Supermarket chain Asda is to create a second executive board made up exclusively of parents to make 2005 “a year of listening to and delivering for mums”.
Unlike more usual ways of canvassing customer feedback, the Asda Mums’ Board will guide the business for a whole year.
It will comprise eight mothers who will be asked to give Asda buyers and executive board members face-to-face feedback on a quarterly checklist of products and services.
Asda hopes the board will include a single-parent, a father, a young mum, a grandparent, a working mother, a step-parent and an older mum. Each will be ‘buddied’ with one of the eight existing Asda Executive Board members.
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“The focus on mums makes perfect sense,” said Asda’s trading and marketing director and chair of the Mums’ Board, Angela Spindler.
“They probably face the most demands and are the most time-pressured and value-conscious customers we have,” she said. “If we get it right for them, we reckon we’ll get it right for everyone.”