Assignment 3

MKT634.1

Submitted by: Tania Afroze, 1835237060

Semester: Fall ‘20

Question: Consider a product category. What changes have you personally experienced
as a consumer? What is your observation about the rate of such changes occurring in
Bangladesh?

Answer: There’s a reason why Yelp’s influence can make or break a restaurant in a matter of
just a few reviews -- customer service is the be-all and end-all of good business. Customers are
the backbone of every business and while acquiring them is difficult, retaining them can be even
trickier. If a business has to constantly find new customers, it’s going to struggle to create any
long-lasting growth. Meanwhile, if another business can keep its customers happy, those
customers will refer the business to new customers. A good referral from a happy customer is far
more valuable to a business than the savviest marketing campaign. 

The founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, was reportedly such a stickler for providing exceptional
customer service with his company that he would do so even when a customer was trying to take
advantage of a return policy. It’s that sort of “the customer is always right” approach that has
helped make Walmart and its sister company, Sam’s Club, retail giants. Providing great customer
service is hardly a new pillar of a successful business, however, its importance for startups can’t
be underestimated. An entrepreneur often only gets one chance to make a good impression on a
new customer, so it’s imperative that they stand out from the competition. What can your
business do to go the extra mile that others might ignore? What different mediums can you
explore to receive the most thorough customer feedback? Investing in creating a helpful
experience for the consumer can be the difference between a business going belly up after five
years or continuing on for decades. One successful business I observed encourages visitors to
reach out with any questions through a chat feature immediately upon visiting their website. It’s
this kind of dedication to adapting their customer service with the times that have resulted in 40
years of business. But the highlight of all of these matters is Walton graduated from the
University of Missouri with a degree in economics (1940) and entered a J.C. Penney
Company management training program in Des Moines, Iowa.

Of course, the opposite can also be true for a company, and all it takes is a single headline to
unravel years of success. Take United Airlines for example. The company’s stock plummeted in
2017 after a video of the mistreatment of a customer went viral. Academic concepts are
important to make a business successful. But knowing what is right and wrong for the customers
from your own experience is also mandatory.