Ellie Mae Smith Unit 29 Assignment 3
Understanding Retail
In this task I will explain how focusing on the customer, by providing good customer service, is
essential to retailing.
Customer service is the process which must be carried out to ensure all customers have a good
experience in stores and are satisfied with the product or service they have purchased. A company
must display excellent customer service skills whilst the transaction is taking place with the
customer, for example as the sale is being made or when a customer returns an item. This will allow
the customer to be able to trust the brand more easily and the reputation of the company will
increase. Customer service can be carried out face-to-face with the customer, over the phone, email
or other self-service systems.
It is important for employees to look after the needs of a customer, this can be done by providing
professional, high quality, personalised service and assistance before, during and after the customer
has purchased the product or service they require, this must be done to ensure customer
satisfaction, even if they need to return the product. Customer service is vital to any company, in
some situations this may be the only contact a customer will have personally with a business. The
only way a business can be successful and make profits is through customers, therefore customer
service must be provided to an excellent standard. It will gain customers trust within the company as
well as increase brand trust within their target audience. If a company fails to deal with customer
encounters effectively then customers are very unlikely to return and the business will therefore
become unsuccessful and won’t make profits.
Tesco PLC has operated in the UK for more than 100 years and has provided excellent customer
service, this has been adapted and changed many times to meet the needs of the customers in
different generations, in the past 20 years customer service has been developed a lot due to
technological revolution. One of Tesco’s most famous and successful achievements in Customers
Relationship Management is the Clubcard.
Tesco’s Clubcard is their most successful customer communication technique to date, it has
contributed hugely to a rise in profits. From visiting Tesco and conducting observations I found that
the majority of their customer were members of the Clubcard. By meeting customer needs,
customising service, lowering prices, improving the range of products and many different
promotions allows Tesco to control and increase their customer base. Customer service leads to an
increase in customer loyalty, the Clubcard also makes customers feel like they’re a part of the
company which makes them more likely to regularly use Tesco stores to do their shopping than
using competitor supermarkets at all. There are around 17 million Tesco Clubcard members in
Britain and 7 million abroad.
Another company with a similar scheme is Boots which offer Advantage Cards which encourages
customers to visit stores and purchase products as they can collect points which are equivalent to
money you are able to spend in Boots stores. From my experience customers are more likely to visit
Boots for any items they may need (e.g. shampoo, hair spray and perfume) compared to visiting
their local convenience store, because every purchase amounts to points on their advantage card.
These advantage cards supports Boots in excelling their customer service, for example when a
customer purchases a product and uses their card the sale is logged with the customers details, this
allows Boots to contact the customer, usually through email, to ask how they’re getting on with the
product and if they are satisfied, if the customer isn’t the company will have the ability to deal with
the situation, resulting in the customer being pleased with the business and more likely to return.
Understanding Retail
In this task I will explain how focusing on the customer, by providing good customer service, is
essential to retailing.
Customer service is the process which must be carried out to ensure all customers have a good
experience in stores and are satisfied with the product or service they have purchased. A company
must display excellent customer service skills whilst the transaction is taking place with the
customer, for example as the sale is being made or when a customer returns an item. This will allow
the customer to be able to trust the brand more easily and the reputation of the company will
increase. Customer service can be carried out face-to-face with the customer, over the phone, email
or other self-service systems.
It is important for employees to look after the needs of a customer, this can be done by providing
professional, high quality, personalised service and assistance before, during and after the customer
has purchased the product or service they require, this must be done to ensure customer
satisfaction, even if they need to return the product. Customer service is vital to any company, in
some situations this may be the only contact a customer will have personally with a business. The
only way a business can be successful and make profits is through customers, therefore customer
service must be provided to an excellent standard. It will gain customers trust within the company as
well as increase brand trust within their target audience. If a company fails to deal with customer
encounters effectively then customers are very unlikely to return and the business will therefore
become unsuccessful and won’t make profits.
Tesco PLC has operated in the UK for more than 100 years and has provided excellent customer
service, this has been adapted and changed many times to meet the needs of the customers in
different generations, in the past 20 years customer service has been developed a lot due to
technological revolution. One of Tesco’s most famous and successful achievements in Customers
Relationship Management is the Clubcard.
Tesco’s Clubcard is their most successful customer communication technique to date, it has
contributed hugely to a rise in profits. From visiting Tesco and conducting observations I found that
the majority of their customer were members of the Clubcard. By meeting customer needs,
customising service, lowering prices, improving the range of products and many different
promotions allows Tesco to control and increase their customer base. Customer service leads to an
increase in customer loyalty, the Clubcard also makes customers feel like they’re a part of the
company which makes them more likely to regularly use Tesco stores to do their shopping than
using competitor supermarkets at all. There are around 17 million Tesco Clubcard members in
Britain and 7 million abroad.
Another company with a similar scheme is Boots which offer Advantage Cards which encourages
customers to visit stores and purchase products as they can collect points which are equivalent to
money you are able to spend in Boots stores. From my experience customers are more likely to visit
Boots for any items they may need (e.g. shampoo, hair spray and perfume) compared to visiting
their local convenience store, because every purchase amounts to points on their advantage card.
These advantage cards supports Boots in excelling their customer service, for example when a
customer purchases a product and uses their card the sale is logged with the customers details, this
allows Boots to contact the customer, usually through email, to ask how they’re getting on with the
product and if they are satisfied, if the customer isn’t the company will have the ability to deal with
the situation, resulting in the customer being pleased with the business and more likely to return.
