Tesco Customer Service.

Here is my description of different customers of Tesco, their expectations and what customer service is within Tesco.

Customer service is the assistance Tesco grant their customers. Customer service is how well Tesco satisfy their customers. All individual customers of Tesco have different needs and expectations; they like to be provided with different services so that they feel more at ease when shopping.

In Tesco’s core purpose statement they say that “Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty”. I believe that this shows Tesco care about their customers to a great extent. The statement tells us that “No-one tries harder for customers, and treat people as we like to be treated”. I feel that this shows that Tesco understand the importance of customer service and that they have to have an above good quality standard of customer service in order to keep customers coming back so that Tesco can keep making healthy profits. I feel that Tesco try to make shopping experiences easy and pleasurable for their customers. They use an ‘every little helps’ strategy, which is regularly advertised on the television to not only draw new customers in but to keep their current customers. Tesco have questionnaires in store so that their customers can give Tesco feedback so Tesco can target week sections of their customer service and find new methods to improve these week sections. Some of the questions on the questionnaire are; did you find what you were looking for? Were you offered hep at the tills? Were you asked if you have a club card? Did you have to queue up? If so, for how long? Were you greeted with a smile, hello and a goodbye? Did staff check your eggs? Did staff make eye contact? All these different questions help Tesco to target week sections and improve upon the current standard of their customer service. I feel that if Tesco did not offer the opportunity for customers to have their say then the Tesco customer service would not be of a very high standard! I feel that by Tesco offering this they will make their customer service of a high quality and are more likely to keep their current customers and attract new ones by word-of-mouth conversations.

[Obtained from the teachmebusiness.co.uk website]

Here is one of the Tesco’s customer feedback forms. I think that it is good because customers don’t have to spend a lot of time filling it in but Tesco can generate a great deal of data from this small questionnaire meaning that they will have a sufficient amount of data to improve. For example, if Tesco saw a trend of feedback forms with “there are never any trolleys” Tesco can investigate this throughout there stores and make the necessary improvements so that there are always trolleys for customers to use. Tesco have two ...

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[Obtained from the teachmebusiness.co.uk website]

Tesco have to fully understand each and every expectation of all individual customers. Tesco customer’s expectations are:

Value for money on all products; it is important Tesco do this in order to keep their customers and attract new ones because they have lower prices than rival stores. Tesco show customers that they are cheaper than competitive stores with their price tags. They often have things like; Tesco price then Asda and Morrison’s price underneath. I think that this helps Tesco to become a bigger threat and higher competition to other leading supermarkets.
A good returns policy; customers of Tesco expect to be able to return goods at a later date if they product is faulty or damaged. Customers may also expect repairs on products that Tesco offer such as televisions and other electronics. The Tesco returns policy is 28 days. I think that this is a reasonable amount of time because most people can return good within a month of a purchase. With electronics Tesco give a free one year warranty and the customer can choose weather to buy extra. I think that this is fair because one year is a generous warranty for free and most faults will happen within the first year.
Good ordering systems; Tesco use tracking systems on there internet site so that customers can follow their item and see when it will be arriving, its current status and even if it has been dispatched. This allows customers to contact Tesco if it comes to there attention that their item has not been dispatched within the specified time. I think that this is a good system because customers will feel at ease knowing where there products is and are more likely to order again.
Dealing quickly with any customer enquires; Tesco need to reply promptly to customer complaints about poor service and products. The customers will expect contact information so that they can contact head offices for complaints. Tesco provide this contact information on receipts, on their internet site and in stores. You can also go to the customer service desk in the Tesco store.

The employees will expect a good rate of pay; they will expect to be paid more than minimum wage and possibly a better salary than other leading supermarkets pay their employees. They will also expect to be treated with respect, the employees practically run Tesco so it is in Tesco’s best interests to give their employees the respect they deserve. The employees will also expect the chance to get promoted and move up the ranks in the organisation so that they will get better jobs and salaries.

The suppliers will expect their products to be well advertised and promoted in the store. They will also expect Tesco to do bulk buying and pay with appropriate payments.

For Tesco to have a good customer service It means that they have to keep customers happy. Tesco will offer many things to do this including; low prices, quality good, well advertised products, easy to get hold of contact information, quick and easy customer complaints and friendly staff. All these things add up to a good customer service and help Tesco to be competitive. Terry Leahy who is the chief executive of Tesco quoted, “Good customer service helps Tesco to compete successfully with other supermarkets”. I agree with this statement because if Tesco did not offer a good customer service they would struggle to get customers to return and find new ones.

How does Tesco deal with complaints?

Tesco deal with their complaints using ‘SOLUTION’

Here is my example of how Tesco put this into place.

Employee: Hello Sir, how may I help you?

Customer: Well, I have bought this game, but it doesn’t read in my play station.

Employee: Ohh. I am sorry sir. I have had this problem before.

Customer: Ahh. Well can you I have my money back?

Employee: I’m sorry sir, but you can’t. I can exchange it for you.

Customer: I want my money back! Now!

Employee: Can you wait one second Sir, I’m going to get my manager to see what I can do for you.

Manager: Hello sir, I am aware of your problem, but you can’t have your money back. You can have exchange.

Customer: Well that will have to do! Can you hurry please? I have to go!

Manager: Ok. Here’s your new game. I’m sorry for the problem, I hope you don’t have the same again.

Customer: No! Nor do I!

Manager: Thanks now. Have a good day.

Customer: Bye now. And thanks for that. Sorry.

In my example the employee stays calm, even when the customer gets angry and mad. But they come to solution and work things out.

What are Tesco’s procedures when they are dealing with complaints?

Tesco’s top four complaints are:

Being kept on hold for excessive lengths of time, while being told repeatedly how much Tesco values their custom.
When Tesco ignore basic consumer rights, e.g., taking back faulty goods and being refused a refund and told to change it for another product.
Inflexible delivery times - businesses which refuse to deliver beyond a narrow, fixed time, or at weekends.
Rude or over-friendly staff - both extremes can make customers feel uncomfortable.

Tesco will take every complaint seriously no matter how many times they hear it because they cannot afford to only deal with the ‘interesting’ complaints because just by loosing 1 customer it can lead to loosing 100 just by people talking about it. This is why Tesco take their customer service seriously and try their best to deal with every complaint. Tesco will try and solve there complaints within the business so that they do not get out of hand and lead to tribunals. Tesco will try to improve upon sections of there customer service when they receive complaints bout it. I feel that this is good because customers will see that Tesco do try for their customers.

Customer satisfaction.

What type of customer records are kept by Tesco?

Customers are very important to Tesco as I have already stated. It is vital to ensure that the adequate information is held about each of Tesco’s customers. They may hold the information in a customer database or they may hold it in another form. The customer records that Tesco hold are as follows:

Customer account or reference number.
Customer name, address, telephone, fax and email address.
Delivery address (if different from the customers main address).
The customer’s transactions (invoices, credit notes, receipts etc).

From the data on each customer that Tesco has it would be easy for Tesco to make reports on many different subjects including; sales per month, sales of each product, sales in each store or region of the country etc. This information can be important to ensure that Tesco meet customer satisfaction. Tesco will collect customers personal information through clubcards, their website and feedback forms. Tesco will be able to measure how often customers shop at Tesco and what types of products they buy. Tesco will record the number the number of complaints they get and what they are for. If Tesco see a trend in the complaints about a particular part of the customer service then Tesco will try to improve upon it. The same will apply for products or service. If a trend is spotted Tesco will try to improve upon it.

How Tesco collect their information to measure customer satisfaction.

Tesco collect data using clubcards. Tesco offer the clubcard to customers so that they can benefit from free vouchers and savings. But the real benefit behind it all is that Tesco can collect data on the customer’s behaviour. This allows Tesco to make sure that they stock the rights products and provide the right services. Tesco will collect enormous amounts of data through this scheme.

“The Clubcard has been the technical tool to enable Tesco to build up a considerable insight into customer shopping behavior. This insight includes knowing when and where consumers shop, which tells us something about how an individual or a family lives, and this in turn helps in terms of determining a launch strategy for financial service products. Most of these products are sold through in-store promotions with Clubcard point offers.”

[Quoted by teachmebusiness.co.uk]

This tells me that Tesco can have great benefits from the clubcard and can improve customer satisfaction.