The Bookshop Service Sector - Case Study Example

Bookshops Analysis Case Study Affiliation The Bookshop Service Sector Introduction The service sector is the soft part of the economy. The branch of the economy comprise of activities where people offer their time, knowledge and skills for commercial reasons. This sector is heavily characterized by production of services rather than products where the individuals employed produce more of services rather than final products. The services may include distribution, transport, and sale of products from the manufacturer to the consumer. This tertiary sector also reflects business scenarios as they may happen in retailing and wholesaling. The most focus points out toward interaction between people and customer. As the tertiary sector also involves the retailing of products, this paper will analyze the service sector with respect to Book Shops as retail units that provide retailing services (Hall 2012). Competitors operating in the UK and the recent trends The bookshop service sector in UK has had a series of tough competitions; this is in the quest by bookshops to outdo each other while at the same time collect the largest portion of the market share. Some of the major bookshop competitors in the UK include the London Review bookshop and the Big Green Bookshop. These bookshops have staged a tough competition with each bookshop coming up with strategic policies to outdo each other, in the recent past. The London review bookshop particularly has transformed into a social hung out while the Big Green Bookshop has continued to host author signing and gone to a point of starting the first online reading group. Because of the healthy completion the bookshops have staged, they have recently had very steady and progressive financial results Challenges facing the service sector Although, there have also been significant wider changes, with bookshops posing an increasing competition to libraries and readers increasingly opting to buy their own books with consumer books expenditure shooting up commendably in the last decade. Bookshops in the UK have shown a gradual depreciation in terms of positive market performance. Online books in particular e-books have delt the bookshops competitive muscle a heavy blow, this can be attributed to their ease of access and considerable low prices (Elkin-Koren 2011). The competition has consequently had adverse negative consequences on the positive economic performance of the bookshops. Recent studies have shown that the commercial field of Bookshops has significantly deteriorated and to some investors it has become a no-go zone. This is because of considerably low purchasing interest by customers, as they prefer the cheaper and fast accessible online books (Bunkell & Dyas-Correia 2009). Challenges concerning the Servuction Model and the service-marketing triangle The bookshops are faced with numerous service challenges, this come in the form of the quality of customer service and the issue of creating awareness. The book retailers encounter a strain in their working practices; this is where they fail to give their duties in the most efficient way to their clients. In some cases, the retailers face a challenge of understanding that their customers exactly want or require. They may not be precisely informed on the exact trend of entertainment books people want for instance. Another challenge that comes in the way of booksellers is the issue of building the culture of commitment and belonging in their clients and in their staff. The ability to provide flexible services such that they meet the international and local standards also is a challenge to bookshop owners. How the industry has changed over time The book selling industry has experienced tremendous changes and transformation over the past years. At the initial stages of production and printing of books, the client had to made physical presentation when they wanted to make a purchase. This was mostly attributed to the low levels of technological advancement in the service delivery. In the early years of production and distribution of books, the bookshop had the whole market share of all the readers. Competition from any other field was unheard of with bookshops being very vital constants of the society. All scholarly materials were only found in bookshops with all academic research being closely related to buying books (Buchanan & McKay 2011). The field of book retailing was later challenged by the upcoming of libraries that delt the bookshops a heavy blow. The libraries come up with an easy means to acquire access and refer information. The bookshops then started to receive minimal clients, as few people were willing to spend the extra cost for information they could get from the library at almost no cost. These period saw very many book retailers exit the field and only those in remote locations remaining in the market to serve the few readers that could not access the libraries (Dawson 2001). In this period, the field of business was not the best investment anyone could make, as the competition from the libraries was so stiff and devastating. The industry further went on another significant change where the bookshop regained a bigger potion of the market share. This is the period where the sale of books took an online platform, with books being advertised and purchased online (Neill 2009). This form of customer service gave the bookshops an upper hand. In this era, the bookshops introduced very customer friendly policies with books being delivered to the client’s doorstep. Bookshops now had the flexibility to bring in the stock that was in the highest demand. It went a long way in creating cordial relationship between the booksellers and clients, as this service was very enticing to the clients. In the present era, bookshops have adversely been affected by the online marketing strategies that have been adopted in the means by which books are reaching the consumer. The challenge particularly comes from the use of the online platform where books are suggested and purchased online from the internet. The method of purchase has eliminated the need of a bookstore, as the books no longer require to be brought to the grass roots to be bought, but rather everywhere through the far-reaching web of the internet. Consequently, bookshops are seen as unnecessary and expensive. This is by the extra charge per book in order to pay for the store and the strain the client goes through in going to purchase the book in person. The current trends Although to date over seventy percent of the books purchased are bought from bookstores, e-books have deeply wounded the books stores. In as much as the bookshops sell the larger percentage, the bookshop have lost the market for small textural data materials that now are purchased in the form of electronic books by readers after cost consideration. E-books are very reliable and are available in the immediate means when they are needed, by that they stand the biggest chances of consideration by any reader. Such readers like those from the UK with adequate electronic infrastructure would prefer an e-book rather than a hard copy, which is bulk, expensive and tiresome to read, compared to an electronic book. The changeover of online for bookshop distribution of books provides a substantial social saving and. As noted, this increases the demand for books by dropping their retail price. As for the impact on the authors and publishers of the books, there is great concern that this is dangerous for the survival of the bookstores. A retailer tries to minimize the cost of distribution, as much as he tries to minimize other costs. The publisher is the eventual seller, and the bookshop is just part of the distribution chain. There is an important, and potentially relevant, exception. A distributor provides point-of-sale services that increase the demand for the product. Bookshop staffs, by experience make decisions relating to the display and choice of books to carry. Storekeepers by making purchase suggestions to clients, could, increase the demand for the books. Nevertheless, such services cannot promise the survival of many bookshops. Because not unless the services are prized by a greater boundary than seems realistic to wait and expect, there only will be very few clients to defray the bookshop’s fixed costs at tolerable prices. Appropriate measures necessary to improve sectors’ service quality Helpfulness In order to generate positive progress and achieve a larger market share, the retailers must be helpful to the customer. The storekeeper should be informative, this is to ensure that he provides the customer with adequate information relevant to what the customer wishes to purchase. Being informative would include knowing the information contained in any of the books at the store and being able to clearly relay the information to the customer if need be. Another aspect of being helpful is being cooperative; the attendants at any bookstore should at all times exercise very high levels of cooperation with the customer (Mani & Nagarajan 2002). The issue of cooperation will ensure good relations with the customer are creating bonds based on mutual understanding. On the issue of being helpful to the customer, bookshop attendants should at all times is considerate in handling the client. The attendant should consider the age likes and the requirements of the customer before making any form of suggestion or recommendations (Buchanan & Mckay 2011). Clarity in communication Clarity in communication is another factor that bookstore keepers and their staff should always uphold in all dealings with the customer. The staff any bookshop should be clear in their statements so as the customer can comprehend what they are being told with ease. Being unclear are using vague language can strain the process of exchange of services as it consumes time and works against good relations with the customers. The stuff members and all attendants should always be coherent and comprehensible in order to save time and build on the quality of service given to the customer. Correct Behavior As a general requirement in almost all fields of profession, formality is a key ingredient for the success of any business organization. It is highly recommended that if the bookstores keepers are interested in progress should exercise the correct behavior at all times. Correct conduct in the place of work creates confidence in the customer in the quality of services being offered there. When all the necessary protocols are followed the customer is always impressed by the services and in turn returns to the same shop if need arises again. Finally, in terms of formality, the use of etiquette without fail is another key contributor of positive progress. The customer consequently feels valued and important; this goes a long way in retaining customers who are impressed by the quality of services offered. Familiarity The attendants and staff of bookshop should posses a certain extent of familiarity with respect to their field of work. The staff should work in an aim to reflect a routine of practice such that the customer can easily be informed of the routine without any strain. For instance, a bookstore can follow a routine of bringing a new stock of comic books every 2 months. If customers are aware of such routine, they will frequent the store every 2 months to replenish their supply. The store’s activities and schedule should be constant and predictable to create a sense of reliability to the targeted customers and consequently create a formal and business relationship. Competence All the employees of any bookstore show present very high levels of competence. In all the dealings with the customer, every staff member should prove that they are knowledgeable; this is by means of carefully giving informed suggestions and recommendations that are relevant to the customer. The workers should further have commendable levels of organization to build assurance in the customer in the level and quality of services offered by the bookstore. The workers should also show capability in the various sections they are deployed in (Hall 2012). An interaction mediated by technology In the event of a case scenario that a form of technological platform mediates the bookshops’ dealings, timeliness should be most observed (Skogseid & Jansen 2001). The actions and responses should be done promptly and at the immediate and right moments. The bookshop should strive to ensure that the systems are always in good order and shape to avoid ever inconveniencing their customers (Thorel 2008). The technological platform should also be configured in such a way that it meets are the needs of the client without the need of much human interference or aid. Comparison between the use of extended marketing and use of technology A comparison between two book service providers i.e. Macmillan and A-Z e-book providers shows some advantages in using technological platforms. With the use of a technological platform, there is a wider and global market because the internet is all over the world (Legris et al. 2003). The use of face-to-face quality service is particularly outdone because of the overall huge expense required to print transport and distribute the books. References Buchanan, G. & McKay, D., 2011. In the bookshop. In Proceeding of the 11th annual international ACM/IEEE joint conference on Digital libraries - JCDL ’11. p. 269. Buchanan, G. & Mckay, D., 2011. In the Bookshop : Examining Popular Search Strategies. Proceedings of the 11th ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, pp.269–278. Bunkell, J. & Dyas-Correia, S., 2009. E-Books vs. Print: Which is the Better Value? The Serials Librarian, 56, pp.215–219. Dawson, S.E., 2001. Business ethics books: A bookshop survey. Journal of Business Ethics, 30, pp.401–404. Elkin-Koren, N., 2011. The changing nature of books and the uneasy case for copyright. George Washington University Law Review, 10197021, pp.101–133. Hall, J., 2012. High street bookshops must offer e-books, industry chief warns. Telegraph.co.uk. Legris, P., Ingham, J. & Collerette, P., 2003. Why do people use information technology? A critical review of the technology acceptance model. Information & management, 40, pp.191–204. Mani, A. & Nagarajan, A., 2002. Understanding quality of service for Web services. IBM developerWorks, pp.1–8. Neill, G., 2009. BA launches independent bookshop comparison scheme. Bookseller, p.8. Skogseid, I. & Jansen, A., 2001. BOOKTOWNS ON THE INTERNET : RURAL ENTERPRISES ENTER. In Twenty-Second International Conference on Information Systems. pp. 385–394. Thorel, C., 2008. Bookshops and libraries: exchanging spaces. Bulletin des bibliothèques de France, 53, pp.6–10.  Read More