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Customer Service in Retailing
Navneet Agarwal
Customer service
remains an enigma to many retailers, who pursue various routes in
their quest to keep customers coming back through their doors. Few
retailers can claim to have reliable measures of customer
satisfaction, and fewer still can claim to have an entirely
satisfied and loyal customer base.
Until recently merchants were plying their wares to consumers who
had few options, it didn't matter how the products were displayed;
it didn't matter how the store looked; Customer service was not
yet born. Just having goods available guaranteed business.
But, today the potential customer is a savvy shopper with a keen
eye for price, service and convenience. They expect a lot & if the
store fails to meet their expectations, they won't hesitate to
shut their wallet and take their business elsewhere.
Service at the point of purchase has been often written about and
discussed in great detail. A contemporary dimension associated
with retail service is the nature of the service, which is
expected by consumers in a specific retail setting, and the nature
of the product category itself. Service in retail context is the
overall attention given to the consumers, which would enhance the
retail experience. This retail experience could also extend to
certain services beyond the point of purchase in the case of
durables.
Any retailer whether small or large is concerned with the store's
image and service, as it is a vital aspect which, directly affects
the image of the retailer. The direct result of service provided
at the retail outlet could be observed in the word of mouth
publicity which consumers carry among their friends and peer
groups. Positive word of mouth is the best advocate for the store
while negative word of mouth will spell disaster. The importance
of word of mouth is reflected in the fact that large brands in
developed markets conduct research studies to quantify the impact
of word of mouth in terms of sale's gained or lost. Service also
helps the store to become known for a specific proposition. This
is important as it functions as a differentiator, one could
appreciate a service which ensures faster billing with distinctive
counters for less than five items bought in a large store.
Leading brands such as Videocon, BPL, LG or Samsung deal with a
number of product categories (audio, TV, refrigerator, microwave
and so on) and word of mouth (discussed earlier) has an even
greater impact with regard to durables. A consumer of a black and
white TV may be a prospective consumer of a refrigerator or an
audio system. Millions of households may use at least one product
of a brand such as BPL or Videocon and service at the retail
outlet could be a potent tool for creating a base of loyal
consumers. While pointing out to service with regard to these
durables, there are two aspects to be considered - service
provided by multibrand outlets which may be small or large and the
service provided by the exclusive outlet. This approach is
important as a leading brand is likely to be present in about
3,000 to 4,000 outlets in the country and all of them can't be
exclusive outlets. Such a differentiation would also help the
brand improve its infrastructure and locational considerations
apart from enhancing customer satisfaction.
Service varies with the type of product and the type of retail
outlet. The basic aspect of providing service is concerned with
the identification of consumers who need service after entering a
large retail outlet. Sales personnel should be trained to provide
appropriate and not unwanted service. Service, unfortunately, is
mixed up with over-enthusiasm, which is reflected in artificial
hospitality at the retail outlet, which certain consumers may not
like. The attention given to a consumer should always be perceived
as warm, spontaneous and appropriate. It should never be
associated with unnecessary intrusion of privacy.
Moreover consumers
should never be let down on this proposition. Complaints about
lack of quality, improper packaging and cheating with weights
should be immediately attended to. The consumer should never get a
feeling that the store is doing them a favour by replacing the
product. It should be borne in mind that product-service interface at the point of purchase enhances
the relationship between retailers and consumers just as
structured in-store and off-store service enhances the
customer-retailer interface.
As retail paradigms in India undergo a change, as already
evidenced by the emergence of stores like Littlewoods and
Shoppers' Stop, retailers need to define their concept of service.
The success of supermarkets (success from the viewpoint of
creating the habit among consumers to enter supermarkets) was felt
after the entry of Food World. The perception that supermarkets
are shopping places for the middle class is of recent origin and
this was based on the variety and quality associated with the
assortment of goods, which are of interest to the middle class.
Looking from another perspective, as the boundaries between "brick
and mortar" and "pure play" disappear, many brick and mortar
companies are heading towards retailing, Reliance for instance,
believes that instead of dealing with industrial intermediaries
like plastics and chemicals, its future growth depends on
delivering goods and services directly to consumers. Be it petrol
and diesel through its planned network of pumps, or mobile and
basic phone services as well as data and video through its fibre-optic
network, Reliance knows that the game is now aimed at delighting
retail customer.
Conclusively it can be said that the service paradigms shall
change is beyond doubt, and the leaders shall differentiate
themselves increasingly not just on the merchandise but on that
ever expanding dimension of superior customer service.
Navneet
Agarwal
MBA (IB), 2nd year
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
School of
International Business Management
nav_agl@yahoo.co.in
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