Page 227 - DMGT553_RETAIL_STORE_MANAGEMENT

Retail Store Management

Notes
Homebase is committed to customer service. Customer service lies at the heart of our
modern economy because we increasingly make choices on the basis of how we are served.
Excellence in customer service can only be fully achieved by having an organisational
culture and value system which places the customer at the heart of everything that an
organisation and its people do.
Homebase has embedded this culture of customer service by giving high priority to a
customer service emphasis from top management right down to the operational team
level. At the heart of a continuous improvement cycle is the review/plan/do cycle which
provides a tool for improving customer service at every level within the organisation.
Questions:
1. Analyze the case and interpret it.
2. Write down the case fact.

3. What do you conclude from it?
Source: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/homebase/the-importance-of-customer-service

12.4 Summary

The customer service job description gives you a good understanding of the tasks,
responsibilities and skills involved in customer service work.

Although customer service jobs vary according to sector, the company and the level of the
position the fundamental job requirements remain constant.
The exchange process of defective products enables you to execute recall actions between
the manufacturer and the customer, for defective parts of an object to be exchanged with
service parts.

An object is a special product, for example, a car or a computer.
You use this process to offer your customer a defined list of service parts and the maximum
permitted quantities for each object.
The manufacturer runs product analyses, and discovers that repeated complaints point to
a defective part as the cause of a problem.
Customers are notified via a product service letter.
Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage,
loyal buying behaviour – behaviour which is potentially beneficial to the firm.

A customer loyalty program is a structured and long-term marketing effort which provides
incentives to repeat customers who demonstrate loyal buying behaviour.
Successful programs are designed to motivate customers in a business’s target market to
return often, make frequent purchases, and shun competitors.
In retailing, these programs generally reward loyal customers with discounts, special
offers, rebates, points, or prizes.

12.5 Keywords

Customer: A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good,
service, product, or idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other
valuable consideration.

222 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY