The luxury Bicester Village shopping destination secured owners Value Retail PLC a UK Customer Experience Award at this year’s gala event at Wembley Arena.
The Oxfordshire village is one of 11 located across Europe and China, featuring boutique outlets offering huge savings for customers. At the awards, Value Retails reps presented to judges their strategy to improve customer engagement and satisfaction at the village.
Four key areas were identified for improvement: people, product, process, and premises, and a spokesperson said: “Delivery of these initiatives has resulted in a guest-centric organisation delivering sales which far outweigh the industry norm. At a time when High Street retail is experiencing significant challenges, and many are predicting the end of traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailing, by putting the customer ‘at the heart of everything we do’, we have proven traditional retail is not dead – its alive and delivering!”
The strategy earned Value Retail the Gold award in the Best Customers at the Heart of Everything – Strategy category, while the firm also won Silver in CX Team of the Year – Customer Centricity.
The Silver award was presented in recognition of Bichester Village’s Guest (Customer) Experience Team. An internal review saw the group created, comprising of new, improved roles including Hospitality Managers, Hosts, Doormen, and Guest Relation Ambassadors, among others.
Meanwhile, the Silver award for Best Customers at the Heart of Everything – Strategy was presented to organic baby food producer Ella’s Kitchen, while Bronze went to Code Student Accommodation.