The Loyalty Blueprint - Why Customer Obsession Wins in Grocery Retail

Stockholm, 24th of November 2025

THE MOST EXPENSIVE PROBLEM IN GROCERY RETAIL

Walk into any grocery store at 17:10 on a weekday.

Someone needs assistance at self-checkout.
Someone is searching for help in the dairy aisle.
Someone is wandering the store trying to find an employee.
And a staff member - doing their best - is running between tasks hoping to be everywhere at once.

A minute passes. Nothing happens.
And just like that, a customer becomes irritated, an employee becomes stressed, and revenue slips quietly out the door.

Friction.
The invisible enemy of modern grocery retail.

It costs more than shrinkage.
More than energy.
More than marketing.

It costs loyalty - and loyalty is everything.

THE OBSESSION THAT CHANGED AN INDUSTRY

No leader has articulated this truth more clearly than Jeff Bezos, the architect of customer-first thinking:

“We’re not competitor-obsessed, we’re customer-obsessed. We start with the customer and work backwards.”

Bezos built one of the most successful companies in history not by chasing competitors, but by eliminating friction at every turn - one-click ordering, next-day delivery, personalized experience, zero waiting.

Now, Amazon was born online.
But the lesson applies even more powerfully to physical grocery retail.

Because in a store:

• Every second is felt

• Every interaction is emotional

• Every smile or delay changes behavior immediately

In e-commerce, friction lives in clicks.
In grocery retail, it lives in human moments - and humans remember.

If online success is built on convenience and speed,
offline success is built on care, presence and real-time service.

And that is where the battle will be won.

Check out the Testimonial from one of the leading Swedish Grocery Stores - ICA Liljeholmen. Link (in Swedish)

THE ECONOMICS OF SATISFACTION

This isn’t philosophy. It’s mathematics.

Fred Reichheld, creator of NPS (Net Promoter Score) - the world’s most trusted measurement of loyalty - proves that even a small lift in customer satisfaction creates disproportionate financial results.

NPS asks one question:
“How likely are you to recommend this store to a friend or colleague?”

Customers answer from 0-10.

• 9–10 are Promoters - returning loyalists who drive free growth

• 7–8 are Passives - indifferent

• 0–6 are Detractors - damage with negative word of mouth

Loyalty beats discounting every time.

Reichheld’s research is unequivocal:

“Without loyalty, there can be no growth.”

In grocery retail, where margins are measured in tenths of a percent, loyalty isn’t a nice-to-have -
it’s the most profitable strategy available.

PROOF IN THE REAL WORLD

Turnpike recently helped Magasin - Denmark’s iconic department store chain - prove the power of real-time customer support.

After implementing Turnpike’s Human Tech solution, Magasin saw customer satisfaction increase by 8% and achieved the highest Net Promoter Score in their history.

As Anne Sørensen, Sales Manager at Magasin Copenhagen, said:

“It’s so easy to use - even for staff with no tech experience. Our Net Promoter Score is now higher than ever before.” See video testimonial: Link

That is loyalty made visible.
That is friction removed.
That is customer obsession in action.

MORE RESEARCH THAT CONFIRMS THE EFFECT

To move from belief to proof, Turnpike partnered with Retail Academics - one of the Nordic region’s most respected research and analytics firms, with more than 80,000 shopper interviews and hundreds of store case studies behind them.

We measured the real impact of friction removal in grocery retail.

The findings were unmistakable:

• +5.6% increase in customer satisfaction

• +11 NPS points (from 62 > 73)

• +0.8–0.9% uplift in sales per store

• 89% believe staff deliver better service with Turnpike

One shopper captured it in nice simple words:

“It feels like someone is always there for you.”

That sentence is worth millions to a retailer.

WHY IT WORKS

Ask customers what they truly value:

Help me quickly.
Be friendly.
Know your stuff.
Don’t make me wait.

Not once has a shopper said:
“Show me more dashboards”
or “I want staff to walk further to find information.”

We don’t lack data.
We lack delivery of data to the right people in real time.

FROM FRICTION TO FLOW

Turnpike turns real-time signals into real-time action.
A revense vending machine Out of Order… a long queue… a self-checkout assistance request…

The right employee receives a discreet alert on the wrist - and handles it before it becomes a problem.

No searching.
No running.
No guessing.

Instead - The loop of modern retail.

THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION STATEMENT

If you want to win in grocery retail -
don’t start with inventory, price or process.

Start with the customer.

Remove friction.
Empower people.
Design for flow, not control.

Because the stores that deliver the best experience will own the market.
And the rest will discount until they disappear.

ABOUT TURNPIKE

Turnpike’s Human Tech eliminates friction in grocery retail by turning real-time signals into real-time action.
We empower staff, delight customers, and create measurable profitability through flow.

We are client obsessed.

Interested to see how we can help you?

Reach out to me:

CONTACT

Roger Sjödin
Sales Director, Turnpike Group
roger@turnpikegroup.com

+46 (0) 76 305 85 51