Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

SERVICING and Selling THE RETAIL CUSTOMER

 CONCEPT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

 “Customer service is a task, other than proactive

selling, that involves interactions with customers in
person or by telecommunications, mail or automated
processes. It is designed, performed and

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

communicated with two goals in mind: operational
productivity and customer satisfaction.”

 Customer service has been defined by Levy & Weitz

as all activities performed by retailers and their
personnel to attract, retain, and enhance a
customer’s shopping experience.
 Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
PEOPLE
THE
SERVICE TRIANGLE

CUSTOME
STRATEGY
SERVICE

THE
THE

SYSTEMS
THE
 IMPORTANCE OF
SERVICE IN RETAIL

The interlocking efforts for keeping customers:

 Put the customer at the heart of Your business
 Manage the business form The Customers point

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

of view
 Manage quality
 Manage Service recovery
 Convert Customer Satisfaction into profit
 Measure What matters
 Keep the Relationship vibrant
 THE MEHRABIAN-RUSSELL
STIMULUS RESPONSE MODEL

RESPONSE
BEHAVIOUR
ENVIROMENT DIMENSION

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

AL STIMULI OF AFFECT
AND PLEASURE
COGNITIVE AND
APPROACH
PROCESSES AROUSAL
OR
AVOIDANCE
 SERVICESCAPES

 Servicescape is defined as “the environment in which

the service is assembled and in which the seller and
customer interact, combined with tangible
commodities that facilitate performance or

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

communication of the service”
 In this model, the author identifies the main
dimensions in a service environment and views them
holistically in which customer and employee
responses classified under cognitive, emotional and
psychological which would, in turn, lead to overt
behaviour towards the environment.
 Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
SERVICESCAPES
 PRINCIPLES OF
DISTINCTIVE SERVICE

 Identify its key customers and listen and

respond to them
 Define superior service and establish a service

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

strategy
 Set standards and measure performance
 Select, train and empower employees to work
for the customer
 Recognise and reward accomplishment
 MEASURING THE
GAPS IN SERVICE
 The process of service quality needs to be looked at
from two perspectives: the customers and the firm.
 The most important gap, the service gap is between

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

customers’ expectations of service and their
perceptions of the service actually delivered.
 The chief element to be considered important on the
side of the firm is the management’s perception of
customer expectations, which affects the translation
of perceptions into service specifications.
 Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF
SERVICE QUALITY
 Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
COMMUNICATIONS
STANDARDS GAPS

GAPS
OTHER GAPS

KNOWLEDGE GAPS

DELIVERY GAPS
GATHERING CUSTOMER INFORMATION
AND ENHANCING LOYALTY

 In order to create products and services which are suited

to the needs of a changing consumer marketplace, a
retailer needs to do research, on buying habits, items
purchased, items not purchased, and so on.

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 One such tool is the customer loyalty card devised by
retailers to encourage loyalty.
 With the rapid changes in the field of information
technology and the technology used by retailers, data
warehousing, data mining and customer relationship
management have become the key methods of
obtaining and analysing customer information.
 ENCOURAGING LOYALTY %
LOYALTY CARDS

 Oliver suggests that customer loyalty is a condition of

strong involvement in the repurchase, or reuse, of a
product or brand. This involvement is strong enough
to overcome the situational and competitive

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

influences which might drive a variety seeker or a
switching behaviour.
 A good customer loyalty programme needs to possess
the following characteristics: Visibility , Simplicity,
Value and Trust.
 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a tool for
servicing the consumer. The concept of CRM is two-
fold. It is a strategy that aims at creating customers for
life and tries to secure a share of the mind, thereby

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

creating market share and a share of the wallet for the
organisation. On the other hand it is largely technology
driven.
 Greenleaf and Winer have explained CRM as “Customer
Relationship Management is a business strategy to
select and manage customers to optimise long-term
value.”
 Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
CRM IN RETAIL
ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING
 In retail, a salesperson represents the business to the customer
in the following ways:
 As a source of information, i.e. being knowledgeable about the
store’s merchandise and policies.
 As a fashion and value counsellor who assists the customer with

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

value comparisons with items in the store or possibly competing
brands.
 As a public relations representative, the salesperson represents
the business to the public or to customers.
 As a mover of stock who assists in turning over or selling the
inventory which is the primary objective of the business.
 As a seller who assists the customer in making a decision to
purchase the store’s merchandise.
 RETAIL SELLING PROCESS

The retailing process requires researching

customer preferences, developing value
propositions, establishing retail networks and

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

supply chains, setting up stores, filling it up with
merchandise and getting the customers in to buy
the merchandise.
 THE SELLING CYCLE
Acquiring
product/mer Studying the Approaching
chandise customer the customer
knowledge

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Presenting
Overcoming Suggestive
the
resistance selling
merchandise

Closing the
sale