Tesco Customer Service

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Mr Saad Shoaib Customer Care & Service Quality Heather Hill

Contents Page

Customer service research project

Introduction

For my assignment I have been requested to analyse the customer service for any organisation of my choice, the information that I obtain from my research has to be in form of a report which will describe how the selected business thinks about their customs also considering customer service policies, culture, customer needs and satisfaction levels, after sales care and service. The organisation that I have chosen for my research is Tesco. This report can be a maximum of around 2000 words and a minimum of 1000 words.

Tesco profile

Tesco first officially recognised in Britain in 1924. Since then Tesco has become a leading supermarket retailer, employing about 286,394 staff members and running over 2362 stores in UK these stores incorporate only the big superstores and do not include ‘Tesco Metro’ or ‘Tesco Express’.

These 2362 superstores total up for more then 30% of the UK retail market share according to (Taylor Nelson Sofres World Panel market share data).

Tesco is mainly a food retailer but as well as that Tesco sells electronics, books, clothing, insurance and has recently introduced banking, Tesco provides all these products and services over the phone, online and in store.

Tesco’s Mission statement “Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.”

Tesco's mission statement clearly states its values and what Tesco believes in to have a successful business.

SOURCE: Tesco Mission statement

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SOURCE: Tesco Staff and Stores

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SORUCE: Tesco UK Grocery Market Share

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Customer Service Policy

“Analyse a customer service policy within a business and services context.”

The customer service policy that I have chosen for Tesco is ‘Exchange and Refund Policy’.

Tesco guarantees high standard products at all times but even then there are times where the standards do not meet an individuals requirements, in this case the quickest way to resolve this issue is that the individual take the product(s) back to any Tesco store within the 28 days period of the returns policy and be entitled to a full refund or exchange as long as the individual has the purchase invoice.

However this policy might defer and may not apply to certain products for example: if someone bought any Tesco electrical and furniture cover also apply for a full refund but for a extended period of 45 days, which is 17 days more then Tesco’s default returns policy and as for Tesco mobile phones and electronic devices all are covered for a one year guarantee.

Customer service is one of the pillars that Tesco stands on and using this pillar as a support for showing that they dedicated to their customers. The better the customer service is the better ...

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Customer service is one of the pillars that Tesco stands on and using this pillar as a support for showing that they dedicated to their customers. The better the customer service is the better Tesco can satisfy their customers. Every customers of Tesco has their own needs and expectations, all customers like to be offered services which are tailored so that they feel more comfortable when shopping.

Tesco's Mission statement “Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.” The people who shop at Tesco like what Tesco offers this is why they are more likely to come back for more and the facts show that Tesco's sales have grow from year to year.

SOURCE: Mission Statement

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SOURCE: Tesco Exchange and Refund

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Customer Service Culture

“Explain the purpose of promoting a customer focused culture.”

Customer Service is one of the strongest stakes which forms part of the Tesco as a business. The customer service is there to respond to queries from the UK based business by phone, letter and email.

Customer service culture at Tesco is not about the simple training of employees in customer service skills, in fact its about how things are done on a more personal level this involves beliefs, values and actions for example contacting customer via personalised letters, emails, phone calls and specially interacting with customers when they are in store.

All these steps are taken to create a society between Tesco and its customers in addition to that, communicating with customers brings out their views and the opinions about the business and the performance of their staff members, as Tesco says “Our success is based on listening to customers”. Tesco has set this as a tradition to follow for its staff to create that personal effect in communication in customer service. a dedicated section on their website which is called ‘Talking Tesco - Customers’ where Tesco customers can write a review about the service that they received while they were in store a certain store.

SOURCE: Tesco ‘How we listen’

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Customer Requirements and Satisfaction Levels

“Investigate customer requirements and satisfaction levels.”

Tesco knows about their target markets, who they are and what is required to achieve success in that market, the number one and the most attention grabbing strategy is ‘Low prices then the competitor’. Tesco is known for its value for money in the retail food industry as I have described in the ‘Tesco profile’ above.

Tesco is the single largest food retailer who owns nearly 1/3 of the retail market in UK and this has been accomplished by offering consumers what they, being conscious about the competitors activities, performance and, always being the one to offer similar good for a cheaper price, all this is to fill the customer requirements which eventually satisfy the need of the people.

Tesco understands that customers want low and fair prices, to be fair Tesco offers smaller prices in smaller stores in and around the country, Tesco prices are higher in some of their larger town centre and neighbourhood store as the running cost for running those stores is high, on average the prices in Tesco metro stores are 2-3% lower then the prices in their Tesco express stores.

I have picked up a few comments from Tesco website which were originally taken from Tesco Customer Question Time research which is held in store:

"I get value for money at Tesco which is more important than cheap"

Portobello Metro

"The store feels a bit more upmarket somehow [following the Refresh] – there's a good balance of products and prices to suit everyone."

Guildford

"I am very pleased with Tesco. It sells high quality food at good prices."

Carmarthen

From the three comments from Tesco's website I can see that all 3 of the customers talk about Tesco and their prices and how it fulfils their needs, as much as people want a good service they would put customer service at second priority as most favourable means of satisfaction is low prices.

SOURCE: Low prices in smaller stores

SOURCE: Customer Comments

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Customer Care and Service

“Provide customer care and service for business and service operations.”

Tesco's values or objectives are:

Understand customers.

Tesco's number one objective is to understand their customer and provide customer care, I consider that Tesco comprehends its customers and by creating a mutual understanding using various techniques e.g. Tesco club card so that Tesco knows what the customers desires and interests are and then Tesco can highlight certain products and giving discounts to different club card holders to show a personal touch to show that they care for their customers as a business.

Be first to meet their needs.

As Tesco grows they gain more knowledge about the country that they are doing business in and this knowledge is useful to Tesco because their competitor might not be aware of such facts and practically Tesco can then introduce the service to the end user before Tesco's competitors become aware of any activities e.g. Tesco was one of the first companies in UK to introduce the self-service checkouts.

Act responsibly for our communities.

Tesco is known to be one of the most socially responsible companies in the UK, last year October 2009 Tesco’s chief executive Sir Terry Leahy who is also an education advisor to the prime minister said “As the largest private employer in the country, we depend on high standards of education in our schools”, Sir Terry has a personal and a professional interest in the education system in UK as the chief executive of Tesco and as an advisor for the government this makes Tesco a very ethical business in the public eye.

SOURCE: Tesco boss raps school standards

SOURCE: Tesco self-service checkout

SOURCE: Expressed values

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For Tesco a supplier is one who provides products, or services available to the businesses; this is normally done on a wholesale basis. Tesco’s core value is to make sure their suppliers are treated with respect because you can only expect to be treated how you treat others, and it's something all business try to do and especially for Tesco because their relationship with the supplier will effect overall business stability.

In any case the relationship is not built on good terms with the supplier, he/she can always go to the competitor with lower prices or any other buyer and the supplier could be selling similar product Tesco’s competitor for a much more reasonable price. This is why Tesco values its suppliers.

In October 2008 Tesco's suppliers were accusing Tesco of marking ‘aggressive’ demands over cash payments while having a price war with the rival Asda and other discount supermarket like Lidl and Aldi.

One of Tesco's supplier said that he or she had a 40-minute meeting with Tesco where he or she was handed a document with terms suggesting that Tesco maintain its profits margin although farmers are making a loss. Now it is obviously for the best way around a problem especially when Tesco's partner is selling at a loss ()

Conclusion

From this assignment I have learnt that Tesco’s faithfulness to its customers is what gives Tesco the advantage over other retail business competitors.

I have also acknowledged that a Good customer relation, after sales service and staff member’s constancy is the key to a business like Tesco.

I have gained knowledge about many methods and techniques which are being used by Tesco in order to maintain their customer care relations, customer service culture and customer satisfaction.

Recommendation

My recommendation to Tesco would be to improve on their in-store and out-store cleanness because this is also a part of customer care and this also shows that Tesco shows care for the local community. From my personal visit to a few of Tesco’s retail stores I have noticed that there is a lot of clutter on the roads nearby which consist of leaflets, plastic bags and even trolleys, not all of these cause a threat but it does look unfriendly.

Increase communication and activates with the local community to achieve better customer loyalty and trust e.g. get staff members to participate in local sports clubs and hand out vouchers in store get a more personal approach to customers.

Although Tesco has an excellent human resources department, Tesco will still need to put more of their resources and focus on trading with farmers and other suppliers because it is one strong points of their business.

In UK Tesco owns a large part of the retail food and non-food industry and to grown further Tesco needs to maintain their corporate relations with the local government and develop and systematic approach to monitor progress.

Tesco has already entered a new market in India to revolutionise the way people think and shop but it has not gone entirely successful, it is said that India is one of the world fastest growing economies; some say India will be the next super-power and world leader after UK, Russia and America.

Tesco has already invested in new sectors like finance, banking and further more Tesco should look out for possible merges and be a total provider rather then just a strong food retailer e.g. Virgin co-operation.

It is cheaper and more efficient to maintain existing customer then find new customers so I would advice Tesco that they should use better initiatives in communicating with existing customers specially using the internet and social networking sites as these are the current areas of publicity.