Tesco has as a play area for children. This means that when parents come and shop at Tesco they can leave their children at a safe play area where members of staff will look after them. This is a good customer service because now parents don’t have to worry about always dealing with complaints or problems with children while shopping, so it increases customer satisfaction and also may attract more customers as they may feel Tesco are reliable. However, this may cost a lot of money as Tesco have to pay to build the play area and also pay for the wages of staff to look after the children.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe that this is a good customer service as this method helps the parents a lot as they now have a safe area to leave their children, so parents are likely to continually come to Tesco as it look after its customers very well.
Tesco have an internal bakery. This means that the customers or staff can buy hot food such as bread, sausages, etc. in Tesco. This is a good customer service as customers have more choice of food to buy from. However, as now customer might go to bakery instead of buying sandwich so they make losses in sandwich and Tesco might need to pay for the wages of the staff that run the bakery.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe this is a good customer service as now customers have more choice of products and this may attract more customers as they feel Tesco offer a good service.
Tesco also have an internal café. This means that the customers or staffs who work at Tesco’s can go to the café and buy things like coffee or tea, etc. This is a good customer service because this means that customers have somewhere to go to and relax and catch up on conversations and mainly somwher to go to get something to eat or drink. However, this café may take a lot of space uop in the store so there might be less space to put other things and also Tesco have to pay for the workers who work in the café.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe this is a good customer service because this offers more options for customers to buy their food from and also might increase customer satisfaction.
Tesco have special trolleys for disabled people. This means that disabled people can shop in Tesco’s easily as it is easy to push around and put products in. This is a good customer service as it meets the needs of the disabled customers. However, buying these trolleys may cost a lot of money and theses trolleys may take up more space.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe that this is a good customer service as it meets the need of the disabled staff so it increases their satisfaction so in the future, this may attract more disabled customers as they feel they are treated well in Tesco’s.
Tesco also offer refunds. This means that if the customer wants to return the product that they have bought for one reason or another they can do so. This is a good customer service as it increases customer satisfaction as they believe they are treated well in Tesco’s. However, by giving refunds some customers might purposely use a lectronic product for example and return it and say they want their money back, so Tesco will lose out.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe that Tesco offer a good customer service as giving refunds means that it may attract more customers as they feel they are treated well.
Tesco also has its own petrol station. This means that when customers come shopping to Tesco they can also get petrol within Tesco. So it may be more convention for the customers of Tesco as they not have to go else where far to get petrol. This is a very good customer service as it increases customer satisfactions so they come to shop in Tesco more often. However, to have a petrol station cost a lot of money to build and run.
Recommendation
Overall, this strategy is an example of very good customer service as customers will be very satisfied that they can get petrol within Tesco and not have to go far elsewhere to get petrol.
Tesco has a very clean environment. This in other words mean that Tesco have their store very clean and pleasant. This is a good customer service as by having the store clean it attracts more customers as they feal it is very safe, welcomed and pleasant to shop. However, if Tesco wants to have its store clean then it has to employ workers to clean the store and this costs lots of money to pay for their wages.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe that this is a very good customer service as customers feel welcomed into the store so they are likely to com to Tesco’s more often than if for example Tesco was unclean and dirty.
Tesco also has clear sign throughout the store. This means that signs Tesco has are very clear so that customers can read and understand very easily. This is a way a good customer service as customers can get around the store very easily so their satisfaction increases. However, putting up clear signs mean Tesco might need to employ someone to put up the signs.
Recommendation
Overall, I believe that this method is an example of good customer service because by having clear signs it makes the customers feel they are helped get around the store easily, in other words it increases their satisfaction, this means that they continually come to Tesco to shop as they feel welcomed.
Finally, Tesco have a customer service desk near the front of the store. This means that the customers can go there to make queries or get help with problems they have. This is a good customer service as it meets the needs of the customers. However, by having customer service desk Tesco needs to employ someone to work at the desk which costs money.
Recommendation
Overall, I personally believe this is a good customer service because by having a customer service desk a customer might feel they are treated properly as they are allowed to express their views.
As all the staffs are informed about Tesco’s products, policies and procedure, the staffs need to have good internal communication skills and external communication skills. There are various situations where staff has to communicate internally for example, formal meetings, letters, telephones, staff reports, etc. and also there are various ways they communicate externally for example, face to face, e-mail, telephone, surveys, etc.
Tesco has various ways to convey its customers:
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Method of Communication – Tesco uses the telephone for example to offer new deals or information about Tesco. It also uses telephone to answer any queries the customers make. Tesco mainly uses email, where customers can send any problems or information they need through Tesco’s email, so Tesco staff can email them back with appropriate answers. Advantage of using this method to convey a customer is that this is a very cheap and effective way. However, a disadvantage is that some idiotic people can use this opportunity to send unneeded things and also Tesco have to employ someone to answer the phone or send emails.
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Interpersonal Skills – this could be argued one of the important way of convey to customers because customers normally judge someone by their body language. So the customers expect the staff to be polite and helpful and also assist like their really want to and not just do it unwillingly. So if customer feels Tesco staff have very poor personality or bad attitude then customers are less likely to come back to Tesco as they feel they are unwelcome. So an advantage of positive interpersonal skills is that it makes the customers feel that are welcomed and most likely to come back to Tesco. However, disadvantage is that some idiotic customer might take advantage of the positive interpersonal skill and exploit it.
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Knowledge of Product/Service – it is very important for staff to have the knowledge of most of the products in the store. This is because if a customer asks about a certain product then the staff should know the relevant information about the product, if they don’t then customers would not appreciate it. Or even worse tell them the wrong information if they do then the customers will be furious or even worse they can write complaints to senior management and staff may even be sacked. If a staff does not know about the product it is essential to guide a customer to another staff who knows. An advantage of good knowledge of product is that it increases customer satisfaction so they are likely to be loyal to Tesco.
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Meeting the needs of the customer – it is very important to meet the needs of the customer as they are vital to Tesco’s success and if don’t meet their need then they will go to Tesco’s competitors such as Asda, Sainsbury, etc. So Tesco needs to meet the needs of all stakeholders such as local community, staff, suppliers, financiers, etc. and not just customers in order to succeed. An advantage of meeting the needs of the customer is that it increases their satisfaction and so they will be loyal to Tesco. However, a disadvantage of trying to meet the needs of the customers is that it is quite difficult to meet all their needs.
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Effective and ineffective customer service – an effective customer service is where they handle complaints quickly and accurately and they also keep records of the complaints. An effective customer service also can even deal with difficult/aggressive customers very effectively. An ineffective customer service is where they cannot handle various customers or handle complaints. An advantage of effective customer service is that they can deal with situations very quickly and effectively so they satisfy customers’ needs, so customers in return will likely to be loyal. However, disadvantage of an effective customer service is that it costs lots of money to make a customer service effective as you have to employ the right quality staff.
Conclusion/Evaluation
Overall, Tesco carries out its customer service very effectively. This is because it has taken into consideration all the services it offers to its customers such as disabled toilet, petrol station, play area, internal café, etc. and also what approach it takes to conveying the customer such as interpersonal skills, method of communication, etc. From analysing Tesco I can see that Tesco has a very effective customer service. So one of things Tesco did was to hire well informed, efficient and motivated staff to the customer service departments.
When I am evaluating I will look at how the customer service policy affects the customers, employees and the company.
The customer service affects the customers because the laws are set out to be respected by everyone, so the customers have to follow it especially. An advantage of this is that the policy are publicised to help the customers. So for example, an expectation from the customer service policy suggests that ‘to act in a sensible behaviour around store’, this will help the customers as it protects them from violent behaviour of other customers and also provide a pleasant environment for the customers. However, a disadvantage of this customer service policy is that not many people will be pleased about these policies. An example of a situation could be that, some customer especially youths might find it difficult to not swear for example in the store as it might be natural for them. Overall, I feel that the customers have to be grateful that these policies and set in order to help them and maintain a pleasant environment.
The customer policy also affects the employees because these laws are set by the employees so they have to also contribute to help the policy. An advantage of this is that it will help Tesco maintain a pleasant environment. However, a disadvantage is that it is not certain that the customers or any one else will follow the policy on regular basis so the efforts may just be wasted. Overall, I feel employees are important as they are the people who set example for the customers, so they are the key to whether the policy will succeed.
Finally, the customer service also affects the company. This is because the company set the policy for the staff and customers to follow so if the policy does not work then they need to change the policy in order for it to work. An advantage of is that the company can make regular changes if necessary. However, a disadvantage is that if the company sets the policy and the customer does not like it then they are not going to follow the policy. Overall, it is very important for the company to analyse the situation in order to find out how well the policy is doing and if it needs any changes.
Even though Tesco has good customer service it still needs to make improvements to be more effective and keep in front of other firms such as Asda, Sainsbury, etc. Some of the approaches it can take to improve the customer service are: by seeking continuous improvements, empowering employees, acting on feedback and exploiting new technology. So Tesco could for example, give questionnaires to the public asking them to suggests on any improvements. When Tesco make their decision on what to improve they have to take into consideration the public’s suggestions and the staff’s suggestions on the improvements. So for example, the public and staff believe that the store need to be lit up more in terms of decoration or new equipment to be more attractive, then Tesco has to improve of their store to make it attractive.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
I believe Tesco’s strengths are it can offer several of service to customer to increase customer’s satisfaction this is mainly because Tesco have the resources and the money to do it. So Tesco has to continually keep on improving on the strengths to become more efficient.
Weakness
I believe Tesco’s weakness is that Tesco cannot necessarily meet all the needs and expectation of the customers as some of the needs and expectation are hard to meet. However, Tesco has to try to meet as much needs and expectation of the customers it can cause customer satisfaction is very important to a company’s success.
Opportunity
Tesco has the potential to increase its quality of its customer service in order to increase customer satisfaction. It can increase its quality of customer service my providing more training to its staff and invest more money into the customer service departments.
Threats
There are many threats Tesco can endure, there are many big competitors for Tesco such as Asda, Sainsbury, Morrisons, etc. so if all these firms increase their quality of customer service then it will affect Tesco because they then have to increase their quality of customer service as well to keep the customers they have. So if Tesco wants to continually dominate the market then they definitely have to increase the quality of customer service in order to be increase customer satisfaction.
So from the SWOT analysis I can identify my strengths and weaknesses. I have to analyse the data I found from SWOT analysis and try to improve my strengths and try to reduce any weakness in order for Tesco to improve its customer service.
Tesco’s Customer Service Policy
Tesco is committed to the development of a quality service.
Our commitments to you are:
- To provide a friendly service which offers various products/services you require.
- To provide a pleasant environment for you to shop in.
- To listen to your comments, suggestions, complaints and act upon them.
- For the Tesco staff to assist you with any problems.
- Publicise the services and special offers we offer
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What we expect from you:
- To be polite and kind to our member of staff at any circumstances.
- To always ask if you need any help.
- To act in a sensible behaviour around the store.