (e.g. Nectar) in driving repeat purchase and advocacy.

In short, Sainsbury’s wanted a 360° view of its customers to help optimise operations and strengthen its positioning as a supermarket that balances quality with value.

The Solution

Skopos designed a multi-method research programme that combined quantitative rigour with qualitative depth:

Continuous satisfaction tracking across in-store, click & collect, and home delivery experiences.
Journey-based surveys after key touchpoints (e.g. online order, in-store checkout, loyalty scheme interactions) to capture feedback in-the-moment.
Customer segmentation analysis, mapping needs, motivations, and shopping missions across distinct audience groups.
Ethnographic research and in-depth interviews to uncover deeper insights into grocery shopping behaviours, including emotional drivers such as convenience, trust, and value.
Campaign evaluation studies to measure cut-through and effectiveness of promotions, advertising, and loyalty communications.

The Outcome

The programme equipped Sainsbury’s with clear, actionable insights to strengthen its customer proposition:

Highlighted pain points in online delivery (e.g. substitutions, time slots), enabling operational improvements and reducing churn.
Identified loyalty drivers for different shopper segments, informing refinements to the Nectar scheme and personalised offers.
Provided evidence that supported pricing and promotional strategies, balancing perceptions of value with Sainsbury’s premium product positioning.
Revealed strengths in fresh food quality and ethical sourcing, which could be amplified in brand communications.
Established a continuous feedback loop, allowing Sainsbury’s to measure improvements and benchmark performance against competitors.

As a result, Sainsbury’s was able to increase advocacy, improve loyalty scheme engagement, and refine both online and in-store experiences — helping it to compete more effectively in a dynamic grocery landscape.

Sainsburys

The Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

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