Explore how The Artist Tree leveraged DTiQ’s Mystery Shops to transform their worst-performing store into their best-performing store.

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Client Profile

Company: The Artist Tree ‍

Operator & Role: Philip Del Rio, VP of Retail

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The Challenge

The Artist Tree identified a need to enhance performance in one of their stores, which was underperforming compared to others. They aimed to improve sales, service quality, and employee training to elevate overall customer experience.

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DTiQ Solution

The Artist Tree partnered with DTiQ to implement Mystery Shops, a tool designed to assess and improve performance in retail environments.

“I’ve worked with DTiQ for over 16 years. It has established for us the ability to inspect what we expect in terms of the different selling steps that we have in our locations. We’re constantly referring back to the mystery shop that we created with DTIQ to ensure that our stores are operating on those selling steps.”

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Key insights & Areas of Improvement:

‍Day-to-day Usage

DTiQ’s Mystery Shops allowed The Artist Tree to ensure adherence to their defined selling steps across all locations, enhancing operational consistency and customer experience.

“When we do see that there are opportunities or missed points in the mystery shop, we’ll review camera footage and be able to really pinpoint what happened and where that potential employee needs additional training.”

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Impact on Performance

By utilizing DTiQ’s Mystery Shop data, The Artist Tree identified areas for improvement and provided targeted training to employees, resulting in enhanced performance and increased sales.

“I think that’s our biggest benefit right now, is that we’re able to zone in on which employees need additional training and which stores may need additional training for the entire team.”

Artist Tree incorporated Mystery Shop criteria into their new hire training program, reinforcing key selling points and service standards from the outset.

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Effect on Customer Training

Improvements in Mystery Shop scores directly correlated with enhanced service quality and increased average order value, demonstrating the impact of training initiatives on customer experience and sales performance.

“We’ve been able to see an immediate, direct correlation between the store’s improvements in their mystery shop scores with our average order value in stores. Service in stores largely impacts what and how much people are purchasing, and if you offer that level of service, you’re going to see the average order value for each guest go up.”

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Measurable Results

Through consistent training and monitoring, The Artist Tree saw significant improvements in store performance, with the once worst-performing store becoming the best-performing store in their portfolio.

“When we first launched this program six or seven months ago now, we had a store that was not hitting the right metrics in terms of the mystery shop. Through repeated training and going over the mystery shop, we’ve seen them go from our worst performing store to our best-performing store. The morale of the GM improved because they saw an objective and measurable score that’s motivated them to improve the overall sales and service at that location.

We had a situation where higher initiatives, like selling steps, were not being executed. Having DTIQ as a partner and this mystery shop program was able to hold that store accountable to what I expect us to be putting out. That accountability for that particular GM and management team has really made a huge impact.”

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Accountability and Impact

The implementation of Mystery Shops fostered a sense of accountability among store managers, leading to increased motivation, improved morale, and tangible sales growth.

The reliability and level of service provided by DTiQ, coupled with their longstanding partnership, were significant factors in The Artist Tree’s decision to select DTiQ over other providers.

“Because of the relationship that I’ve had with them for many years and level of service is why I’ve come back to DTiQ over several different companies, actually.”

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Support for Online Reviews

The Artist Tree observed a positive correlation between Mystery Shop scores and online reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google, highlighting the direct impact of service quality on customer perception and feedback.

“Another correlation between the mystery shops and improvements in online reviews – if the managers are understanding the sales expectation through these mystery shops, we’re going to see those improvements online, whether that be on Yelp or Google.”

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Conclusion

DTiQ’s Mystery Shops empowered The Artist Tree to identify and address performance gaps effectively, resulting in improved service quality, enhanced customer experience, and increased sales. By leveraging DTiQ’s innovative solutions, The Artist Tree achieved measurable success and strengthened its position as a leader in the retail cannabis industry.

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Learn more about DTiQ’s solutions for dispensaries and retail operations.

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DXL Realized a $4.6 Million Earnings Improvement With The Help of DTiQ

Challenge

In 2000, DXL Big & Tall began to weigh the benefits of supporting an internal loss prevention department versus shifting to an outsourced model. Like most retailers, a high associate turnover rate coupled with limited internal resources challenged the retailer to keep its losses from shrink within acceptable industry levels.

“The need to reevaluate our existing loss prevention practices was clear,” said DXL Operations. “Visibility into our stores and associate activities was limited, and our shrink rate was unacceptable.”

After research, DXL determined an internal department would cost the company at least $1.8 Million annually. Not only was this option expensive, but the internal model did not enable DXL to provide consistent, proactive coverage for all of its nationwide locations.

“Our lowered shrink and resulting earnings improvement are a testament to the success of the program. DTiQ seamlessly integrated into our operations, and helped us build and maintain a proactive loss prevention program.”

Solution

DXL chose to partner with DTiQ, the only provider of low-cost, nationwide loss prevention solutions. A customized full-service program was quickly deployed to all store locations in the United States.

“The most important factor in our relationship is DTiQ’s nationwide presence,” said DXL Operations. “DTiQ’s resources match our store locations, which enables us to respond faster to individual stores. This has helped our program to be a tremendous success.”

A highlight of the DTiQ solution is a target store program. Working together with DXL district managers, DTiQ develops action plans which mandate frequent physical inventory counts until the shrink reduces. Of the 68 stores enrolled in the target store program in 2006, shrink was reduced by 50%, resulting in an earnings improvement of approximately $600,000.

Results

Prior to its partnership with DTiQ, DXL’s shrink rate averaged 4.5%. However, since shifting to an outsourced model, shrink has been reduced on average of 70%, translating to an overall earnings improvement of $4.6 Million.

I learned about DTiQ as a SUBWAY® operator. DTiQ was their preferred vendor and so I installed the systems at my stores. I then installed them at my Dunkin Donuts locations as well and most recently into my Edible Arrangements stores. I’ve been a DTiQ customer for close to 10 years now and have been pleased since the very beginning. I have a great deal of knowledge about the systems and encourage Edible Arrangements operators to take advantage of what DTiQ brings to the table. I explain to them that you are not just selling a DVR or recording system – you do so much more than that. I’ve been in QSR for 30 years…dating back to when we used VHS tapes! I’ve seen a lot of surveillance vendors but nothing like DTiQ .

“The subscription model is great. Technology needs to be replaced every few years so this way you don’t have to worry about it…pay a nominal fee monthly that keeps your system up to date and gives you access to 24/7/365 support.”

As a multi-unit operator you don’t have time to review video. That’s what I love most about DTiQ – there is a 3rd party to watch and review for you. That way I’m not taking anyone’s side; no one can suggest that we are biased.

The subscription model is great too. Technology needs to be replaced every few years so this way you don’t have to worry about it. You don’t have to pay a large fee upfront and instead, pay a nominal fee monthly that keeps your system up to date and gives you access to 24/7/365 support. I know my system is always covered and it’s a huge benefit.

SmartAudit™ Reports

I can think of so many great stories relating to SmartAudit™. Some of the most memorable ones involve working directly with the auditors to improve the reports and better monitor our stores.

On one occasion, we were reviewing flow of fruit and had some concerns. At our stores, when fruit comes out from the cooler, we wash and prep it, then put it back into the cooler. The whole process should take 30 minutes. The problem we were having was that the fruit was sitting outside of the cooler for far too long. We watched video and saw fruit sitting out for 3.5 hours, which is unacceptable. We presented this problem to our DTiQ SmartAudit™ rep and she provided a great solution. She suggested adding a question to our reports that asks if the food rack is on the floor or not. The rack is a storage unit that is supposed to be in the cooler the large majority of the time so if we found that it was on the floor instead we’d know there was a problem. It was a great solution to our problem and has helped us better monitor the quality of our fruit.

Another area where we were able to improve is customer greetings. One audit showed a 19 minute wait time from when the customer walked in to when they were helped. Edible Arrangements policy requires that they are greeted within 60 seconds. To address this, we simply added a question to our audits that asks whether or not customers were greeted within 60 seconds! Then, scenarios where it takes longer can be addressed with employees.

Of course we’ve also seen the occasional lack of productivity from staff…with them either using Facebook from the office computer or using their cell phones while on duty but with the audits we can easily correct this behavior.

Operational Impact

DTiQ has impacted us financially from a food quality standpoint. Our operation is different from a restaurant, for example, because the customer is not the same as the recipient. In other words, the people buying our arrangements are not typically the ones eating them. With that in mind, our goal is always to turn the recipient into a customer; so, we need to ensure the highest quality. If it’s not up to par, they will not order from us in the future, which then impacts our sales. With DTiQ we can control taste, freshness, and presentation, and generate new business.

Recently, I spoke with a fellow Edible Arrangements operator about using audio to check for upselling. I think it’s a great idea and will be implementing a similar strategy in my stores soon! Upselling is critical in our business and DTiQ audio service makes it easy to monitor so I look forward to using the tool.

I know in the restaurant space employee theft is an issue; it’s not for us because 95-99% of our transactions are completed with credit cards. DTiQ helps us keep track of our inventory though and ensure that employees are not abusing the fact that we allow them to take home some of the fruit.

Final Thoughts

I think that people are often afraid to install a surveillance system – they think “Big Brother” is watching. With DTiQ, this is a moot point. The Franchisor doesn’t have access to footage or data, only Franchisees do. They’re a 3rd party and so provide unbiased feedback and advice on operational efficiencies. The team is always excellent – they always provide answers, always solve things, and always ensure a positive experience.

We put surveillance systems in all of our restaurants for security purposes and also to be able to view recorded footage.

When I was first introduced to DTiQ, what I liked most was the exception reporting tool as well as the SmartAudit™. We don’t have the manpower or time to sit and watch video feeds all day long so this data is extremely helpful.

DTiQSystem Usage

My RM log onto MyDTT™ in the morning and scan through exceptions. The POS overlay is really helpful. It’s so productive for us to look only at the transactions and events that require looking at without having to watch a whole day’s worth of video, for example. It’s a big time saver.

The SmartAudit™ is really exciting for me specifically. What a great tool – having someone else log in to our system and write a detailed report including timestamped pictures. Just about every report has some nugget of information that’s useful to the organization… things like uniform violations, cleanliness issues. Those may not be as critical as fraudulent transactions or security concerns but they’re certainly important.

“I wish I installed DTiQ 4 years ago when we first started building restaurants!”

We have definitely seen a few false alarms but even those raise awareness at the store level. They remind the team that someone is watching all the time. Recently, one of the DTT auditors caught an employee taking $20 from the register. We looked into this and found that the cash was being used to make a legitimate purchase so the employee did nothing wrong but the audit was a great reminder that we are paying attention.

Another area where I’ve seen significant benefit since installing the DTiQ system is in store coverage. We have increased the number of cameras installed at stores; in the past we used only 4 cameras per store but now we have 10+. This gives us much more visibility and makes a lot more sense for managing remotely and keeping tabs on what’s going on.

Also, because of DTiQ we have been able to save some money on labor. It gives my AM so much information and access to data that they are comfortable managing multiple stores even though they can’t physically visit them all the time.

Final Thoughts

On the whole, I’m super pleased with the DTiQ system; I wish I installed DTiQ 4 years ago when we first started building restaurants! We’re a small company that’s growing fast and as we do I intend to install DTiQ at all future stores