Keith Taylor

This Customer Appreciates Iceland Shopping

I'm inspired by Jongo's latest post about Customer Appreciation. But rather than pollute his comments any more, I thought this deserves a separate post.

Outside Iceland Store in Shipley

^{Source: Peter Hughes at Shipley Festival I don't have time to nip out for my own photo of Iceland. So I'm using Peter's shot from Twitter. Well, if he can snap me dancing outside Iceland, I can post his photo.😉}

To readers outside the UK who don't have access to Iceland, I hope you'll share some stories about how you feel appreciated as a customer. Here's why Iceland gets my vote…

Iceland Staff

There's no beeping, noisy robots to annoy me here. Because I get served by real people. And they're friendly too. Mark the driver always delivers and chats. Then he waves when he sees me around town. Mandy multitasks with speedy swiping and friendly chat. Often about the time she lived near me and mutual friends. Mark and Mandy! A creative person with looser vowels than mine might be inspired to a TV series!😉

Iceland Food Quality

As well as big name brands, Iceland provides a wide range of good quality own-brand food. I've never had any bad ingredients or poor ready meals. Except one delivery that had a couple of crumpled tins. But they refunded me their cost immediately, without question.

Iceland Prices

In my comments to Jongo's article, I spoke of the unseen benefits of rewards schemes in price comparison charts. So here's the detail. However, it's worth pointing out that Iceland always has several pricing offers on the go. For example, I use its '3 for £10' scheme regularly. Frequently, getting £15 value for £10. Though £15 is the top end value. As most commonly, the savings are £2-£3 per £10 deal.

Iceland Bonus Card

Iceland has a bonus card scheme that you can top up. Cardholders get some special price offers. But the main benefit is the 5% top up bonus. So for every £20 that you add to your card, Iceland gives you an extra £1. Then, you use your bonus card to pay for shopping whenever you like.

Let's say I bought £48 worth of groceries. Including 2 of my aforementioned 3 for £10 deals worth £13 each. Then I'd be charged £42 at the till. But I would have only topped up my bonus card with £40.

Iceland Over 60 Support

Every Tuesday, bonus cardholders aged 60 or more get 10% off at the till. So all I have to do is present my driving licence and I get £4 off. Which will stay on my bonus card for next week's shopping. Now, I've paid £36 for items totalling £48 in price comparison charts.

Customer Appreciation

It is true, as Jongo complains, that reward schemes are dying. And customers feel unappreciated as a result. So I wanted to highlight a business where I feel appreciated. And I have more for future articles.

Who makes you feel appreciated as a customer? And why?

^{Please don't tell me about any bad experiences. This is not a fear-driven media outlet. Nor am I Resolver!}