Unit 5 Business Studies

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Unit 5: Investigating Customer Service

By Mandip Purewal

Introduction

In this unit I will have to find the importance of customer service in a variety of business contexts. Customer service applies equally to all business organisations.

You will need to understand:

• The impact of customers, both new and old on the organisation

• The difference between internal and external customers

− Internal, e.g. colleagues, other departments, service providers

− External, e.g. individuals, families, different ages, different cultures

I will then need to understand what customer service includes and that by definition.

You will need to understand:

• Staff, e.g. appearance, prompts service, helpfulness, and reliability, accuracy of information, teamwork, and training

• premises, e.g. layout, tidiness, accessibility, well-stocked

• providing quality products/services, e.g. after-care service, value for money, added value, competitive edge.

Customer service is basically about the employees helping customers locate a lot of items in which they need; customer service will benefit an organisation by having effects of them going to it again and again, customer service plays a major part in an organisations profit.

Background

Asda was acquired by the US Corporation Wal-Mart in June 1999. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer (based on turnover), with worldwide operations and a total store portfolio of around 4,400. Since being acquired by Wal-Mart, Asda has become the UK’s third largest grocery retailer, as measured by reported turnover. Asda had 258 stores in the UK as at 31 December 2002, these being on average about 4,200 sq metres in size. Asda’s turnover increased by per cent in the two years to 31 December 2002, from £9.7 billion to £ billion. Operating profits during that period increased per cent, from £503 million to £ million. Much of the recent growth in Asda’s turnover is attributable to sales of non-food items such as clothing and home and leisure products.

The office of fair trading

The Director-General of Fair Trading has wide powers to monitor and investigate trading activities and to refer monopoly or anti-competitive situations to the Competition Commission (often via the President of the Board of Trade).

Trading standards department

We enforce legislation controlling the quantity, quality, price, description, and safety of most goods and services. Other duties also include animal health, petroleum and explosives enforcement and licensing activities e.g. fireworks/explosives, petroleum, poisons, animal movements.

To ensure compliance, we investigate complaints, undertake visits to businesses, advise traders and consumers, and sample, test and survey goods and services.

All enquiries are recorded and evaluated. Appropriate complaints may be dealt with immediately, be referred for a later inspection, or the information used to assess trading patterns or malpractices, or for campaigns to improve consumer laws.

Planned or complaint follow-up visits are undertaken to business premises, shops, livestock markets etc., to ensure compliance with the laws we enforce. Goods, foods and services may be 'test purchased' or sampled to ensure their conformity. Business activities will be regularly monitored, e.g. sales of fireworks/cigarettes to children, counterfeit sales/production etc.

Competition Commission

The Commission may obtain any information needed to investigate possible monopoly anti-competitive situations referred to it.

ASA (advertising standards authority)

The ASA is here to make sure all advertising, wherever it appears, meets the high standards laid down in the advertising codes. Our website will tell you more about the rules for advertising, let you complain online, and explain how the ASA is working to keep UK advertising standards as high as possible.

UK Legislation EU Legislation

Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act (DPA) is a British Act of Parliament that provides a legal basis and allowing for the privacy and protection of data of individuals in the UK. The act places restrictions on organisations which collect or hold data which can identify a living person. The Act does not apply to domestic use, for example keeping a personal address book.

Data collected by any person or organisation may only be used for the specific purposes for which they were collected. Personal data may only be kept for an appropriate length of time and must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the data owner. Schools, for example, may decide to keep information on former pupils for no longer than ten years.

The act is overseen by an independent government authority, the Office of the Information Commissioner. Persons and organisations which store personal data must register with the Data Protection Commissioner.

Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that requires traders to provide services to a proper standard of workmanship. Furthermore, if a definite completion date or a price has not been fixed then the work must be completed within a reasonable time and for a reasonable charge.

Also, any material used or goods ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

Also, any material used or goods supplied in providing the service must be of satisfactory quality.

The law treats failure to meet these obligations as breach of contract and consumers would be entitled to seek redress, if necessary through the civil courts.

Food safety act 1990

The law says that it's an offence to sell any food, which is "not of the nature, substance or quality demanded by the purchaser" i.e. if you ask for cod in batter, you shouldn't be given anything else; your piece of cod shouldn't contain any foreign bodies like glass, metal or insects; and it shouldn't be rancid or mouldy. If you asked your butcher for 500g of pork sausages and he sells you 450g then that's an offence under the Weights and Measures Act. If the sausages weren't pork but a mixture of beef, pork and other odd scraps, then he could be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 or the Food Safety Act 1990. There's a certain amount of overlap between the Acts and several laws can affect one transaction or sale.

Toy safety regulations 1995

The legislation contained on this web site is subject to Crown Copyright protection. It may be reproduced free of charge provided that it is reproduced accurately and that the source and copyright status of the material is made evident to users.

It should be noted that the right to reproduce the text of Statutory Instruments does not extend to the Queen's Printer imprints which should be removed from any copies of the Statutory Instrument which are issued or made available to the public. This includes reproduction of the Statutory Instrument on the Internet and on intranet sites. The Royal Arms may be reproduced only where they are an integral part of the original document.

Trade Descriptions Act 1968

The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which prevents manufacturers, retailers or service industry providers from misleading consumers as to what they are spending their money on.

As advertising became a crucial part of successful commercial enterprises and with fierce competition the temptation to push the boundaries of truth when making claims for a product is strong.

This law empowers the judiciary to punish companies or individuals who make false claims about the products or services that they sell.

Applying a false trade description to goods is an absolute offence. I.e., provided it is shown that the description was applied and was false the offence is proved and the accused has to prove certain defences in order to escape conviction.

False descriptions as to services require the more normal proof of means read (guilty knowledge).

The Act excludes matters relating to land and buildings, these being now dealt with under the provisions of the Property Misdescriptions Act.

The Food and Drugs Act

The Food and Drugs Act and Regulations set requirements for the production and sale of food and drug products. The Act governs the manufacturing, producing, marketing, labelling, importing and exporting of foods and drugs. The Act contains provisions for inspection and enforcement, and contravention of the Act can result in fines and imprisonment.

The Food and Drugs Act covers a broad range of products:

Pharmaceuticals - prescription, non-prescription or over-the-counter;
Biologicals - vaccines, blood and blood products, certain hormones and enzymes, allergenic extracts, tissues and organs, biotherapeutics, e.g. recomb, DNA products, genetic engineering, etc.;
Radiopharmaceuticals;
Medical Devices - medical and dental implants, medical equipment and instruments, test kits for diagnosis, contraceptive devices;
Disinfectants;
Low-risk products, e.g. sunscreens, antiperspirants, toothpaste, etc.;
Cosmetics; and
Narcotic controlled and restricted substances.

Under the Food and Drugs Act, if a manufacturer wants to sell a drug, a Drug Identification Number (DIN) is required. If a product defined as a drug under the Food and Drugs Act was sold without a DIN, it was not in compliance with Canadian law. The DIN is a numbers located on the label of any drug product that has been approved for sale. It indicates that a product has undergone -and passed- a review of its formulation, labelling, and instructions for use. The DIN is issued by Health Canada. Please refer to the national contact listed below.

Under the Food and Drugs Act, an establishment licence is required for all businesses engaged in any of the six activities related to the manufacturing and testing of all drugs in dosage or bulk.

The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act applies to all employers and everyone who provides a service to the public, except the Armed Forces.

It is a law designed to end discrimination against disabled people. It also meets the needs of small to medium sized businesses because it is flexible enough to take account of your business's individual circumstances.

We know you are short on time, so this website concentrates on the most important things you have to know about the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). It is intended as a quick guide and it is not an authoritative statement of the law.

It highlights your responsibilities and illustrates how easy it is to make changes that will benefit you and your business.

Customer needs and expectations for Asda

The external customers at Asda are mainly generally mixed ages, who just want to shop to get there groceries, also external customers who go there are mainly customers who want to shop for George and also medical items, this makes it good as it would mean that customers would go to the store to get other item rather than just purchasing groceries all the time, so it gives customers another purpose to come to Asda.

The external customers are the main source of profit for Asda as they would want to have more external customers to come to the store and they will want people to make sure that it will be profitable and they will want the external customers to keep rising and they will want this to be made to make sure that they beat there other competitors and they will want to make sure that they do not slip in the market share, the external customers expect to get good customer service as they are the ones who mainly come back to the store and where they gain most of the money and to make sure that they keep them satisfied.

The internal customers of Asda are the customers that already work there and the ones who will want a discount from all there hard work and they will want this because it will make sure that the employees will be kept happy and they will also continue to work at the store and it will

Customer needs may be defined as the facilities or services a customer requires to achieve specific goals or objectives. Needs are generally non-negotiable, but may be optional or of varying importance to the customer. In any transaction, customers seek value-for-money, and will often consider a range of vendors' offers before settling on a purchase.

Customer expectations are based on perceived values of facilities or services as applied to specific needs. Expectations are influenced by cultural values, advertising, marketing, and other communications, both with the supplier and with other sources. Expectations are negotiable and modifiable.

Both customer needs and expectations may be determined through interviews, surveys, conversations or other methods of collecting information. Customers at times do not have a clear understanding of their needs. Assisting in determining needs is a valuable service to the customer. In the process, expectations may be set or adjusted to correspond to known product capabilities or service.

Pre transactional

Asda revealed in greater detail that they will have eliminated jobs that were part of the plan for a larger improvement to the customer service and would be offset somewhat by a restructuring of the way its stores are managed. As a result, eight new frontline customer service positions were created at its 279 stores for a total of 2,250 new "shop floor" jobs.

This will help the customers as they will have more staff to ask for directions on food, this will make sure and ensure that the customers are always happy and that they will return to the store and make sure that they keep on purchasing and that they become very regular with Asda and then this will ensure Asda to carry on being successful.

The customers will be a lot happier now as there are major changes with the customer service they have now made sure that they have got more stores around the country and now the customers will not need to travel that far as there will be a store located near them.

The changes will allow Asda to focus on improving operations at existing stores while maintaining expansion plans. It expects to open 15 new Asda stores this year and recently acquired 12 Safeway stores in Northern Ireland. In addition, test concepts such as standalone George brand clothing stores and general merchandise-only stores known as Asda Living continue to be expanded. By year-end a total of 10 George stores and five Asda Living stores are expected to be in operation.

Evaluation of effective customer service

Staff

I feel that the appearance of the Asda colleges are up to an appropriate standard and that it does not need to be changed as you can see who is who and you can find out who the manager is really easy, also the service is really good and you can find everything really quickly and also the employees will know where all the products are for a particular section.

Premises

The reliability of the store is good as it shows a lot more employees will help customers out in the store and they will make sure that the customer will get the product in which they require this will be good for Asda as they are making sure that the customer is kept happy and that they are making sure they will come back to the store for the future.

The layout of the store is good as it is arranged in good order and it has loads of places where you can find the right product also it has many new ways in getting a specific product. The advantage as well is that there will loads of space so that there will be good lines and no one will have to wait that long to get served.

Disadvantage

The disadvantage to having a large layout to the place is that there is more walking which will make customers more tired and they might be after one product which will then make them want to go to another store just to get that specific product.

The products might be hard to find and they might have a lot of difficulty getting towards the product as there are loads of customers in Asda and there are a lot of people walking about so there will loads of people getting in your way.

Providing quality products

The advantage of providing quality products is that there will be a lot of customers who will be purchasing them as they know that the dates will last long on them and that you will get a good taste with them. The quality products will also ensure that customers will know that they will have food that won’t be poisoning, and that they will be healthy because it is quality.

Also the advantage of having good quality products is that the customers will mainly be satisfied with the product that they have got and then it will persuade them to come back again and again to get the same product or to get another one.

Disadvantage

The disadvantages of the quality product is that people who cannot afford it is going to go elsewhere and they will want to save there budget, also the disadvantage is that they will get them customers shopping elsewhere and they will not tell there friends to shop at Asda they will tell them to shop elsewhere and this will make Asda lose valuable customers.

Also the disadvantage of having the products at a high quality is that if the customers find that the product they purchased was nasty or did not taste correctly, then they will not go back and purchase the same product they will go elsewhere which will make Asda go back and find that they are losing money (profit).

The communications

Telephone

Telephone communications is a way of chatting to loads of customers and this will get the message around a lot more quickly as it would make sure that I can be ensured to be good for the customer as it would make sure that they can understand and get everything done over the phone, this will ensure that the customer will be happy as they would get every detail that they wanted for there enquiry.

Disadvantage

The disadvantage of using the phone is that they would be charged at a standard rate and this would mean that the customer will not want to phone very often as there would be a lot of people who will not want to pay for the bill so they might rather just not complain, and just not shop at Asda any more, this will make Asda lose customers and they might will not recommend there customer service to anyone, also a disadvantage to Asda is that the customer might get mad as they may not receive the service in which they wanted.

Email is good for Asda as it will make sure that people can email them and they will get a response within a few days, this will be good for Asda as no one is spending money on it and they are not going to get mad at paying money and not getting a good service, the email should provide also more in depth information on a query, and this will make the customer a lot more happy and also it will make sure that they are getting the correct amount of information and if they are not then they can send another email without wasting any more for it.

Disadvantage

The disadvantage of using and email is that it will take time for Asda to reply back and also it will have a chance of coming up in the junk mail folder as it could be considered as S.P.A.M this will make customers very unsure on Asda and they may not send an email to them again, and they may not shop at Asda, this will make Asda lose a profit, and this will make Asda customers leave them and shop at there competitors like Tesco, also customers might get annoyed by emailing them all the time as they are not getting the answer in which they want, which will make them not shop at Asda any more, and they will find the customer service at Asda bad.

Letter

Sending a letter to Asda will be good as you can write a lot about what you want and it will get your question there, the advantage of sending a letter is that it you will be able to get a good response when you send it as you can be very specific.

The bad point to sending a letter is that you will not be able to get a response back until later on and this will be bad as it is very frustrating and especially if you do not get the response you want, so this will make Asda look bad on the other hand.

Interpretation Skills

The interpretation skills with the face to face conversations with customers will be difficult to handle with, as you may get angry customers, but the Asda customers will have to do there best to get them to calm down and make sure they come back to shop again and again, this will looked as good customer service if they make sure that the customers keeps coming back to the store.

The employee will also have to make sure that there body language is confident, so the customers does not feel that he/she can over power them , and the employee will have to make sure that they are providing a good answer and not a stupid answer, this will make the customer feel as if they are treated with honesty.

The employee will also have to make that there hygiene is perfectly good otherwise the customer might find you dirty and leave, this will make the customer think that the whole store is dirty and may not come back every again.

The employee must also make sure that they have a good personality as they will need to make sure that the customer will feel like the employee is there friend they might like this as it would help the customer ask the question of what they want and then this make sure that the customer will like this.

Asda will need to make sure they keep the customer service up to a good rate otherwise they will start losing customers, and if they keep this up then Asda will not lose customers and they will find this a lot more better and they will then start to beat competitors.

Knowledge of range of products

The Asda staff need to have a great knowledge of what they are selling, this will ensure when a customers asks them a question they will know where to get it from and can tell them if there are any available, this will ensure that the customers are kept happy and they will not think anything negative about the store this is good for Asda as it will help them beat there other competitors and it can keep them on top of the market and make them remain as the market leader.

Meeting the need of the customers

Asda will want to meet the needs of the customers this is good as it will ensure that they can

The impact of Asda on the customer service

The impact of the customer service at Asda is that they make sure that the employees watch a video to make sure that they are providing a good customers service and this will also make sure that they will be able to make sure that the customers are very happy and that they are purchasing many items as possible and that they are coming to the store again and again.

Asda will make sure that they will have everything up to scratch with the customer service they will also make sure that every customer is treated with respect and that they are getting the service in which they require and that they are also getting the right amount of service from the employees.

Business – Pizza Hut