Van Eeden, De Echte Bakker winner Best Customer Experience 2021
17/12/2021
ARNHEM – Van Eeden, De Echte Bakker from Noordwijkerhout, NL, was named winner of the Best Customer Experience 2021. Of all 330 Echte Bakker bakeries in the Netherlands, Van Eeden’s bakery was rated the best at giving customers an exceptional experience. Van Eeden is closely followed by Gommans, De Echte Bakker from Horst and Van Meijel, De Echte Bakker from Clinge.
New award from the Echte Bakkersgilde
This year, the Best Customer Experience was awarded for the first time. The prize is based on the results of mystery shopping research done by Secret View and was awarded by Niek Koning, founder of Secret View, in the presence of Geert Caniels, CEO of Echte Bakkersgilde.
Annet Hulsebosch is the person responsible for coordinating the store’s team. “We are totally overwhelmed that we’re the best in all of the Netherlands! We didn’t notice the mystery shoppers at all. We are the way we are, and that’s what got us here. We often advise customers about our products and take time to chat with them. When you’re nice to customers, they return the favor.”, says Annet.
The Best Customer Experience is a new competitive aspect Echte Bakker bakeries can strive for. Moreover, the results of the research are part of the weighed total that leads to the prestigious award for Best Echte Bakker of the year. Geert Caniels says: “All entrepreneurs are rated on multiple areas throughout the year. This year, we’ve focused more on customer experience instead of store audits by an expert. Now, we measure that experience by using mystery shopping research.
The best experience
Secret View’s mystery shoppers, who are not professional auditors but regular consumers, visited all Echte Bakker bakeries multiple times and rated their experience. They paid attention to the entire customer journey, from reception to placing an order, (product) presentation, hospitality, and customer service. The survey contains dozens of questions, giving a full report of the customer journey.
Van Eeden’s bakery excelled in nearly every aspect. Most of all, the employees’ passion, helpfulness, and personal approach to the customers was praised. One of the mystery shoppers summarized: “The employees were very friendly and helpful. They were super enthusiastic about their products and seemed to have a lot of joy in their work.”
Close race
The best rated Echte Bakker bakeries are not far apart in score. Bakery Gommans, a multi-award winner in many areas, was also highly rated by the mystery shoppers. “What a lovely store with pleasant employees! Everything seemed to be right.”, one of the mystery shoppers said. Bakery Van Meijel was on their heels with an exceptionally high score as well. One mystery shopper concluded: “This is everything you expect from an Echte Bakker bakery. I was inclined to buy more than I intended.”
But it wasn’t just the top 3 that score well, because all Echte Bakkers combined were rated with an average score of 80% in Secret View’s research. Caniels: “A great result. We’re very glad to see that customers appreciate our personal approach. This is also emphasized by our recent third place in KMPG’s Customer Experience research, where over 5,000 consumers participated to create a top 100 ranking of brands providing the best customer experience. And we came 3rd! Of course, we’d like to maintain this direction. So, it’s all the more important to monitor and improve customer experience with these insights.”
Congratulations from Secret View to all participants with their amazing performance!
