Quality Assurance
This is where quality checks are performed right throughout the production period. This ensures quality because both the workers and inspectors are looking for any faults along the way.
Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management is a general overview of the whole quality control process. It creates a working environment where quality is seen as something that should be second nature. This culture that is created by the workforce must be prepared to change along with the market. This is because the customer standards will change, and so the product must be adjusted, whilst keeping to the quality guidelines. The total quality management team will ensure that all other employees have the quality standards enforced strictly on them.
Customer Service
By adding value to the customer service experience, it ensures that the Argos customers leave the store happy, and satisfied with their product and the customer service they received. This is one of the key factors in determining the success of Argos, because it creates a good shopping experience and makes the customer return. Argos combines good customer service with low prices, their customer service makes the customer feel valued, whilst the cheap prices increase sales and profit. Argos has also integrated their customer services into the local environment by having stores easily accessible, a figure from the Argos website shows that 95% of people in GB lives within 10 miles of an Argos store. Argos also puts Customer Service at the most priority, by having a dedicated call centre, where all calls are received at one main switch board, and then are distributed across many agents. To make this system more effective, they do not take orders, so the sole purpose is for customer service.
Firstly I am going to look at how Argos applies Quality Control and Assurance to the goods it orders and receives.
Quality Control standards for suppliers
Argos uses highly trained Market Researchers to ensure that only the best products are made on offer for its customers. These researchers test and review the products available and only order the ones that would offer the best quality to the customers, and the ones that would sell best, so that the prices can be kept low.
Quality Assurance when the goods are received.
To give good quality assurance, the suppliers keep in close contact with Argos, so that if any problems arise, they can easily contact them, and discuss any issues regarding warranty and guarantee. If a problem with a particular product has been discovered, the marketing department can pass this information on so that the product can be removed from the catalogue. This can be hard for a business such as Argos, because the sales are made using catalogues, so if there was a problem, and a product had to be removed, the catalogues would have to be updated. This can put great pressure on the market researchers, so they must ensure the quality is high first time around.
Quality Control standards on staff
When a person is employed at Argos, there is a more experienced member of staff who mentors them to ensure that they are doing everything correctly. There are also regular small tutorials between the manager and the employee within each store, just to check how the staff member is doing, and what methods they use whilst working. Training the staff at Argos is a very important task that much time is taken over making sure the staff are trained to the right standards, their progress is reviewed in the tutorials.
All of the above ensure that the highest of standards are kept so when customers shop at Argos, whether it be through the catalogue, from the Internet, or in a store, they are happy with their purchases and leave with good customer service.
