Carphone Warehouse 2015 Annual Report Download - page 15

Dixons Carphone plc Annual Report and Accounts 2014/15
Strategic report
Our resources
13
• Customers
• People
• Suppliers
• Distribution and logistics
• Store portfolio
• Intellectual property
• Energy
• Cash and capital
Customers
We are driven to provide unparalleled expertise and services to
help customers and businesses navigate the new digital era
and one of our key values is: we put the customer first, always.
To deliver on this value and to ensure we continue to respond
to customers’ needs, we must listen and respond effectively
to them. We have comprehensive customer research
programmes spanning a variety of tools including exit surveys,
mystery shoppers and focus groups as well as effective data
gathering through, for example, our ‘Happy or Not’ tools
launched in our Elkjøp business and now introduced to
CurrysPCWorld. Within our Carphone Warehouse stores,
our Each and Every Customer Counts programme and Net
Promoter Scores (NPS) are integral to our internal reward
system. We are pleased that customer satisfaction scores
across the business are at record levels.
Through this research, managed internally and reviewed daily,
weekly and monthly, we have developed a clear and detailed
understanding of what we are doing well and more importantly
of where we can target further improvements. Customers tell
us that they need us to deliver a strong combination of ‘Value,
Choice and Service’ across all our shopping channels and it is
clear from their feedback that more and more, they recognise
that we are doing this. We will continue to deliver easier, more
exciting places to shop for customers whether that be in store,
online or a multi-channel combination of both.
Listening to customers extends into how we approach the
sales process in store. Our unique training programmes
combined with our customer journeys, including Pin Point,
are designed to ensure customers leave our stores with a
complete solution that is right for them. Doing this is a key
part of our ongoing strategy and delivery of a sustainable
business model, as well as enabling us to differentiate our
offer from competitors.
By maintaining our absolute focus on the customer and
delivering what they want in a retail environment that is
constantly evolving, we will continue to attract new
customers and retain existing ones.
People
Dixons Carphone is an organisation spanning Europe, with
over 40,000 colleagues in over 2,300 stores, offices, call
centres and distribution centres and one of our key priorities
following the Merger has been to build one culture, one vision
and one future.
To support this we have launched our company values:
• We put the customer first, always
• We stand together as one
• We act bravely, challenge convention and do the right thing
• We know everyone can make a difference
• We believe anything is possible
This supports a ‘culture of discovery’ and faces head on the
changing environment in which we operate and supports us in
cultivating a high performance environment where each
employee performs to the best of their ability, working together
to achieve to their fullest potential. Our people are key to our
success and it is essential that colleagues are innovative and
creative, customer-focused and great at building relationships.
We are focused on improving every possible aspect of the
shopping journey, we want our colleagues to become famous
for service and retain customers for life by having exciting
new stores, the best range at great prices and untangling
the shopping trip. We are making good progress, however,
we must never be satisfied and we can and must make
further improvements to delight customers and to outpace
the competition.
We are focusing on building a career development framework
that rewards customer centric behaviour and instils a sense of
pride in our colleagues. We now provide tailor-made
development programmes and support further education
qualifications for our colleagues throughout the business.
Our development programmes use modules, training
workshops and a dedicated e-learning intranet service that
helps provide the skills colleagues need to succeed at every
level and career stage. We are also launching a dedicated
training academy later in the year.
We use our sophisticated tracking and measuring processes,
including regular mystery shops and exit surveys, to measure
individual and store performance, and to ensure we reward
appropriate behaviours. We also use a balanced scorecard
approach, based on the belief that engaged teams deliver
great service, which, in turn, delivers results for the business.
We measure the people element of our scorecard using a
colleague engagement survey, which runs twice a year.
During the year we launched the first Dixons Carphone
Sharesave scheme giving employees the chance to own
a part of the Company and share in its success.
Suppliers
With our market-leading positions, growing reputation and
being increasingly seen as the ‘go to’ location for all the latest
technology, our relationship with suppliers becomes ever more
important as well as ever stronger. Product sourcing offices
continually monitor current and future product cycles with
existing and potential suppliers.
In a complex multi-channel environment, suppliers trust us
with their new product releases and stock allocations, as they
appreciate the superior service and advice offered by our
stores and indeed our websites, as well as the exciting