• Supermarket leader reinforces commitment to professionalise service by clinching the most number of National Excellent Service Awards

Singapore’s leading supermarket retailer NTUC FairPrice bagged the most number of awards at the National Excellent Service Awards (EXSA) today, with 245 of its staff receiving the Excellent Service Awards from various categories under EXSA this year.

EXSA is a national award that recognizes individuals who have delivered outstanding service; and seeks to develop service models for staff to emulate, create service champions and professionalise service. In all, there are 1988 EXSA award recipients this year from the retail sector. Twenty FairPrice staff received the Star Award and over 200 received Gold and Silver awards for the retail industry.

“Delivering excellent service is our commitment. In today’s competitive and customer-centric retail environment, excellent service is no longer about meeting customers’ needs. It is about delighting customers and providing that personal touch. FairPrice is committed to develop an outstanding management capability to promote and sustain service excellence, and in supporting various national initiatives to raise our service standards,” said Mr Gerry Lee, Deputy Managing Director (Group Business) and Chairperson of Service Excellence Committee, NTUC FairPrice.

This year’s win at EXSA serves to further demonstrate FairPrice’s continuous effort in improving the service standards of staff in the frontline, and the company’s commitment to deliver the best in service for its customers, at the same time offering products at best quality and value.

As one of the largest retailer in the country employing more than 6,000 employees, where 95 percent of its staff is Singaporeans, FairPrice has a dedicated FairPrice Training Institute that focuses on equipping its frontline staff with the knowledge and skills to serve customers well.

As part of its service improvement programme, FairPrice started the Customer Centric Initiatives (CCI) in 2005 where it introduced the Mystery Shoppers Audit Programme and customer skills set training for all frontline staff. This year, FairPrice has embarked on Phase Two of its CCI programme, where it will focus on developing frontline staff into service professionals through the Certified Service Professional programme and embarking on the Singapore Service Class journey to develop a holistic customer service culture within the company.

Ms Marie Therese, an EXSA Star Award recipient from the Customer Relations department at NTUC FairPrice, said, “Being on the frontline of customer service is perhaps one of the most challenging and dynamic professions as customer needs are constantly changing and vary from person to person. Ongoing training and skills upgrading is vital to keep us up-to-date and aligned with customer needs.”