Coles In-Store Services, Masters Home Improvement - Assignment Example

Name: Professor: Course: Semester: Date: Service encounter analysis Introduction Measuring the quality of service is relatively difficult compared to measuring the services of goods. when it comes to service, you have to analyze it using a set of indicators that should guide your conclusions such as the customers opinion on the service but you can not analyze the commodity’s attribute due to the intangible nature of service, SERVQUAL model measures perceived service quality by the consumers and the person rendering the service and the actual perceptions of the service (Ferell & Hartline, 2010). Under the respective headlines, this paper analyses five service encounters I had to find out the quality of service I received and the level of satisfaction it achieved. Coles’ in-store services Guided by the five dimensions of service which SERVQUAL uses to analyze service, I came to realize that Coles tangibles in terms of the appearance of the stores is quite commendable, the stores are spacious with the merchandise displayed in a way where you can access everything you want with little effort. The stores are clean and well ventilated to give customers a conducive shopping experience as they shop and also as they wait to pay for their commodities. With stores spread very well across major cities you can be sure to get a Coles store just near where you work or live as they are conveniently located in shopping malls and accessible stand alone stores. The service is reliable since one does not spend more that five minutes at the points of shopping; there are no much deliberations as to how you are supposed to pay since you can opt; for cash, credit cards or ATM payment. Incase of any problem or some clarification, the attendants are very available to answer your questions and help you whenever you have a problem. I was particularly impressed by the carry to car service where the stores staff help you carry shopping to your car incase it’s too much for you to manage by your own. They have also given disabled and old customers an easy time shopping with trolleys specially made for this group of shoppers. You can also return anything that you took but you are not happy with depending on a number of understandable issues such as quality, the customer desk is always willing to listen to you and refund if possible. The staff really give you an assurance of quality service by how courteous they are incase you look like you need some help. They discharge their duties competently and don’t waste any time at the expense of the customer. The fact that you can speak to a customer service representative personally really gives a sense of empathy since you feel you are being understood (Baggozzi, 2002). Coles have a good customer service which you can reach through calling or physically visiting the store for help. The prices at Coles are quite competitive and they give you as the customer value for money especially on grocery and dairy products which the store sells at very affordable prices. The goods are of high quality and fresh since they have a system of monitoring the shelf life of their grocery goods to ensure fresh and quality commodities for clients. Looking back at the equity theory I think that the company is making good money delivering quality service to customers since the products are competitively priced and the service being delivered is excellent considering the high number of customers that visit the stores everyday. Masters home improvement Masters home improvement is an affiliate company of Woolworths limited. The company specializes in provision of items for home improvement ranging from flooring and tile, electrical, fixtures and fittings to garden equipments. The stores are well distributed across Australia. They have quite spacious stores with all the items arranged in a clear manner. There are sections for every type of products they stock for home improvement for easy access. The stores are clean and provide an easy time for clients moving around due to the enough spaces between shelves which even disabled people can go through smoothly sing their wheelchairs. Their services are dictated by their clearly spelt out working hours and you can be assured of getting a masters home improvement store open at their normal business hours without any surprises. The shopping attendants are particularly very useful in this store since many customers have varied concerns on the quality and suitability of the items they want to take with them home for home improvement. The attendants give advice on how some equipment and house items are going to be fitted for performance back home. I found these attendants to be very helpful as they give expert advice on how some of the items customers need will be helpful to them. They attendants give you an assurance of the best service and appreciate your importance as a customer in the store by how courteous they ask if you need any help locating something in the store. The store also offers you the chance to return something if at all it does not meet your expectations. You don’t spend so much time at the point of payment as there are many payment points that save on customers’ time. The fact that you can also shop online for this items and wait for a home delivery also makes the store’s service a very quality service since they add value by delivering the commodity conveniently at your premises while and you don’t have to be physically present to get whatever you need. The website has a customer care line that you can call any time for assistance even if you want to know where your nearest store is. Personalized service means it is possible to interact with the customer support at human level for them to understand you better (Peter, 2008). I was satisfied by the quality of service and the value it delivered in terms of competitive prices. The stores also values customer’s time as you don’t stay in line for long in order make payments for what you have selected. Value is also delivered by the customer support phone lines they provide incase you have any problem with whatever you have purchased. The service is quite above the expectations I had in terms of how helpful they are in understanding what you want Commonwealth bank. Netbank is one of the biggest banks in Australia. With a very large customer base you would expect the bank to be highly stretched top meet the expectations of its huge client base. But the bank has been able to balance between diseconomies of scale and delivery of customer value in terms of time efficiency and convenience. From the processing of loans to applying for insurance the bank has truly invested massively in customer service to ensure their clients are satisfied to stay ahead of the competition which is very stiff in the banking sector. Netbank is highly dependent on technology and especially the internet to deliver its products, services and convenience to their clients. The bank’s website provides an option for clients to download mobile and; tablets apps for Netbank. This applications help in account management. It is easier to get Netbank services on an online platform from your home without having to go through traffic and queuing to get the services. I found this to be very helpful especially considering the busy schedules with people nowadays. The services are reliable since you can access banking services 24 hours a day from wherever you for as long as you have internet connection. They have a customer helpline on the website and also have demos to demonstrate how you can go about accessing some services and products form the bank. If it is a must you visit the bank physically, the bank staff are very friendly and helpful no matter how small your problem might be. They continually give advice on how to use the banks apps and internet banking services to make banking easier for you. The staff is competent and they understand what they are doing and as such you don’t have to wait much as they consult on how you can be helped. In addition to the FAQs on their website, you can get information about from the website. You can interact with the staff f you have a personal problem at the normal working hours. They are courteous and ready to help. This further confirms the high quality of service being offered by the bank as the staff shows empathy by treating your problem by all the seriousness it deserves. I was satisfied with the service and did give some margin of dissatisfaction since I know the bank serves millions of clients and in as much as they may want to address your issues fast, they have other clients to serve too and you can have some level of expectations that is not too high. The bank offers good rates and attractive offers as compared to their level of operations and complex nature of the services they offer under different platforms. The bank has taken great measures to ensure security of clients’ accounts in the face of advanced cyber crime threatening to destroy online shopping and electronic banking. The bank is the most trusted bank by Australians when it comes to security features and guarantee. Sidney hospital and Sidney eye hospital Sidney hospital is the oldest hospital in Australia which dates back to 1788 upon the arrival of the first fleet. The hospital is co-located with the Sidney eye hospital and operates as single unit. The hospital has over the years become an excellent facility in terms of the quality of service they offer. For maximum efficiency, the hospital has specialized in eye, hand and sexual health which it offers in the main Sidney eye hospital, Sidney hospital eye clinic and Sidney sexual health centre. I found the hospital to be conveniently located as it is easily accessible to patients. The hospital premises are very clean and well ventilated for at the sick bay and also inside the wards. There are modern facilities that attest to the hospitals commitment to use new technology for the sake of better treatment to their patients. The staff of the hospital are highly trained and competent judging by how they talk to patients to understand they health problems and act accordingly. I found the receptionist quite friendly and she also gave me directions on where I should seek the help for the problem I had. The hospital is reliable as they are open 24 hrs for emergencies. The facilities they have are capable of handling complex conditions even in times of emergencies to ensure that the life of patients is safeguarded and you can rely on the hospital to offer the best services to you. The hospital is also well stocked with drugs for their patients and you are not referred to get drugs form any other pharmacy. The doctors have the contact details of all patents they attend to and I actually was impressed by the follow-up they make just to make sure their patients are responding well to medication and treatment they gave. This shows how committed the hospital is to ensure they deliver value to their patients and not just offer a service that may not at the end of the day satisfy the customer. This single act of follow up went beyond my expectations of hospital service and I think it is pone of the small things that makes the hospital stand out among the rest in terms of impeccable services to clients. The staffs including the doctors have time to listen to the patients to understand them at a human level and this shows the level of empathy they have when it comes to relating with their customers. The service fee is and drug prices are considerably lower considering it is not a privately owned hospital. Burch, (2007) argues that customers always rate the value of the service they get against the price they have paid for it. The value derived from the service is equal to the price one pays for the service and the drugs. I believe the hospital is not benefiting unfairly by providing below par service. Woolworths mobile Powered by Optus, Woolworths mobile provides yet another affordable mobile telephony service to Australian clients. The network is has covered Australia quite widely with presence in all states so the first aspect of a quality network is fulfilled. Apart from the network service, Woolworths’ mobile also deals in mobile phones and mobile phone accessories available at competitive prices compared to other dealers in the market. The network and network offers are reliable leaving no worry in consumers concerning the quality of the service. The network is available even on 4G platform. The customer simply has a choice of the bundle he/she feels will serve him/her adequately. Erasmus (2002) contends that in the service sector customer support is very vital in ensuring that the customers are satisfied and they problems are addressed to satisfaction. In light of this I would say that Woolworths mobile has achieved good customer support by how they respond to clients’ inquiries and problems. The website has clearly given directions on who the customers should contact incase they have a problem. The wide coverage and variety of products to choose from assures you of the reliability of the network in terms of delivering value to clients. The network does not suffer problems to do with connectivity. The Optus website has outlined clearly what they have on offer for the clients and it is simple to understand plans for clients and offers. The customer helpline is very busy and you have to wait for a while before somebody picks your call, perhaps this is the critical department the company has to improve on to attract and retain more customers due to service quality. Maybe there is a discrepancy between what the company believes is quality service in terms of dedicating much of their efforts to developing the network and improving service features but I believe it will achieve as much impact in regards to customer satisfaction if it invests much resources in customer support servicer. Apart from this problem I found the rest of the service to be excellent and dedicated towards delivering value for money to the customers. Conclusion Service has some special features distinguishing it from a good since it is not tangible; customers have a better understanding and thus provide a good source of information concerning how satisfied they are with the service (Blackwell, 2003). Service quality can only be measured by indicators like customer satisfaction and delivery conditions. This can only be done through utilization of models such as SERVQUAL and getting customer feedback. From my analysis I realized that the quality of service in the five sectors I have visited in the recent past is high as they have employed various strategies to put the customer as the center of focus of their efforts to deliver value to the consumers. The level of satisfaction is high partly due to the competition in the industries that ensures the business in the sector have to be innovative to find ways of satisfying their customers to retain existing ones and attract new ones. References Baggozzi, R., (2002). The social psychology of consumer behavior, Buckingham: Open University press Blackwell,R., (2003) Consumer behavior, 9th Ed, Harcourt Burch, D. (2007). Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains: transformations in the Production and consumption of foods. Edward Elgar Publishing Erasmus, A.C., (2002). Consumer decision-making models within discipline of consumer science: a critical approach, journal of family ecology and consumer sciences, vol 29, pg 82-90 Ferell.O., Hartline.D., (2010), Marketing Strategy, Cengage Learning. Peter ,P., (2008). Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy, McGraw Hill Read More