There has been plenty of speculation over what new Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh might have in store for the retailer since he joined in November last year. All signs seem to show that he has spent a lot of time in stores, with suppliers and engaging with the broader industry as he finds his feet in the uniquely competitive and value-driven UK grocery market.

And maybe it’s already starting to show in the #customer experience  - there have been some significant changes clear to anyone visiting Morrisons’ stores, notably some shopper-centric initiatives such as the deployment of instore seating for customers to rest during their shopping trip, the addition of shopping baskets at the back of the store for overladen shoppers and lots more point-of-sale material asking for feedback and alerting shoppers to the existence of ‘listening sessions’ in each store.

This last point is key. Hearing feedback, ideas or – let’s face it – criticism from shoppers is an often overlooked but vital component of putting the shopper at the heart of the experience. Traditional feedback channels, such as surveys, customer service phone lines and NPS mechanisms can often offer a shopper viewpoint that is superficial, skewed or lacking in nuance. Participants often have to be convinced to take part through rewards or competitions, while proactive feedback tends to be overwhelmingly negative – it’s unusual for shoppers to voluntarily expend energy on communicating that they had a positive experience.

That is why these types of instore, shopper listening sessions are so important: Direct and honest feedback about the shopping experience are like gold dust. It appears that Morrisons is also taking this a step further by involving customers in high-level meetings and discussions at head office, incorporating the voice of the customer at the top. Often, by the time the customer viewpoint percolates upwards to head office level, it has been so over aggregated or watered down as to be rendered borderline pointless. Also, there is a natural tendency to sugarcoat shopper sentiment as it travels further up a retail organisation, so capturing the directness and honesty of the shopper vantage point closer to the top of the food chain becomes vital.

Walmart under Sam Walton and Tesco under Sir Terry Leahy were just two examples of big retailers that took the view of the shopper (and instore colleagues) very seriously indeed and created great commercial success on the back of that insight.

Shopper-centricity and experience is easy to talk about but hard to do. Putting the shopper at the heart of things in an increasingly price and promotion cluttered UK market is even harder. Remi joined Morrisons from Carrefour, a retailer that does a fantastic job in recognising and rewarding shopper behaviour from meaningful rewards, to their current unique, sports and healthy eating campaign to celebrate the Olympic year.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a UK grocer break from the pack and do something truly differentiated in how they bring the shopper experience to life and make it rewarding.