The advantages of selling on the net to Asda are they are able to tap into the market of people who can’t get to the stores for whatever reason but instead can just go on the net and order it. At the moment 33% of British households have the Internet. By 2010 they estimate that about 65% of British households will have the internet so in a way, they’re planning for the technology ‘boom’ coming in the not to distant future. Their they can take advantage of the times and the fact that most people would rather click a ‘mouse’ than push a heavy, cumbersome trolley around a congested store. (Than again I’m sure there are a few exceptions).
The Advantages to the customer of Asda selling on the net are:
- People who are unable to make it to the stores for reasons such as awkward working hours and disability etceteras, but have internet access can just go online and order their shopping
- Can be more economical especially if you live far from the nearest store or have car with a low petrol mileage as Asda deliver to your door saving valuable petrol
Some of the other services they provide are:
- Brolley Patrol- Assisting customers to their cars under shelter of brollies
- Jump lead service- Helping the customer start their cars
- Trolley selection- A variety of trolleys to suit every shopper
- ‘Kids’ trolleys- Miniature trolleys for children age 5-8
- Bag packing- Staff at the end of the checkout help you pack
- Braille guns- Used by blind or partially sighted people to identify products
- Electric scooters- To help elderly of disabled people get around the store
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Security watch- 24 hour surveillance and regular patrols by guards
The results from the questionnaire on the whole were very good. Asda do cater for almost all needs. The main queries were the toilet cleanliness, the speed of service at the checkout and the manner of staff.
Out of the 90 questionnaires filled in by the public, 12 of them said that the toilets needed some attention. One of them said;
“On entering the female toilets once I was overwhelmed by a hideous smell. As I went further I cud see vomit all over a wall and human excrement spraying the cistern of one the toilets.”
I have never witnessed such sights and I am sure that was a one-off but it is still an appalling situation to find a public toilet in. In general the toilet facilities need to be regularly checked and cleaned.
22 of the questionnaires said that the time spent at the till was too long. The queues are too long. A lot of the time you see several empty tills which if used could decrease the waiting time. Also there are a lot of new trainee employees that have recently started the job. They can be quite slow. If they only let them work the till when they have had a bit more experience, then that might solve the problem.
What do people look for in a good customer service scheme?
- Polite and helpful staff willing to assist customers with any queries or problems they might have
- Good values and policies which are upheld and carried out in the means which they were intended for
- Value for money
- Good after sales services which customers can rely on to give them a quality ‘all round’ service
- Catering for special needs
- The company wanting customer feedback and acting on the recommendations to improve the business
- Money spent on improving services for customers
- Regular up-to-date info. on the business and the direction its heading in
- The provision of credit facilities
- The delivery of goods
- Interactive shopping
Services Asda offer
In Asda’s most recent mission statement it says;
“Whenever you are ten feet away from a customer you must greet them and ask them if they need any assistance.”
At Asda, they have a policy called ‘the ten foot rule’. Whenever a member of staff comes within ten feet of a customer, they are supposed to greet them and ask them if they need any assistance. This shows their intentions of meeting customer expectations but from personal experience, this act is not always carried out. Very few times has this been done to me. Maybe if they stuck to their promises they would be the perfect supermarket chain.
Another example of false promises is the well-advertised roll back plan. They say that 60% of their prices are cheaper than any of their rivals. I did some research and went to two of Asda’s main rivals (Tesco and Safeway), and bought some typical weekly shopping items. I bought a loaf of Warburtons regular bread, a litre carton of whole milk and a packet of original flavoured Pringles. For the Warburtons Asda charge 64p. At Tesco it was 61p and at Safeway it was 58p. For the litre of whole milk Asda charge 67p. Tesco charge 59p and Safeway charge 63p. For the Pringles Asda charged £1.39. Tesco charge £1.09 and Safeway charge £1.17. Asda need to re-evaluate their angle of selling instead of telling what they think we want to hear. If they’re going make claims of unbeatable prices they need to make them stand up.
Throughout their stores, Asda have credit facilities. Externally, cash points are positioned near the entrance for quick easy access. Internally, a bank with banking facilities is provided. This is ideal because there aren’t any banking facilities within a kilometre radius so people can use these without having to travel far.
At the customer desk, as well as the refund service, a range of services and schemes are offered. One of these is ‘shopping chums’. This where a member will assist around the store, push your trolley and reach high shelves if needed. The point of this is to make your shopping trip less stressful.
Feedback- On the information desk, are both questionnaires on Asda and feedback sheets. The main aims of these are to get the publics opinion on Asda. The questionnaires are to see where customers rate Asda on the supermarket chain chart. It asks questions like ‘what are the staff like?’, ‘do you like our range and choice of food?’, ‘is everything easy to find?, ‘are our prices reasonable?’.
The feedback sheets ask for the customer’s suggestions on improvements to the store to make it complete. It was because of the feedback that Asda introduced a wide selection of trolleys. It just goes to show our opinion does count.
Dale Anderson Business Assignment
Dale Anderson BS Assignment
Dale Anderson Business Assignment