NTUC Fairpice
Qns: Explain any two retail communication approaches by the retailer:
1)Pricing & Sales Promotion: as NTUC Fairprice is targeting mostly at the heartlanders and senior citizens, they provide a lot of promotions to communicate their mission of moderate the cost of living for their customers. For example they have the weekly promotion where there will be price discounts and other promotion like “Purchase with Purchase”. Their prices are also generally priced lower than most of their competitors in most of the product categories. With the low prices and frequent sales promotion, Fairprice have made their products very affordable and at the same time fulfilling their mission statement.
2)Public relation and Goodwill: as NTUC Fairprice aims to be everyone’s choice by delivering the image and actions that they care about all the customers. They have done several goodwill activities such as donation, charity and saving energy on Earth Day. All this activities are heavily publicised in the media. By these actions they manage to communicate to their customers that they care about them, the society and the future.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Week 11!
Customer Service - NTUC FAIRPRICE
Qns: Outline 5 pitfalls of inadequate or poor customer service given by the retailers.
1)Inconsistency in service rendered, the service at the checkout counter is inconsistent. Sometimes the cashier personnel will say “Thank You” after the transaction but on other occasion they did not say “Thank You”. Although it could be due to the high human traffic but some customer may feel that they are less valued by the company compared too the others.
2)Blockageof passage way, sometime the staff will do stock replenishment during the operating hours. So there will be a lot of loading and unloading movement in the sales floor. Often we realize that they would have trolley and boxes of stocks blocking the passage way in between the two shelves. This cause inconvenience to us as customers and also to our safety.
3)No extended service and initiative, in our trip this week we acted as a mystery shopper and test out the staff ability to understand our needs. We observed that although we as a customer are encountering some doubts, the staff nearby having known that will not take the initiative to help. What we tested out is that we acted as a customer buying ice cream and we are unsure of the ongoing promotion. The staff who is nearby do some stocking overheard us and looked at us but she did not help us to understand the promotion.
4)Store layout and setting, we find that the passage way along the checkout counter is too narrow to accommodate movement from the customers. As the customer checkout, they are carrying bags of stuffs making it very difficult for the other customers to go out. We did not see any efforts from the retailer to improve on this area.
5)Slow response, at the checkout counter whenever there are any problems regardless if it is major or minor the whole counter would not be able to function. For example, if a product can’t be scanned the staff at the counter will ask other staff to get any product for scanning and she will just wait for that to happen. Instead she should have cancelled that transaction first and allow other customers to do their transaction.
Qns: Outline 5 pitfalls of inadequate or poor customer service given by the retailers.
1)Inconsistency in service rendered, the service at the checkout counter is inconsistent. Sometimes the cashier personnel will say “Thank You” after the transaction but on other occasion they did not say “Thank You”. Although it could be due to the high human traffic but some customer may feel that they are less valued by the company compared too the others.
2)Blockageof passage way, sometime the staff will do stock replenishment during the operating hours. So there will be a lot of loading and unloading movement in the sales floor. Often we realize that they would have trolley and boxes of stocks blocking the passage way in between the two shelves. This cause inconvenience to us as customers and also to our safety.
3)No extended service and initiative, in our trip this week we acted as a mystery shopper and test out the staff ability to understand our needs. We observed that although we as a customer are encountering some doubts, the staff nearby having known that will not take the initiative to help. What we tested out is that we acted as a customer buying ice cream and we are unsure of the ongoing promotion. The staff who is nearby do some stocking overheard us and looked at us but she did not help us to understand the promotion.
4)Store layout and setting, we find that the passage way along the checkout counter is too narrow to accommodate movement from the customers. As the customer checkout, they are carrying bags of stuffs making it very difficult for the other customers to go out. We did not see any efforts from the retailer to improve on this area.
5)Slow response, at the checkout counter whenever there are any problems regardless if it is major or minor the whole counter would not be able to function. For example, if a product can’t be scanned the staff at the counter will ask other staff to get any product for scanning and she will just wait for that to happen. Instead she should have cancelled that transaction first and allow other customers to do their transaction.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Video Answers!
a)The retail sector is flexible, employees can pick the working hours they want to work. Looking for skills, trustworthy, good communication skills and capable of building relationship with customers.
b)Retail is the best job in the world because there are opportunities to work with different products, people and customers.
c)Past experiences, good communication skills, reliable and good time management.
d)The other retailer mentioned in the video is Tesco.
e)The most important skills are good communication skills, reliability, trustworthiness and ability to build relationship with customers.
The benefits for retail employees are that the progression opportunities are fast and there are high earning potential. And also the job can fit their lifestyle and vice versa.
f)The two retailing careers are Team Leader and Shop Floor Manager.
b)Retail is the best job in the world because there are opportunities to work with different products, people and customers.
c)Past experiences, good communication skills, reliable and good time management.
d)The other retailer mentioned in the video is Tesco.
e)The most important skills are good communication skills, reliability, trustworthiness and ability to build relationship with customers.
The benefits for retail employees are that the progression opportunities are fast and there are high earning potential. And also the job can fit their lifestyle and vice versa.
f)The two retailing careers are Team Leader and Shop Floor Manager.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Cold Storage Specialty Store Tanglin!
Entrance of Cold Storage Specialty Store at Tanglin!
Champagne and Wines sold at the store!
Up-close picture of a specially imported drink.
Health snacks that are sold at the store! Don't they look healthy?!
Drinks!!! You want a drink?
Customer Service!
Customer service.
We have done this week questions on the Cold storage specialty store located at Tanglin.
Standardized Customer Service Strategy
The store adopts a Standardized customer service strategy which allows the store to meet the basic customer service needs of the customers however it would not exceed the customer’s expectations. In return to the reduced service standard, by having a standardized service strategy would allow the store to reduce cost and ensure high consistency so as to ensure that all customers would receive similar treatments.
Lack of products knowledge
The first level of customer service was received when the cashiers greeted us the moment we walk in. However, the service stops after that until the moment when we decided to complete the transaction. With such a small store space and more specialty focus, we expect more and better customer service in terms of product knowledge. But the staffs there don’t seem to have sufficient product knowledge when we enquire them on the organic products.
Inconsistent service
What we observe during this trip is that their service level is inconsistent. For example, when we came in to the store the cashiers greeted us. But in another scenario, when we are paying at the cashier counter she did not greet the incoming customers. The inconsistent service level could be due to the fact that the staff is assigned tasks that are difficult to perform at the same time. So the manager should only assign tasks to the specific personnel who are capable to performing in their job scope. For example, in this case the cashiers should not be the one to greet the customers since they also have to complete the transaction for the customers.
We have done this week questions on the Cold storage specialty store located at Tanglin.
Standardized Customer Service Strategy
The store adopts a Standardized customer service strategy which allows the store to meet the basic customer service needs of the customers however it would not exceed the customer’s expectations. In return to the reduced service standard, by having a standardized service strategy would allow the store to reduce cost and ensure high consistency so as to ensure that all customers would receive similar treatments.
Lack of products knowledge
The first level of customer service was received when the cashiers greeted us the moment we walk in. However, the service stops after that until the moment when we decided to complete the transaction. With such a small store space and more specialty focus, we expect more and better customer service in terms of product knowledge. But the staffs there don’t seem to have sufficient product knowledge when we enquire them on the organic products.
Inconsistent service
What we observe during this trip is that their service level is inconsistent. For example, when we came in to the store the cashiers greeted us. But in another scenario, when we are paying at the cashier counter she did not greet the incoming customers. The inconsistent service level could be due to the fact that the staff is assigned tasks that are difficult to perform at the same time. So the manager should only assign tasks to the specific personnel who are capable to performing in their job scope. For example, in this case the cashiers should not be the one to greet the customers since they also have to complete the transaction for the customers.
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