Auditing fresh produce quality across a supermarket chain

What is shaping horticulture

Horticulture spans fruit, vegetables, flowers and plantation crops, with fast-moving prices and a high risk of post-harvest loss. Growers sell through mandis, traders and increasingly direct-to-buyer channels.

• Prices swing daily in mandi markets
• Post-harvest handling decides how much produce reaches buyers
• Organised retail and exporters set new quality standards

A regional supermarket chain in the UK, working in United Kingdom. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A regional supermarket chain in the UK

Sector

Horticulture

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Offline data collection, Data analytics & dashboards, Reporting & insights

Shoppers complained about wilted vegetables in some branches, but head office could not tell which stores and suppliers were the problem.

• Deliver on the brief: auditing fresh produce quality across a supermarket chain.
• Uncover the motivations and barriers people do not state in a survey.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 6 months.

Scope: 60 stores, monthly audits for six months.

Audiences we typically reach in horticulture

Growers and orchard ownersCommission agents and tradersNurseriesFresh-produce retailersExporters and packhouses

Coverage: United Kingdom. Market: United Kingdom. 60 stores covered.

• United Kingdom

A qualitative design, built to uncover motivations, decision processes and the language people actually use.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Store audits
3. 3Shopper exit interviews
4. 4Insight

Auditors visited stores at set times to score produce freshness, display, temperature and wastage using photo-supported checklists. Short exit interviews captured shopper satisfaction. Results flowed into a monthly dashboard by store and supplier.

Offline data collectionData analytics & dashboardsReporting & insights

• Respondents were selected across United Kingdom using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
• Auditors and mystery shoppers followed a standard checklist, recording evidence at each visit.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Photo or document evidence for audit points
• Second-reviewer checks on scores
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping
• Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking

• Problems clustered around two distribution routes with long transit times.

Regular, consistent audits turn vague complaints into specific, fixable problems.

• Build on the core insight: regular, consistent audits turn vague complaints into specific, fixable problems.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: problems clustered around two distribution routes with long transit times.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The chain changed delivery schedules and supplier assignments, and the dashboard became part of monthly store reviews.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interactive dashboard

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: what quality standards do modern buyers expect?