Jernia, the Norwegian classic retailer founded in 1951, has used Maze for several years to boost sales, increase loyalty and to increase customer satisfaction.
– Maze is a main part of our cultural development, says Jernia CEO Espen Karlsen.

In the following blog post and video, Jernia CEO Espen Karlsen share their experiences with Maze.

The blog post covers

  • How their customers have changed their behaviour in 2023
  • Why people visit their stores
  • How they use data to improve customer experience

Espen Karlsen has led Jernia since April 2017, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. A wise focus, since Jernia recently won their category in Norske Kundebarometer, a research project that tracks customer satisfaction and loyalty in Norway.

This shows that the neverending focus that Jernia puts into how they treat customers, really pays off. And Espen Karlsen credits Maze to some of the success.

– Maze gives us the customer satisfaction and the external focus. So this is a main part of our cultural development, of course, because one of the main ingredients in the culture is how we perform service to our customers, he says.

Knowledge is key

Cultural change can be taxing, and take time. But it is certainly something that drives sales, if done right. Specially in these times when many retailers are acting on a cooler market, where customer behaviour is changing. 

–  Customers are now buying less costly products, and more products that they need, instead of want, says Espen Karlsen.

Jernia has a broad assortment and therefore it’s important that the store teams have great knowledge so they can give good advice to customers.

– We see that people are adapting and shopping online, but stores are important. The main reason our customers are visiting our stores is to get help to find the best possible solution.

Putting effort where it matters

Espen Karlens also says that that data has become a far greater focus for Jernia.

– We spend a lot of time tracking data, and our competition. It’s become more important than before.

The data from Maze is, among other things, is used to measure how their customers value the skills of the frontline staff.

– If we see that some of the skills have a high score, and some of the skills have a lower scores and then we make individual training plans to improve the low scores. We work to develop each employee into the skills and the standards. When it comes to how we are defining service, it’s very crucial.

Finally, one thing that’s also crucial, no matter the circumstances, is for Jernia to keep putting money where it matters.

– The most important thing Jernia is doing, is to keep investing in our employees, says Espen Karlsen.