Service Experience: EBay - Essay Example

Service Experience: EBay Executive summary That measure of a product or service provided by a company in order to meet and surpass the s’ expectations are associated with the level of satisfaction that customer experiences. A customer’s expectation is the perceived worth customers seek from the purchase of products or services. Meeting the expectations cements relationships, gains customer loyalty and justifies a customer’s satisfaction. Customers expect better communication, consulting, options or even first-hand information about the products they are interested in. I will use eBay with respect to a student project to assert my findings. EBay is an online ecommerce marketplace. It is one of the world’s largest and leading ecommerce companies, offering hundreds of millions of people the chance to buy, sell and pay online. The idea behind the platform is to accelerate the pace at which innovation of commerce moves, long term target; reaching, enabling and sustaining the future of commerce. Shopping has been made much easier and simpler to consumers in a deal that is inclusive of all, a target of hosts from buyers and sellers and merchants to retailers all over the world. The recent decade has had the best of technology, and thanks to it, consumers are in the driving seat with mobile devices being the center of approach, with a target of a staggering $175 billion of commerce globally and $4.7 million in the US (eBay, 2008). EBay is spread across many of the European countries, operations localized in over 30 countries to be precise (eBay: The worlds Online Marketplace, 2010) Customers want simplicity, faster services, quick deliveries and much more. Services offered online guarantee that all these happens. The availability of mobile devices and handsets connects a host of users to this platform where buying, selling or payments are facilitated at a simple and efficient way, just what the customers need. This has been the epitome of EBay, having the capacity to use technology massively. The services are exceptional, with an interest in delivering according to the needs of each of its users worldwide. Visiting EBay’s’ site is great; one already feels as an experienced member. I can do it at the convenience of my home, with no need to travel, but still the services here are a satisfaction of the customer needs. The products are listed in a way that makes it easier for those visiting the site to find what they are interested in faster. Listing is in categories, a very simplified platform that directs a customer to their wants. The online marketplace is informative, with price tags, offers and discounts revealed to give the customers options while making their purchases. The PayPal services and the GSI (Suciu, Peter, 2008) platforms associated with the site are a move to eradicate its competitors; a very efficient approach. The online service is able to handle customer traffic and still deliver as expected, with the value and quality of the products compared to the costs not compromised. I have purchased clothes and the delivery of services was fast, the communication made much easier. These particular clothes were made for summer. This shows the extent to which EBay has reached to be an all-inclusive marketplace for everyone, depending on the needs. The shop has actually specialized in market segmentation which serves as the business base to heralding its operations. This helps in the handling of the incoming traffic in terms of purchases, or payments as well. The end result will be the attention of all visiting customers, all handled to their will and the efficiency of the online market is attained. What this means is that EBay can accommodate every customer depending on the specifications with a wide variety of service delivery. EBay’s content makes the site attractive to its visitors, it recaptures a deal with the regular market place where one is allowed to choose from a variety of options. One is not limited to a particular product with compliments in the way it allows its customers to interact freely, introducing a real-world environment where buyers and sellers meet to express their opinions. There presents itself an opportunity to becoming a member whenever used frequently, it being accommodative enough to hold millions of users at a go, offering feed-back, answering questions and providing helping options to its users. This is what facilitates a leading online marketplace. In general, the services were good enough; the quality of the services was instantaneous to accommodate the customer each to their own need and as a result a higher customer satisfaction. The theory of service considers the customers’ will to purchase a product after having done intensive research on the product, after gaining the information, a customer is able to relate with, for example, the associated risks accompanied in purchasing that particular product. Analysis and recommendations for EBay marketplace In recent years, organizations have discovered that customer satisfaction ratings have become an important component in determining market outcomes. Hence, managers are now interested in the effects of changing the services on customer satisfaction and their behaviors resultant to the generation of more revenues (Ruth N. and James, 1994). This analysis provides a framework that describes the theoretical relationships among service delivery, quality of service, customer satisfactions, expectations and assessments different from traditional organizations where process delivery is by manipulating objective features. Based on my experience with EBay, I have an idea of the quality of services, expectations and the satisfaction of the customers. It is the organization’s duty to research and analyze the customer needs. The customers’ satisfaction will only be met when eBay delivers according to the customer needs. Whenever such a relationship is created, the efficiency of the online market can only be enhanced. There will be time saving, services will be fast-tracked, which accommodates a larger number of customers and a generation of higher incomes. This is one of the strengths associated with eBay commerce; Understanding that the most important person is the customer. Perceived risks There is the theory of perceived risks, in that the customer expects that the quality of the sandwich bought yesterday does not differ greatly to the one purchased today. The customer should not be concerned about such things as categories, or the quality or even the size of the commodities. Some of the qualities of the products should have a guaranteed Constance in order to save the customer the perceived risks likely to be faced. These are some of the question EBay customers ask themselves. If expertly handled, the customer satisfactions are fulfilled; this way the customers are content which shows the theoretical relationship in the three aspects. Dissimilar to this, the most likely event occurring is the compromise in the relationship between eBay and its customers; anytime such an event occurs, there will be variations in the customers’ tendency to purchase, sell or make payments. They feel cheated. The trust between these parties is broken. This is a weakness most rival groups can capitalize on, which in the long run results to eBay losing some of their customers. In the services marketing mix, there is the traditional four Ps plus processes, people and the physical evidence which make up the 7Ps, recently, another 8th P was added (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2007). The precious four Ps represented; Place: delivery of services can be done physically or electronically. When done electronically, time is saved and the process is more simplified, this is where EBay thrives; realizing that the technology is the control center of the consumers’ lives and enabling multichannel commerce. For example, eBay’s’ collection of mobile applications puts it business partners’ storefronts in the pockets of millions of consumers worldwide; people represents the front-line staff, they will have a direct impact on perceptions as they are the first to handle the customers and finally the productivity and quality: this essentially differentiates services offered which makes it unique in its own way. The customer is the one who defines the quality of the service, but, it is the case of the management to improve the productivity as a requisite of cost management. The challenge of intangibility When offering services, intangibility of services is a challenge to the customers. The customer cannot define or measure the value of a service by looking or sorting out the differences in a product as is the case in tangible products, for example, when buying a bicycle. Services cannot be touched, nor can they be accounted for, a factor that makes it hard to determine the fluctuations in demand. This is due to the fact that we cannot look at the inventories and determine the value a service would cost but rather the component withheld in the delivery of a particular service.. It is however worth while noting that there are some tangible components in service delivery that aids customers in evaluating the services offered. At eBay, for example, the total service experienced is a blend of many unrelated components, such as the experience in the visit of the site and the nature of the services. The customers could for example be entertained by use of advertisements. Intangibility will prove to be a giant challenge, but, upon having an experience of the services provided at first-hand; one is able to understand the value and energy needed by the firm in order to meet the customer requirements. Converting customer expectations into organizational actions There is the issue of converting customer expectations into organizational action. The first step requires an understanding of the customer expectations as this will lay out the foundation on the operations of the organization. Wherever there is choice, decisions have to be made. The organization that can understand why customers makes decisions such as who buys, what they buy and how they buy by way of customer needs to become potentially more successful. The organization, with respect to eBay, recognizes the need for market segmentation and therefore gearing up towards fully satisfying the very specific needs of different target groups. The customer can have a special taste in buying or selling a product from through eBay; reason being the services offered, simplicity or fast services which are a shot in the arm to its competitors, or it could be the price of the products that pulls more of the customers. Either way, the organization has to understand the customer needs; hence, it is clear therefore that to be successful a business has to have a clear understanding of the target group as well as the expectations of that group. Emotional labour By using participant observation (Liedner, 1993), examines how employers regulate workers’ interactions with customers. By maintaining worker-customer relations, employers believe that: the quality of the interactions is important to the success of their firms. It requires that the workers engage customers with honesty and a friendly attitude independent of their own mood or temperament. As challenging as it is, workers in this kind of enterprise that demand for emotional labour have a deciding factor to the satisfaction of the customer, not most customers will visit a marketplace with arrogant sellers or buyers, a direct impact on the returns of the organizations are as a result of this kind of staff. Recommendations In order to operate in a smooth working environment with minimal interference, eBay should consider cases where there is minimal connectivity, as the platform operates online. A call center should eliminate any risks and strengthen the confidence of the participating parties. It shows that the marketplace cares. This shall enhance convenience regardless of time, as well as efficiency of the part of the workers. Apart from their superior products, the quality should still be in per with the standards required to ensure continued constancy. The above theories points one thing in common; that there is a platform of relations which point to the idea of providing better services to the customer. The customer will only be satisfied when he/she feels that what was delivered is of the same value with the amount of money paid for. Again the expectations of the customer are reflected in the organizations need to offer products and services which relate to the different target group, each according to their own specifications. EBay should be totally committed to delivering consistently high standards of service to gain and retain customer royalty. Each department, from top management on down must be tune into what the customer wants. Creating customer service culture will help in sustaining the already achieved success. In conclusion, a customer’s satisfaction and loyalty are indivisibly linked to the quality of customer service and, ultimately, to the online market profitability. References Lovelock, C and Wirtz, J.2007. Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy. 6thEdition.New Jersey, USA: Pearson International-Personal/prentice Hall. EBay University. December 2012 Michael Galpin.” Eclipse at eBay, part 1: Tailoring Eclipse to the eBay architecture” IBM Developers work,2008. Vallance, 2006, Chris, 2011. An exquisite New Species found on eBay. BBC. Read More