Old Age Pensioners
They will need help with their shopping, as some of them may not be able to reach products on the top shelves. They also want personal shoppers assisting them with their shopping. They also want bag packers to put all of their shopping into bags for them.
Students
This type of customers wants availability of products, promotions / special offers on the kind of product they buy and want to be treated equally and fairly like other customers.
There are different types of students who shop in Tesco some live independently while others live with their parents. Independent students may buy products ranging from household to toiletries while other types of customers buy food/ product they can consume immediately or almost immediately.
These customers will need help in the location of products, ideas on product, contents and if possible effectiveness of product.
In summary
All customers want the same from the company that is, great customer service friendly environment, fast and effective service, politeness and availability of products.
Other expectations of customers include clear and accurate knowledge of each products and policies on refunds and exchange.
Describe with examples how the organisation meets the different needs of its customers at the same time as meeting its own objectives.
Disabled people
Tesco meets the need of the Disabled people by providing personal shoppers for them, which is based on request. The personal shoppers help in gathering the goods for the customers. The are also given special baskets which they can place on their wheel chair. This helps shopping to be quick and easy.
There are special toilets for the disabled customers. This toilet is designed to meet the standard/ requirement of this type of customers. For instance it is more spacious so they can get in with their wheelchair.
Also Tesco meets the needs of the disabled customers by providing wider checkouts in which their wheel chair can have good access without hassle. Whilst at the checkout, there are bag packers that help the customers pack their goods into plastic bags. When the shopping is completed, a member of staff takes the goods for the customer to the front of the store where a cab will be called or to the customer’s car.
The company also provides special car parks for their disabled customers. This way they do not have to pack their cars where other customers pack theirs. Also, the designated car packs for the disabled are in open spaces for easy access.
All this meets the objectives of the company by providing customer needs so as to retain their customers and be in the market lead and training of their staff in meeting the needs of the customer as well as giving good customer service.
Families/ house wives
Tesco meets the needs of the family and/ or housewives by providing different variety of product that would suit them ranging from fruit & vegetables to rotisserie to tinned food.
The company also offers on-line shopping to customers. With on line shopping the company offers a wider range of product. Customers can seat back to order what they want without any hassle and at their expense. Goods ordered would be delivered directly to the customer’s house, therefore avoid queuing.
If the customer decides to go to the store they can compare product based on ingredients/ contents and expiry date. They company has made the availability of different product possible for customers to do this.
Also, Tesco offer promotions on some product for instance “buy two salmon fish for £5 or £2.65 for one”. With promotions like this, customers will be willing to buy more and to shop with the company. They also offer promotions on other products, which is a great advantage for housewives and families.
Business people
Tesco meets the needs of business people by providing packed and readymade meals for them. This type of customers comes into the shop when they are on their lunch to buy food they can consume immediately.
Tesco meets the needs of this type of customers by making sure there is availability of the kind of foodstuff they buy. Some of the product business people during their break are sandwiches, pastries, snacks and so on.
With this, the can retain their customers and be in the market lead.
Old Age Pensioners
Tesco classifies their old age pensioners as one of their special customers therefore provide for them all that they will need whilst shopping.
They are provided with assistants to help with their shopping. This is because they need more assistants than an average customer.
They need personal shoppers to pick up products that are in the top shelves as well as giving them advice on the ingredient/ contents of the product.
These types of customers may also need the help of a sales assistant in pushing their trolley or in carrying their shopping basket.
Students
Students are also vital customers in Tesco. The company meets the needs of these types of customers by providing foodstuff at low prices, offering promotional deals because they always want bargain.
Because this type of customers do not have patience, they company makes their stay in the store quick. They do this by opening more checkouts when the store is busy. This way, the customers’ mind is at rest and would not need to be upset over slow service.
In summary
Tesco’s objectives are to make profit as well as sales and still be in the market lead. They can do this by meeting the needs of the customers thereby retaining them and attracting new ones. This is because the more the customer group they can satisfy, the more sales they can make therefore making profit which can be use for expansion, helping the local community and improving of their customer service.
Explain how the organisation’s customer service policy makes sure that consumer protection laws are met.
Every organisation has at least one law that protects their customers.
The consumer protection law protects the customers from being misled on the prices, products and sales of goods. There are different laws that protect customers, some of which are:
- The Sale of Goods Act
- The Supply of Goods and Services Act
- The Consumer Protection Act
- The Trade Description Act
- The Consumer Credit Act
For instance, if a customer wants to buys weight watcher baked beans, the product must conform its description that is; it must definitely be suitable for weight watcher because they need the product to keep them healthy and reduce any form of fatty substance in their body.
If this product is not fit its purpose, the sale of Good act protects the customers in making a claim. Besides, the policy in Tesco states that if a product is not fit for its purpose or is faulty, it should be returned within 28days for refund or exchange.
The reason why the company gives 28 days for a product to be returned is because it is a suitable time for both the customers and the company. This way, the product would have been bought and tried by the customers and if they are not satisfied, they are given a reasonable time to return it or for refund.
The only situation whereby the company does not give refund is when the product has been with the customers for a long period of time. For instance, if a customer buys a microwave from Tesco and it comes with a five-year guarantee, if the microwave spoils within three years, the customer can return the product back to the store with a receipt. If the customer comes to the store with the product buy without a receipt, the product is examined to find out if it was purchased in the store.
Customers who return products without receipt are given vouchers or exchange instead of a refund. This is because it is every company’s policy not to affect the statutory rights of the customers.
Although a refund would not be given, but the manager in-charge would suggest that the customer should call up the product manufacturer for complaint but the manager would vouchers to compensate the customer.
Sometimes, the company gives “loan products” i.e. products that customers can use whilst awaiting a new product. This is done when the company orders a new product for a customer within a period of time but the product has not arrived to the store.
The company also checks the date on every product so as not to sell expired products to their customers. Moreover, some of the staff are assigned in their contract to check every product that is being supplied against damage or fault. This way, Tesco is checking the product in other to ensure it is reasonable safe and they are not breaking the consumer Protection Act.
To ensure this is properly carried out, they use a scanning system to check the dates on the product. As new stocks arrive and placed on the shelves, it is placed at the back of the old ones, that way, customers’ buy the products in the front shelf before leaving the ones at the back.
The sale of Goods Act protects customers from purchasing a good/ product that is not as described in the pack or on the shelf. It also protects customers from buying products that are not of satisfactory quality and fit for its purpose.
Consumers should be able to purchase goods without being mislead on the prices, that is, prices of every product should be clearly stated and goods should be placed in its rightful position on the shelf.
For instance, goods should not be advertised as a low price on television but at a high price in the shop. If this is done, the company could be sued, because they are preaching sales of goods act law.
Tesco ensures that all products are fit for its purpose and are as described so as to abide with this law. This is achieved by constantly checking products against its label on the shelves. This is also done so that the Trade Description Act is not breached as a result of selling goods which are wrongly described and implied description.
In order prices to be marked against the Price Marking Order protects customers from being misled in terms of pricing. To achieve competitive prices and maintain in the market lead, product pricing is done straight from the company’s head office before being sent to the various stores.
The law also states that every product sold in a store should have a price mark, as customers are aware of the price of the product they are trying to purchase. If this is not met, the company could face prosecution.
Goods purchased should also be reasonable safe therefore leaving customers comfortable and happy with the goods they purchase, i.e. all goods should be safe for customers to handle.
If this is not met, the company looses customers and also breaches both the Sale of Goods Act and the Trade Description Act which is one of the most important laws that covers the fundamental requirement of customers. That is goods should be Described, Be of satisfactory quality, be fit for its purpose and no implied description.
The staff of Tesco checks that the goods are checked from the distribution stage to when they are placed on the shelves that they are of satisfactory quality, not misleading in price and safe.
Tesco combines consumer law into their customer service policy. This is done by fully training their staff on product knowledge. Some staff are specially trained on the ingredients/ contents of some food items that is being sold in the store. For instance, staff who works in the bakery sections can identify products with or without nuts in them. They can also state products that are meant for vegetarians or people with allergies.
Staff are trained on how to attend to customers when they arrive into the store. They have to be polite and smart with a smile on their face. This makes the customers feel welcomed and appreciated by the members of staff.
A training section every three months in Tesco to help the staff improve on their customer service. During this training, the staff are reviewed on how well they are doing, then they would be informed if they would be given any bonuses or commission if they worked properly.
Sometimes when a product is faulty/ damaged or expired, Tesco still sells the product but reduces the price to a really affordable price. Although they are in breach of the Sale of Act and Consumer Protection Act. But they make the idea ‘a buyers beware product’. That way, they are informing the customers about the product’s fault and no return or exchange would be given if found wrong.
The Consumer Protection Act protects customers in relation to price and safety. This law states it an offence:
- To mislead consumers as to the price of goods and services.
- To mislead consumers over sale prices and claim exaggerated price reduction
- To supply goods which are not reasonably safe.
Trade Description Act – this act is designed to prevent the false or misleading description of goods, for instance
- Selling goods which are wrongly described by the manufacturer
- Implied description, e.g. a picture on a box which gives a false impression
- Other aspects of the goods, including quantity, size, composition, method of manufacture etc.
For instance, if customer goes into buy a microwave, it should be able microwave food properly. All of its features should also do what it states i.e. if the microwave can grill, it should be able to do so.
Suggest improvement to customer service in the organisation to better meet the needs of the customers and the requirement of customer protection.
Although Tesco is the largest food chain store in the country, they still need to improve on their customer service. This is something I observed personally when I go to the shop.
More parking spaces should be provided for disabled people. There are not lot parking spaces for the disabled, which does not give them the opportunity to feel recognised. They should also check that people without disabled parking signs on their car windows should not be allowed to park in the area designated for the disabled.
Tesco needs to improve on the security measure they carry out for the parking sections. Most of the time people park their car wherever they want to/ where they feel its easy access for them without checking if the space is designated for wheelchair user/ disabled people or people with children.
If proper monitoring is not carried out properly, the disabled parking will be misused which does not give them an opportunity as a customer to into the shop and feel free.
Also, they need to open more checkouts. Although they do open more checkouts, they are not enough compared to the number of customers in the store. This is mostly at night times when customers finish from their daily activities.
The staff of the company should also check that goods are rightfully placed in their position in order to avoid misleading customer in the Sale of Goods Act of 1979 & 1995.
Also, staff should check that goods/ products on the shelves are still in date, i.e. not expired. The goods should be properly packed and arranged on the shelves as well as being fit for the purpose it’s supposed to be for.
This should be double checked in order to comply wit the Trade Description Act and Sale of Goods Act.
They also have to check that they have enough staff to work during night shift before giving staff their contract. This is because the store get very busy at night than during the day due to rush hours, so they need to have more staff for checkouts and on the shelves.
They should check that there are more staff for bags packing. This way, customers do not panic while trying to pack their goods. It will also make life and transaction easier for the customers. With bag packaging, customers are attended to in a short time.
Checkout managers should also check that every checkout staff changes the audit roll at the end of the day’s transaction in order to avoid customers having to wait on the staff.
Although there are baskets and trolleys in front of the store at all times, most of the baskets are not clean thereby forcing customers to use trolleys. Not all customers would like to use trolleys as some of them may have children, or have little shopping to do. Therefore, they should check that the staff in charge of gathering baskets and trolleys endeavours to keep them clean at all times.
They should also have better shelves for promotional products such as perfumes and jewellery instead of placing them un-presentably by the side of the customer service desk. This will give customers the chance view all the products individually. Also, they should have sample perfumes so that customer can test the product before purchasing it.
The company has a way of checking the customer service staff gives and the presentation of the store. The company head office sends a mystery shopper to the every Tesco store quarterly.
The disadvantage of this idea is that all the stores are informed of period that the mystery shopper would be visiting the store. They do not exactly know the mystery shopper will be arriving.
The staff and management of every store get ready in preparation of the mystery shopper. They prepare for by clean the store at all times, checking availability of the products on the shelves and in the stock room and making sure that the products are rightly placed on the shelves next to its price.
This way, the mystery shopper will not exactly see any problems with the store/company as at that period of time. If every store is not informed of the arrival of the mystery shopper, problem could be spotted.
If Tesco improves on all this, their customer service would be better which could still make them be in the market lead. They will also achieve more by attracting/ retaining customers and will continuously be nations leading supermarket.
Describe the techniques that the organisation uses to monitor and improve customer service and evaluate their success.
Monitoring and improving of customer service is essential because proves the success of every business. If the organisation does not have a good customer service, it cannot be successful because the customers come first in every business and are always right. Besides, the aim of every business if to grab the attention of the public.
For this to happen, the organisation has to continuously monitor and improve on their customer service to show areas they need to improve on in other to expand and retain their position in the market lead.
Some of the techniques are as follows:
- Questionnaires
- Policy on refund and exchange
- Telephones
- Document review
The idea of using mystery shoppers in the business aims towards the staff. This helps to check if the staff are polite nice and kind to the customers. It also checks if the staff is informative on the whereabouts of goods in the store.
Mystery shoppers are sent from Tesco’s head office. The shopper acts like a regular customer. All information the mystery shopper gathers from the store is then reported to the head office before further judgement takes place.
Questionnaires are used to find out customers responds concerning certain things such as the kind of products they buy, the way the staff attend to the customers, i.e. if they were given good customer service. They also find out if there was availability of variety of products and if there was sufficient availability of the kind of product they purchased.
Refund and exchange on goods is a law in which every company must follow. In Tesco, a maximum of 28 days is given to customers for return or exchange. Within that number of days customers are given time to return goods they are not satisfied with or goods that were wrongly bought.
Faulty products such as fruits are supposed to be returned immediately. If not, the customer should contact the company by telephone explaining what happened, then the customer service manager will give further judgement such as refunding the customer or giving the customer voucher or exchange on the product.
Telephone surveys are carried out to research on customers who had fault on the product they purchase. The company gets in touch with the customers regarding the complaint they made during the return of goods. With this telephone survey, the company can track if the customer has been pleased, refunded or satisfied.
Tesco also uses Document review to check the sales margin/ figures made in comparison to recent years. This documentation is normally reviewed between five years, for instance, between 1999 and 2004. It helps the company to check the sales margin i.e. if the company has made more profit or loss between the years.
For instance, the company may make profit in recent years to remain in the market lead. One of the reasons for this is because of the low staff turnover they have had. This has helped to improve the success of the company.
Training of staff is one Tesco’s goals. The reason being is that the staff are essential part of the company therefore they are put into consideration before actions are taken. Training of staff contributes to how well they (the staff) reacts to the customers and how knowledgeable they are on product store layout and customer service procedures.
Tesco trains their staff between three and six months. This is done to improve and motivate staff in their skills and customer service approach. This monitoring approach is a strength to the company. It is valuable approach in monitoring of staff as it identifies the strength and weaknesses of the company’s strength, procedure and policy, thus is assesses the company’s customer service policy.
Observation is a way managers and supervisors use in monitoring staff without them knowing. A manager or supervisor could stand at his or her desk or by the window to check on the staff. This way, the staff observed if he or she is giving a good customer service.
In terms of complaint, a suggestion box in placed in front of every store, which is read by the manager in charge every last Friday of the month. The manager then response to the complaints by improving on they can possibly improve on and placing a response in front of the store saying complaints are being attended to.
Evaluation
All this techniques used in improving and monitoring customer service is effective as every information used to help and check that a great service is given to the customers. This method is reliable in getting the most important information needed by the business to evaluate the procedures. In an atmosphere of extreme price sensitivity, customers are demanding more service, more convenience and more personalised communications. The business must maximise every interaction with their customers to make positive impressions and enhance loyalty and preference.
Direct complaints are handled initially through the employee at the time, but if issues are not resolved then it is treated formally and concerns are written on the company’s complaint form. The complaints are transferred to the head office and an investigation is conducted to resolve the complaints. Similar procedures are done with other forms of complaints through the telephone and questionnaires to ensure that problems do not arise in the future or constantly reoccur.
Quality control and assurance applies to both goods and services provided by the organisation, which would mean that employees who have a significant number of complaints will be dismissed or face disciplinary action. Food products that are unsuitable for consumers due to reasons such as damages, expiry dates, etc are exchanged for the appropriate products or if there is constant complaints about a particular product, then the supplier shall be questioned by the company. The same procedures are taken up by the company in situations with consumer durable goods because it is not in the organisation’s capabilities to ensure these type of goods are of adequate quality, therefore, the suppliers are queried about them.
Services in Tesco have continuously improved and customer needs have been met, therefore the monitoring and improvement techniques have proved to be effective and reliable.
The prove for this is customers who regularly shop in Tesco.
Recommend ways in which the organisation’s quality system could be improved to better meet the needs of the customers and the requirement of consumer protection.
Quality is first and foremost about meeting the needs and expectations of customers. It is important to understand that quality is about more than a product simply "working properly". These may include performance, appearance, availability, delivery, reliability, maintainability, cost effectiveness and price. Quality represents all the features of a product or service that affect its ability to meet customer needs. If the product or service meets all those needs - then it passes the quality test. If it doesn't, then it is sub-standard.
Quality control is the more traditional way that businesses have used to manage quality. Quality control is concerned with checking and reviewing work that has been done. Under traditional quality control, inspection of products and services (checking to make sure that what's being produced is meeting the required standard) takes place during and at the end of the operations process. There are three main points during the production process when inspection is performed: when raw materials are received prior to entering production, whilst products are going through the production process and when products are finished - inspection or testing takes place before products are despatched to customers.
Quality assurance is about how a can design the way a product or service is produced or delivered to minimise the chances that output will be sub-standard. The focus of quality assurance is, therefore on the product design/development stage. The idea is that - if the processes and procedures used to produce a product or service are tightly controlled - then quality will be "built-in". This will make the production process much more reliable, so there will be less need to inspect production output (quality control). Quality assurance involves developing close relationships with customers and suppliers. The will want to make sure that the suppliers to its production process understand exactly what is required.
There are several problems with inspection under traditional quality control. The inspection process does not add any "value". If there were any guarantees that no defective output would be produced, then there would be no need for an inspection process in the first place.
Inspection is costly, in terms of both tangible and intangible costs. For example, materials, labour, time, employee morale, customer goodwill, lost sales. It is sometimes done too late in the production process. This often results in defective or non-acceptable goods actually being received by the customer. It is usually done by the wrong people - e.g. by a separate "quality control inspection team" rather than by the workers themselves
Inspection is often not compatible with more modern production techniques (e.g. "Just in Time Manufacturing") which do not allow time for much (if any) inspection. Working capital is tied up in stocks which cannot be sold. There is often disagreement as to what constitutes a "quality product". For example, to meet quotas, inspectors may approve goods that don't meet 100% conformance, giving the message to workers that it doesn't matter if their work is a bit sloppy. Or one quality control inspector may follow different procedures from another, or use different measurements.
As a result of the above problems, the business should focused its efforts on improving quality by implementing quality management techniques - which emphasise the role of quality assurance.
While Total Quality Management has proven to be an effective process for improving organisational functioning, its value can only be assured through a comprehensive and well thought out implementation process. TQM is, in fact, a large-scale systems change, and guiding principles and considerations regarding this scale of change will be presented. Without attention to contextual factors, well intended changes may not be adequately designed. As another aspect of context, the expectations and perceptions of employees (workers and managers) will be assessed, so that the implementation plan can address them. Specifically, sources of resistance to change and ways of dealing with them will be discussed. This is important to allow a change agent to anticipate resistances and design for them, so that the process does not stall. Next, a model of implementation will be presented, including a discussion of key principles. Visionary leadership will be offered as an overriding perspective for someone instituting TQM.
TQM is at first glance seen primarily as a change in an organisation’s technology (i.e. it’s a way of doing work). In the human services, this means the way clients are processed the service delivery methods applied to them and organisational processes such as paperwork, procurement processes, and other procedures. But TQM is also a change in an organisation’s culture its norms, values, and belief systems about how organisations function. And finally, it is a change in an organisation’s political system: decision making processes and power bases. For substantive change to occur, changes in these three dimensions must be aligned: TQM as a technological change will not be successful unless cultural and political dimensions are attended to as well
The organization has a track record of effective responsiveness to the environment, and if it has been able to successfully change the way it operates when needed, TQM will be easier to implement. The organization is basically healthy before beginning TQM. If it has significant problems such as a very unstable funding base, weak administrative systems, lack of managerial skill, or poor employee morale, TQM would not be appropriate, but this is not the case with Tesco’s.
Task identification would include a study of present conditions (assessing current reality; assessing readiness, such as through a field analysis; creating a model of the desired state, in this case, implementation of TQM; announcing the change goals to the organization; and assigning responsibilities and resources. This final step would include securing outside consultation and training and assigning someone within the organization to oversee the effort. This should be a responsibility of top management. In fact, the next step, designing transition management structures, is also a responsibility of top management. Management must be heavily involved as leaders rather than relying on a separate staff person or function to provide the effort.
In the organization there are increasing demands for quality or client service improvements. Many such changes are likely to be driven by environmental demands, and TQM may be more likely to be successful than at times of less environmental pressure.
Workplace quality improvements have to be planned and budgeted and this requires senior management commitment and support, co-operation throughout the organisation, quality assurance knowledge and skills. Improvement action must be systematic and unified to ensure conformance to quality requirements (both customer and corporate) only in this way will a value adding quality goal be realised. Because quality assurance and quality control provide critical corporate performance measures it is imperative that work is done closely to assess requirements and how they may best be converted into quality improvement.
Continuous improvement is a philosophy that encourages all employees in an organisation so that they perform their tasks a little better every day. It starts from the assumption that processes (e.g. production methods, purchasing, and recruitment) can always be improved. Evidence of successful Quality Circles suggests that there are no formal rules about how to organise them. However, the following guidelines are often suggested: the circle should not get too large - otherwise it becomes difficult for some circle team members to contribute effectively
Meetings should be help away from the work area - so that team members are free from distraction, the length and frequency of quality circle meetings will vary - but when a new circle is formed, it is advised to meet for about one hour, once per week. Thereafter, the nature of the quality problems to be solved should determine how often the circle needs to meet, quality circles should make sure that each meeting has a clear agenda and objective, the circle should not be afraid to call on outside or expert help if needed.
The consumer protection Act 1987 prohibits the supply of unsafe goods and makes it an offence to give a misleading price indication. For this reason products are placed in their rightful position where the price/ label is placed. Moreover, staffs are constantly checking the shelves. This is because if some customers are dissatisfied with the goods, they could place a complaint that would result in the company paying a fine. This way the company does not mislead the customers and sales are maintained.
The overall changes that need to be made in order for the company to improve its current quality systems are introductions of quality assurance rather than inspection, company-wide quality programmes, quality- circles environmental quality systems, leadership training and team-building training. The company would benefit from reduction in re-working and scrap, internal checking and improvement policies, training of staff to reduce costs and waste and a better control of processes.
Bibliography
I used different source to produce the assignment including;
- intense teaching lessons
- research on the internet
- independent / field research
- a range of business studies text books
-
]
- www.askjeeves.com