Services Marketing Report - John Lewis PLC

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Services Marketing

B2058

Contents

Page

1 Report Introduction                                                                                  3

2 What are Services?                                                                                                    3

        2.1 Characteristics of services                                                                             4-5

3 John Lewis: An overview                                                                                        5

4 The Service Marketing Mix                                                                                      6

   4.1 John Lewis and the Service Marketing Mix                                                           6

     4.2 People                                                                                                           6

       4.3 Physical Evidence                                                                                    7-8

         4.4 Processes                                                                                                   8

5 Financial Success                                                                                                    9

6 Customer Retention at John Lewis                                                                        9-10

7 Report Conclusion                                                                                                 9

8  Appendices

    Table 1:        Some Relevant Subject Areas Omitted From Report                            10  

       Table 2:        Service Contributions to GDP                                                         10

           Table 3:        The Difference Between Goods and Services                               10

                 Diagram 1:   Service Characteristics                                                         11

             Table 4 :       The Traditional Marketing Mix                                                  12

         John Lewis Factfile                                                                                            13-14

     John Lewis Online Customer Service Page                                                                 15

9  Reference List                                                                                                       16-17

     


1 Report Introduction

This report has been put together to critically review John Lewis Department Stores as a service provider. It will assess a number of issues relating to Services Marketing to evaluate John Lewis as a service provider using literature from books, journals and online articles.

Although there are a great number of topics within Services Marketing which could be discussed in this report, only a small number have been included. This is because I consider these particular areas are of greatest relevance to John Lewis as a service provider. The subject areas omitted have been detailed in table 1 (see appendices).

2 What are Services?

There are many definitions within academic literature defining what service actually is.  Zeithaml et al (2006. p4) describes it as “…deeds and actions performed for customers”.  Quinn (1987. pp 50-58) notes his definition as

“ all economic activities whose output is not physical product or construction,    is generally consumed at the time it is produced and provides added value in forms (such as convenience, amusement, timeliness, comfort or health) that are essentially intangible concerns of its first purchaser”.  

According to Bent (2008) the service industry is one of the main contributors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in developed countries.  In the UK, the greatest contribution services have made to GDP is 74% (Zeithaml.V.2006). Table 2 (see appendices) has been put together to illustrate different countries’ percentage of GDP contributed by their service industry. The information was recorded in 2004 and is taken from Zeithaml (2006. p.8). Bent (2008) notes in 1950 the percentage of GDP contributed by services in the US was 54% which had more than doubled from the 1870 figure of 26%.  It is only when one looks into figures from previous years that the growth of the industry becomes apparent.

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This contrasts with traditional beliefs from economists that service could not be of any considerable value to a countries economy. Levitt (1972) scrutinizes that service industries do not exist, only industries where there is more emphasis on service than others.  Palmer (2001. p2) best sums up the modern position of services in today’s economy by noting “services are no longer a minor or superficial part of economies, but go to the heart of value creation within the economy.“

2.1 Characteristics of Services

A service is an intangible product offered to a customer for their benefit. Palmer ...

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