TWO major initiatives to improve the in-store customer experience in Bournemouth are being introduced by the Town Centre BID.

The ten-month Improving Experience Project, funded by the BID and a grant from BCP Council has two elements

•A Peer to Peer Board for business owners with up to twelve non-competing businesses meeting once a month at AFC Bournemouth for nine sessions to discuss a range of key topics.

•The Customer Experience Programme consisting of a pre-customer visit, mystery in-store shop and review, all personalised to the specific business. There will be an invitation to a shared 'Learning Lab' forum where anonymised learning points from all the visits will be shared.

More than 50 customer experience mystery visits will undertaken along with customer surveys and skill-up workshops and businesses will be able to request a mystery shopper visit.

A full review with help, support and advice for the business community will be published at the end of the process in 2022.

The BID is working with two leading national names, Aspirin Business Solutions and insight6 to deliver the project.

The BID's Chief Operating Officer, Paul Kinvig, said: "When we conducted our extensive visitor survey earlier this year, it was clear that an exceptional customer experience was really important to people and one of the top priorities.

“So these are two eminently practical and more importantly visitor driven initiatives and another example of how we are working alongside our businesses to help create the conditions for them to be successful.”

Susannah Brade-Waring, of Aspirin Business Solutions said: “The pandemic has caused further challenges for town-centre based retail, including a change in footfall and the type of customers.

“We’re delighted to support the Bournemouth Town Centre BID, and their levy payers to create a better in-store experience, and build stronger businesses.”

Councillor Philip Broadhead, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Economy at BCP Council, said: “I’m really pleased to be able to support these creative initiatives from the Bournemouth Town Centre BID.

"For this round of grant support, we challenged businesses and partner organisations to think differently, and come up with innovative proposals to help our whole area bounce back better than ever before. These great projects deliver just that – supporting local businesses through training and support.

"I’m looking forward to seeing the positive difference these schemes will provide to the whole area.’’

For more information visit: www.towncentrebid.co.uk