Case Study: National Co+op Grocers boosts customer satisfaction and value perception with Service Management Group (SMG)

How National Co+op Grocers worked with SMG to improve customer satisfaction

National Co+op Grocers (NCG), a business services cooperative serving 169 independent, community-owned grocery co-ops, needed to improve customer value perception and satisfaction—and to convince independent member stores to adopt CX changes amid rising prices. NCG partnered with Service Management Group (SMG), using SMG’s software-with-a-service (SwaS) CX/XM benchmarking and insights to surface which customer interactions mattered most and to build a data-driven case for change.

Service Management Group (SMG) helped NCG turn those insights into three focused initiatives—drive quality in key departments, improve product availability, and set clear service expectations—which led to measurable gains: participating stores saw product availability rise +2 percentage points, NCG’s overall value perception improved +4 ppts year‑over‑year (2022–2023), and one studied store reported +6 ppts friendliness, +2 ppts availability of products, and +7 ppts sales growth. The SMG partnership also drove adoption and feedback growth (more than a 50% increase in participating stores since 2019 and a >100% increase in customer responses to over 6,500), with NCG leading benchmarks for Availability of Assistance in its category.

National Co+op Grocers

Alex Mytelka

Retail Benchmarking Program Manager