Category: Customer

Three Types of Trust Between Business Customers

A business customers are their biggest assets because without them, no business would grow well and no business would succeed in their endeavours; in fact, there would be no purpose for business at all. You cannot pick them up and drop them whenever it satisfies you, no matter how galling they may become. You need to retain them, and you need to develop your relationship with them so both business and customers are satisfied. By building trust between business and your customers, you are establishing better work ethics in your employees, improving your business reputation and most importantly, you are providing something of worth to your customers. There are three types of Trust based in customer relationship within a business; they are Calculus Based Trust, Knowledge Based Trust and Identification Based Trust. I will elaborate more in my following points.

Calculus based Trust exist when business and customers are developing trust at first time they meet or build up a relationship between business and customers. This type of trust takes deterrence a step further. This form is grounded not only in the fear of punishment for violatin trust, but also n the rewards for preserving it. Trust is based on a calculation comparing the costs and benefits of creating and sustaining a relationship versus the costs and benefits of severing it. For deterrence to be an effective threat, the potential loss of a relationship must outweigh the parties. The person has been harms must also be willing to follow through on threats of punishment. Control of another persons behaviour is central to calculus based trust or CBT. A metaphor of for growth of calculus based is tactical climbing as in scaling ladders or mountains. Parties coordinate their actions as they increasingly take risks and reveal their vulnerability to each other

Knowledge Based Trust is the most and common trust and it is based on the behavioural predictability that comes from a history of interaction. This type of trust exists when an individual has enough information and understanding about another person to predict that persons behaviour. Accurate prediction depends on understanding, which develops from repeated interactions, communication and building a relationship. It is different from calculus based trust is founded not on control but information. Parties cultivate knowledge of each other by gathering data, seeing each other in different context and experiencing each others range.

Identification based trust occurs when parties understand and endorse one another and can act for each other in interpersonal transactions. This requires parties to fully internalize and harmonize with each others desires and intensions. Certain activities enhance trust based on identification. For instance, Eveni Carruthers store and their customers can assume a common identity. They can co-locate, create joint products and goals and share core values. This type of trust builds on trust based on knowing predicting another persons needs and preferneces; these needs and preferences are also shared . It also enables us to think, feel and respond like the other person.

Conflicts of Interest between Companies and Customers Regarding Oil and Gas Prices: Essay

Oil is a commodity that is desired by multiple players and is essential in order to sustain the needs and lifestyles of consumers, businesses, and employees that depend on the natural resource to heat their homes, transport their products, and generate their paychecks. The top oil and gas companies in the world include Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell to name a few. The companies that profit from oil include the oil and gas companies, utility companies, and other organizations that utilize oil byproducts to produce plastic for their goods. The goals of these companies are to increase profits, create jobs, and supply the demand for gas and oil. However, the consumer’s interests are to reduce the cost of oil, reduce the environmental effects of oil by seeking alternative energy solutions, and lower the demand of oil through the creation of renewable energy. These conflicting interests between the two groups have created a situation that is unwelcome by consumers because the gas and oil companies have been raising prices to benefit their pockets and the effect is impacting the consumer negatively. Understanding the issues surrounding this topic will not only help to identify the issues, but create an effective solution to protect the interest of the consumer.

A recent interview conducted by Spectrum News 1 with Jamie Court, president of the Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, highlights the prevalent issues with oil refineries and how they impact the consumer. He explained that refineries control the gas supply and they are often owned directly by those that dominate the retail gas market. The refineries sell gas to their own stations and then charge more to purposely keep prices high. When a refinery goes down, the price increases because demand increases and cycles back to increase refinery profits. However, Jamie Court was missing some information in his analysis. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “18% of gas prices are from taxes, 17% is distribution and marketing costs, 12% of the price is refining, and 53% is crude oil” (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2019). Most individuals would not consider marketing to be a key factor in the gas price makeup however, there is competition amongst gas stations and large retail brands like Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and Sam’s Club for the consumer to use their pumps. There are multiple factors that go into getting the oil from the refinery to the consumer’s gas tank including the employees at the refineries, businesses that store the gasoline in tanks, and the individual delivering the resources to gas stations to be sold.

Even though taxes, marketing and distribution, refining, and crude oil are the four major components that make up the current gas prices, the consumers role in this cannot be overlooked when demand for the product is high and essential for society to function. The consumer has to commute back and forth to work every day and depending on their job, traveling may be a large component of their day. During the summer months, families tend to increase their fuel consumption on vacations and holidays. When gas prices get too high, consumers will attempt to conserve their spending or decide to spend a vacation with their family in a way that does not involve traveling far, ultimately hurting the economy because less money is being spent. When the gas prices rise, big oil companies are immediately to blame. It is not socially responsible to sell fuel to your own gas station and charge 40 cents more for the consumer to purchase the fuel when it is essential to function. It is not cost effective and society cannot support the inflation for long without the economy suffering. However, there is also the social responsibility of the consumer and businesses to find alternatives to rely less on fuel and encourage the development of energy efficient alternatives.

One solution to consider is educating consumers on what changes they can make in their everyday lives in response to the rising fuel prices. Purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle can support more miles per gallon and have an idle stop that automatically turns your engine off when you are stopped at a red light. Routine maintenance on vehicles, such as keeping the air in the tires at the correct pressure and changing the air filter will help cut costs in the long run. There are multiple apps that consumers can download on their phone to find the best gas prices in their area, the most popular is GasBuddy. If consumers live in the city, utilizing public transit when commuting to work or carpooling with other individuals can help them save money. The value in this solution is that consumers will evaluate their fuel usage and attempt to reduced their need, which reduces demand, and ultimately lowers the price. Having consumers utilize apps that advertise real time gas prices will keep the local markets competitive. The challenge that this solution presents is that it only works if the community is participating as one entity and individually responsible for conserving their fuel usage.

Another solution to consider is forming a partnership with an organization, such as Greenpeace, to lobby for the environment and more fuel-efficient alternatives in a civil manner. Greenpeace is currently collecting signatures for a petition to stop offshore drilling. Supporting this initiative can help put pressure on the government to take in active role in regulating the demand for energy. The government can then encourage the major oil and gas companies to consider their social responsibility in the cost of fuel for the consumer and the impact it has on the economy and environment. Creating a membership with this has the potential to create a long-term solution and has the power to generate donations to help fund future hurtles with the oil and gas companies. There is even an opportunity to lobby for research in developing different sources of energy. However, this solution does not have an immediate result for the consumer who will still be struggling with the hardship of the fuel prices in their budget.

The best option to pursue is a combination of both solutions and pursue an environmentalism approach, which is “an organized social movement of citizens, businesses and government agencies to protect and improve our living environment” (Levens, 2016, p. 42). It is important to increase your network to increase the impact of the demand for change. This can be accomplished by creating a membership with active groups worldwide, like Greenpeace, that support a solution for the gas and oil prices. In addition, establishing a brand and marketing on an online platform through social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter will be a way to gain attention and educate consumers on how to incorporate fuel efficiency into their lives. Marketing on how the solutions will help the environment and economy will add value and credibility to the organization.

References

1. API Global. (2019, January). Wells to Consumer. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas/wells-to-consumer
2. Co, A. R. R. (2019, July 31). 11 Different Sources of Alternative Energy. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/alternative-energy-sources/
3. Foundation, S. (2019, March 22). The Link Between Fossil Fuels, Single-Use Plastics and Climate Change. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.ecowatch.com/fossil-fuels-single-use-plastics-2565595371.html
4. Greenpeace. (n.d.). Membership FAQ. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/membership-faq/
5. Levens, M. (2016). Marketing: Defined, Explained, Applied (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education Inc.
6. Loris, N. (2014, September 4). What Contributes to Gas Prices and Solutions to Help. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/what-contributes-gas-prices-and-solutions-help#_ftn3
7. Schoen, J. W. (2005, August 15). Who Benefits from Rising Gas Prices? Retrieved October 6, 2019, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8670108/ns/business-answer_desk/t/who-benefits-rising-gas-prices/#.XZvKB-dKi-x
8. (2019, October 3). Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://youtu.be/sOPdu-Y-YXM.
9. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2019, October 7). U.S. Energy Information Administration – EIA – Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved October 7, 2019, from https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/
10. Vara, V. (2019, June 13). Largest Oil and Gas Companies: Ranking the Top 10. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.offshore-technology.com/features/largest-oil-and-gas-companies-in-2018/

Analytical Essay on Methods Used in Implementing Customer Services

Customer services, the very aspect in completing the formality in treating customers with the respect and pleasant services as expected by the recipient. What started in the old times has carried through many changes as society evolves. Of course, thanks to the power of literature and documentation, the record of customer services is kept for analysis on how much it has evolved over time through each cultural society. In the story of “Letters from Thailand”, it can be inferred that there was an indication inscribed about customer services. It’s the very nature of such study that indicates the element of social interactions such as customer services. Although it is clear that it has evolved over time throughout cultural societies, there is no indication of how much the evolution has changed the very nature of customer services. It is, therefore, our research main goal to find out the density of cultural evolution and whether or not its very nature has changed over time.

Body

To further illuminate the very aspect in the evolution of customer services, our research team has conducted a thorough analysis of articles, books, and published journals related to the aforementioned topic. As mentioned, the purpose of this research is to answer the doubts of whether or not customer services have drastically evolved beyond recognition. As further analogy on the subject needs extra illumination, we, the researchers, have come up with another objective question. A question to compare the perspective of customer services in the present to that in the past period within Chinese cultures much like that in the story of “Letters from Thailand”.

For the very purpose of this research, we decided to approach this matter through the method of random samplings. First of all, we decided to select 15 people with Chinese backgrounds so that it would be much relevant to our analysis of the Chinese culture as written in the “Letters from Thailand”. Randomly selected participants will be followed with a requested interview with each of them to discuss the topic of customer services. As researchers who are collecting data, we have prepared a set list of questions to ask the participants. The interview started with an introduction to our purpose of the interview, followed by letting the participants introduce themselves and their familiarity with the term “customer services”. Having answered the question, we proceeded by them about their perspective on customer services back in the past. Depending on their answer, we brought up the relativity to modern services that customers would receive on daily basis. All the questions are made to reflect on their experiences to ensure the credibility and legitimacy of the data of which we inquire.

Having inquired the data from the interviewed participants, we later arranged them into categories in order to find out whether a majority of participants believe that customer services have drastically evolved beyond recognition or not. Through “Mean” analytical testing, it can be seen that our final result has led us to believe that the customer services we provide and receive today are completely different from what used to be practice in the past. The majority average of people believing that customer services today have far transcended that of the past has open up a new gate of our research. We, the researchers, believe that further research is needed to illuminate the different elements between the past and present customer services, as well as why, are they so different.

To our effort in finding out the significant difference between the customer services in the past and in the present days, we came to upon a revelation. Among all the pieces of literature we have read so far, the differences between customer services in the past and in the present are undeniably clear. In the past, it can be seen throughout the story of “Letters from Thailand” the very definition of customer services. Customer service is the act of providing customers before, during, and after they purchase the product. Customers absolutely expect an enjoyable experience from the products or services. It’s one of the reasons behind their reliability towards a business. The more they are pleased, the more likely they continue doing business with you. From what we have explored from the story, Saung U never believes in selling at the highest price that a customer is able to pay. In their perspective, selling the product at less than the market price would work well for their customers to learn that bargaining the price is a waste of time. Saung U’s father advised him that “we sell our products at the going rate, they will do far better in the future”. “What we call the fair price is the fairest they will find. Better than selling high and send them away feeling they have learned a hard lesson. To take advantage of anyone is to lose.” These viewpoints show that customer service solutions are not about selling at the highest price to their customer and keep selling their products at the going price rate in order to gain a better achievement. For them, Earning the customers is the most important thing to focus on like some business people out there claim that we must put our customers first then we will focus on the profit and that was actually applied by many business starters. Everything is all about providing the nicest hospitality and pleasure to the customers so that they might have great experiences. It can be seen that customer services have developed as time passed by in societies. Furthermore, customer service is getting closer to the customers so close that you can tell what they need before they realized themselves, so close that you will know what they desire and what their first requirement. Back in the past, there was a lack of technology and telecommunication so customer services substantially relied on human interactions. From the studied text, we have noticed that Suang U discovers what would sell best in Bangkok and he also learns that he needs to attract the regular customer first by sending his friend, Kim to find out which confections that people like the most and who are the exact buyers. And, that is the process of how Saung U’s business is getting successful and is well known by people. The way people deal with customers has clearly shown us that it might take months to find customers but it can rapidly take a second to lose one so be kind, be patient and respect your customers even they choose not to do business with you.

Contrastingly in the present days, it can be seen that customer services tend to soothe the clients’ convenience in their purchases. With the inclusion of responses made by the costumers to business owners, it can be inferred that the modern customer services today are to be superior in more ways than one such as surveys and rating that would ensure the owners how to best improve their services and performances (ASQ, n.d.). However, that’s not all. With the revelation of the internet, comes new ways in costumer services such as online shopping (Jiang et al., 2013). Costumers perceived online shopping convenience plays a vital role in accessing satisfaction (Guatam, 2018). For instance, during holidays. For it is a holiday, it would be too crowded to get anywhere. That’s why with the capability of the internet as well as the customer services of online shopping and delivery services provided by the company owner, consumers can easily get access to any purchases without having to travel as the package would directly come to them. Besides, customer lifetime value can also be an addition to modern customer services as it would ensure that customers would likely come back for more purchases on your services (Amaresan, 2021). While it is a well-known fact that words travel fast within the vast space of the internet, all it takes for a business to boom is a post of good review. Consumers tend to leave a review regarding the experience of the quality in which the service they received. More importantly, those reviews can be spread as more and more customers will be enticed by the review and attract even more customers thus making the business strike gold. All these methods are possible because of the internet. Customer services indeed have now worn a new face as it will continue to evolve through time.

Discussion

Having completed the two separate analyses on both the customer services in the past and in the present days, it can be seen that the very nature of customer services has yet to change at all despite the technique used for the implementations highly differentiate one from another. In the past, customer services can be seen heavily relied on human interactions with one another, most likely between business owners and clients. People were friendly to one another to ensure a smooth process of services and purchases. Friendliness was used to ensure a complete return of the other proceeding as a customer would likely be back for the satisfaction they receive from their purchases. On the other hand, it can be seen that with the modern interpretation of customer services, people tend to prioritize more on technology for convenience and competence. People tend to are compelled by the convenience of technological tools that make it so that could easily make their purchases. This can be seen through the example of online shopping conducted through the revelation of the internet as mentioned above. However, what’s fascinating is the fact that the feeling of satisfaction of customers never changed. The fundamental value of customer services is to ensure customers’ satisfaction and desire to return for future purchases. While it is true that customers between two drastically distinguished periods of time enjoy different satisfaction as inscribed above, it doesn’t change the fact that customer services have evolved beyond recognition. It is therefore our conclusion that while it is true that customer services have evolved over time, the very fundamental aspect of it still remains the same as when it was born.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, while the methods used in implementing customer services may drastically evolve over time throughout societies, the fundamental value in which to ensure the customers’ satisfaction and desire to make future purchases still remains. At first, through the data we have collected from Chinese cultured participants, we were led to believe that customer services have transcended beyond recognition as time passed to modernization. However, through further studies on the very aspect of customer services, we are highly convinced that customers still receive the same fulfilling emotion whether they receive warm and friendly hospitality or when they can only have to spend little effort to easily make their purchases. It can, therefore, inferred that this research has awakened an understanding of the very purpose of customer services no matter the form of implementation, which is to emotionally entice and appeal to customers’ needs and comfort.

Essay on Customer Service: Impact of Legislation

Apple offers in-store and online services in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being the genius bar. The genius bar is a tech support station located inside the Apple stores with the pure purpose of providing support and advice for customers. This service can help the business reach customer expectations as this service offers support and help for those customers who are experiencing problems with their devices or might be unsure on how to use them. By offering this support, consumers are assisted with help, increasing customer satisfaction. On top of this, consumers are sometimes able to walk into the store and receive a genius bar appointment straightaway without the need of booking, further adding to the good customer service as it means that consumers don’t have to wait around and can be served straightaway further increasing satisfaction. As well as this service in-store, Apple also offers customer service support online. Customers are able to phone up and receive support, help and advice over the phone. This service helps the business reach customer expectations as it caters to those customers who might not be able to travel into the store to receive help but can rather call from the comfort of their own home. By having this service, customers feel as if their needs are being met as employees can help with any problems or queries that the consumer may have, subsequently, increasing customer satisfaction. Finally, another thing in which Apple does to ensure good customer service is by building relationships with customers through their employees. Apple ensures that all employees have product knowledge and can assist in answering any questions or queries. When walking into the store an employee is normally assigned to a consumer who can then help them throughout the process of buying. This service allows the business to reach customer expectations as the customer’s needs are attended to as well as having the full focus of the employee. This helps the business build relationships with the consumers as employees ensure that the consumer has a pleasant experience when shopping, increasing their customer satisfaction as well as the chance of the consumer repeat buying.

Primark offers several services in-store in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being customer service desks around the store. In all 370 Primark stores, the business ensures that there is a customer service desk to help and assist customers with returns, queries or complaints. This service can help the business reach customer expectations as this facility compensates for any problems that the customers may be having, as by going to the customer service desk their problems can be attended to. This increases customer satisfaction as the consumers will feel that their needs are being catered for. As well as having this service in-store, Primark have a customer service line online to help those customers who may not be able to travel back into the store to get help for the issues that they may be experiencing. This increases customer satisfaction, as it saves some consumers the trip of having to travel back into one of their stores but can rather resolve the issue from over the phone. Another example of good customer service is that Primark ensures that there are employees on the shop floor to assist any customers. This can help the business reach customer expectation levels as by having employees on the shop floor, customers are able to talk to them if they need assistance or if they have any questions or need help. By having the availability of the employees, customer satisfaction will increase, as without them, consumers may feel agitated or annoyed if they were to have to seek out assistance if there were no employees on the shop floor. One thing that Primark could do in order to improve their customer service is by offering their service online. Although the company offers an online customer service line, Primark only offers an in-store service, meaning consumers can only purchase the company’s products from inside one of their stores. This could be seen as a massive disadvantage for the company as they are excluding a large demographic of customers. By offering an online service, it will help the business reach customer expectation levels as this new service will be useful for those who can’t travel to the store or for those who prefer to shop online. This will not only increase sales for the business but additionally improve customer satisfaction.

Tesco

Tesco is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer. It is the third largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenue. It has stores in seven countries across Asia and Europe and is the market leader of groceries in the UK, Ireland, Hungary and Thailand. Tesco was founded in 1919 as a group of market stalls; from there the first Tesco shop was opened in 1931 where the business then expanded rapidly. Tesco aims to provide consumers with products at a great value. They believe that as a business, serving customers is at that heart of everything they do. Tesco states that ‘In the UK, we serve 66 shoppers every second, so it’s our goal to ensure every one of those customers experiences just a little better service on each visit’.Tesco offers several facilities in-store and online in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being offering 24-hour service. This means that Tesco is catering their business to a wide range of consumers as with 24-hour service, consumers can have access to the business whenever they want during the day. This is good customer service as it increases customer satisfaction. The service of being open 24 hours a day can help the business meet customer expectation levels as consumers will be able to reach the business whenever they want as well as catering for if any emergencies were to arise. Another example of good customer service is how Tesco has clear signing around the store. This allows consumers to be able to read and understand the signing clearly, helping them to travel around the store very easily; this increases customer satisfaction. This service helps the business reach customer expectations as the business is doing the best that they can in order to make the activity of a weekly shop for example, as easy as possible for customers. This means that consumers don’t have to go out of their way to ask employees where items may be as the signing clearly indicates where they need to go.

Another example of good customer service is that Tesco has a customer service desk towards the front of the store. This allows customers to make any complaints or queries that they may have and can allow them to return goods. By having this desk, it meets the needs of the consumer. As well as having a customer service desk in-store, Tesco offers a customer service line online which caters to their consumers which may only have home deliveries or who may not necessarily be able to travel into store. These service helps the business reach customer expectations as it allows consumers to be able to give complaints about the company that they may have experienced or be able to receive help for any problems they are experiencing. This increases customer satisfaction as the consumers will feel that their needs are being met and catered for. Finally, another way in which Tesco provides good customer service is through the facilities and services that the company provides their consumers with. These services include; access to car parks, toilets and lifts as well as their own coffee shop. These services can help Tesco reach customer expectations as they help facilitate consumer needs and offer support to those customers that may need it. For example, for those customers who may have a disability or who are limited to using a wheelchair, then the access to the lift will help the consumer go around their daily or weekly shopping much easier. As well as this the carpark and selected disabled bays will allow these consumers to enter and get to the shop much easier, overall making the experience more pleasant. This increases customer service and satisfaction as consumers will feel catered to and cared about.

How Legislation Affects Customer Service for Tesco

Legislation and regulations impact any business massively and can affect customer service. One example of this being the Sale of Goods Act. This act states that goods must determine a level of satisfactory quality for the price that the consumer is willing to pay and meet the description and relevant factors at the time of the purchase. Tesco can adhere to this legislation and improve their customer service by making sure all the descriptions of their products are accurate and useful in order to make buying easier for the consumer. As well as this, by pricing their products at a good value for their quality, the company is abiding by legislation and improving customer satisfaction and service due to its good value products. If this legislation is not met, it can impact the business massively, for example, if a product is given an inaccurate description, the customer may feel as if they have been a part of fraud. If this is to an extreme level, then the customer could sue the business resulting in legal trouble for the company. Therefore, by abiding by this legislation, customer service is impacted positively as consumers are provided with accurate descriptions and prices, making buying easier, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Another legislation that will affect Tesco is the Consumer Rights Act. Under the Consumer Rights Act you have a legal right to reject goods that are of an unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund within 30 days. Tesco adheres to this legislation through their use of customer service desks. These allow consumers to bring back goods that they deem to be faulty or that they are unhappy with. This improves customer service as consumers can get a full refund for the unwanted products or they can be exchanged to a different product or products, increasing customer satisfaction. If Tesco didn’t offer this service, it would be considered poor customer service as they aren’t considering the consumer’s wants or needs but instead could be argued to be operating for their own financial gain as consumers won’t be able to return products. Therefore, by offering the service of returns, Tesco is meeting the needs of customers.

Furthermore, another regulation in which Tesco must abide by is the Consumer Contracts regulations. These regulations are the rules that apply if you are buying products or services from suppliers without face-to-face contact, and where the consumer has not had an opportunity to examine the goods before buying or discussing the service in person. These regulations were previously known as the Distance Selling Regulations but they were replaced in 2014. These rules apply to Tesco due to their online shopping service. These regulations mean that the trader has to provide the consumer with information surrounding the total price of goods, delivery charges and other costs, details of the right to cancel, contact details of the seller, written confirmation after purchasing the goods and information about refunds on items if they aren’t delivered on the agreed date. Tesco ensures that these regulations are met on their online shopping service. These regulations affect customer service positively as if these are met then customer service is improved due to the fact it makes the process of online shopping much easier and safer for the consumer. Through these services, the customer feels as if their wants and needs are being met and acquired for.

Moreover, another regulation in that Tesco must abide by is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. These are rules that protect consumers from misleading information and advertisements that companies may put out. These regulations protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices and ban misleading omissions and aggressive sales tactics. It follows from this that there is a duty to trade fairly and honestly with consumers. Tesco ensures that these regulations are met by putting out faithful and honest advertisements and descriptions of their products and services to ensure that everything they put out is truthful and not misleading to any consumers. These regulations affect customer service positively as if Tesco meets these regulations then the company will have an improved and stronger relationship with their customers, as consumers will think of the business in a better light due to the honest and truthful information that the company is putting forward. An improvement in the relationship between consumers and the business is essential and will overall, increase the level of customer service and satisfaction.

Finally, the last rules and regulations in which Tesco must follow are the new COVID-19 rules and guidelines set out by the government. In this current climate, businesses will now need to follow new guidelines that they never would have thought of putting in place a few years ago. These unprecedented times have changed business activity and procedures in shops massively, including Tesco. Tesco has been abiding by these government guidelines by putting a range of PPE equipment in their stores such as perplex screens at tills and by separating self-scan tills, as well as enforcing staff to remain safe by wearing masks. As well as this, the company have enforced 2m social distancing stickers at tills, to encourage consumers to stand a safe distance apart when queuing for any service at a till. Additionally, due to government guidance, Tesco has increased their level of the contactless payment limit up to £45 from £30 to help consumers avoid the use of chip and pin machines. By following these government guidelines and rules, customer service is affected positively as consumers will be more likely to feel safe when shopping in the store, as well as feel satisfied with the procedures that the company is putting into place in order to protect their customers as well as their employees. This increase in customer service will strengthen the relationship that Tesco has with their consumers and their employees, increasing their satisfaction.

Ways in which Tesco can Improve and Monitor their Customer Service

Customer service is very important as satisfied customers increase the likelihood of repeat customers and business. With this being said, it is important for businesses to constantly improve and refine their customer service and the techniques that they use. One way in which Tesco could improve their customer service is by monitoring and collecting customer feedback. This could be done in two ways, one online and one in-store. The online service could include a small survey after the customer has completed their order, in order to gain information about how they found shopping online and things in which the company could do to improve. Customer feedback might be harder to gain in-store as consumers may not have enough time to give feedback or they might just not want to; however, it could be done by directing consumers to a website to give their feedback on the back of a receipt. This is done by many companies through the enticement of a potential reward. By collecting and monitoring customer feedback, the company can analyze what they need to improve on through consumer recommendations. The business can then improve its services and methods through the customer’s advice which will boost their levels of good customer service as the buying process will be easier and more comfortable for customers, increasing their satisfaction.

Another way in which Tesco could improve its customer service is by employing well-trained employees to deal specifically with customer service and complaints. This is important as by employing specific employees they are able to deal with any issues that may arise in a professional and skilled manner. The business will need to ensure that they hire people with the right skills: good communication, empathy, patience and product knowledge. It is essential that the employees carry these skills as it will strengthen their customer service performance. By having a skilled and efficient customer service team, customer service will improve as well as customer satisfaction, as the employees will ensure that consumer needs are met in a skilled and professional manner. By having these skills, the employees can guarantee that consumer complaints and queries are managed in the most effective way possible.

Furthermore, another way in which Tesco can improve its customer service is by improving checkout times. This is a problem for nearly every big supermarket chain due to the number of customers that travel through the store every day. Tesco can improve their checkout times by ensuring that there are enough tills open during peak shopping times to guarantee that consumers are served quickly and efficiently. By doing this, customer satisfaction and service will improve as consumers won’t have to be waiting in long queues, decreasing the time spent on the shopping experience, subsequently, improving efficiency. This will make the whole process of shopping much easier and more enjoyable for the customer.

Importance of Providing Excellent Customer Service

Having a good customer service area within your business makes customers feel more welcome. If you make sure that your customers are well looked after and well respected, customers will be impressed and will want to return as they know that they will be respected and treated carefully. For a business, good customer service means treating customers with kindness. Customers don’t want to be waiting a long time. Customers want to be helped as quickly as possible. For smaller businesses this can be difficult, as they will only be able to afford to pay a small group of people, however for businesses such as Virgin Media, they can afford to employ many more people, allowing faster response time to customers. The size of the businesses really depends on how efficient their customer service is. If you don’t have the money to pay your employees, you can’t have more than you afford, whereas for other big businesses, they can employ many more people, allowing their customer service section to be more efficient.

The two contrasting businesses that I will be writing this report on are Virgin Media and Bershka. Whilst they both sell things, Virgin Media provides a service and Bershka sell physical products, such as clothing. These two contrasting businesses both handle customer service in different ways. I will start by reviewing the customer services from Virgin Media. On their website, they have a few different options that you can ask for assistance for. The layout of this website is also perfect for those who may not be as confident in using the internet, or technology in general. Everything is labelled clearly, allowing you to find what you need quickly and easily. Most of customer services can be done via a phone call. This is good for a lot of people that need to be guided through a process in order to fix what the customer called for.

Whereas for Bershka, their customer services are mostly done over email, or live chat and over the phone. Personally, I think that live chat is the best way to help someone as it is dealt with there and then, emailing is a much slower process as you have to wait an x amount of time before someone actually sees the email, then you have to wait for a response. Some businesses are good at keeping on top of emails and responding within shorter time frames, but some businesses have too many to handle. And for phone calls, it’s very similar to Virgin Media as they can help customers deal with something efficiently, for example, as their website can be quite confusing, going through this with someone over the phone can be very useful.

In terms of employees, businesses need to ensure that they employ individuals with good people skills. If they are socially awkward, then they are clearly not right for the job. Choosing the right people is very important both for the business and the customers. Customers want to be spoken to with respect, with kindness, and sometimes customers enjoy having a little chat with the employee whilst they are waiting for something to be done, e.g. an update on a phone. Employees must also be trained to deal with harsher of customers. Sometimes it can be harder to deal with these types of customers as they tend to be more demanding, so having employees that can either calm them down, or stay as professional as possible is very important. It helps the business look more professional, and other businesses may take what their business does and adapt it to fit their customer services.

It is very important that businesses do have excellent customer service. There needs to be some sort of ‘helpdesk’ available during the day. Especially during the Pandemic of the Corona Virus, businesses needed to have increased customer service as people were no longer able to leave the house for any reason other than an hour of exercise a day or shopping for essentials. During this time, customer services all around became a lot more popular. So, during times like these, businesses need to make sure that they can keep on top of customer service requests and calls.

Virgin Media’s customer service during the Pandemic of the Corona Virus needed to be top tier, as all of their customers were relying on their broadband to work from home, to communicate with family members, and not only broadband but also their landlines. Offering the services that Virgin Media offer means that you must be able to offer support 247. If this is not the case, then there should be information written on their website which may help the customers if they have missed the opening hours for customer services.

As for Bershka, their customer services may not be needed as often. As Bershka are a fashion brand that sells clothes, they will only be contacted regarding delivery times and possible damaged products. Naturally, they will not be as busy as the contrasting business, Virgin Media, however, customer services are still important to a lot of customers, and during the many months of 2020 when the country has been on lockdown, their stores have been closed, so the only way for customers to shop is online, and so their customer services are also online as a result. Their online customer services have gone from, being used from time to time, to being used as the primary way to contact employees, so undoubtedly, they would need more staff working to help these customers, and so there is a possibility that they may have to employ new staff to help, and there will be some sort of training to help them. This training can be done by monitoring the customer services for new staff to listen to and understand.

There are many ways to monitor customer service. Here are just a few:

• Recording phone calls
• Asking customers for feedback

By monitoring the quality of staff-customer interaction across multiple channels, organizations can learn from their customer’s interactions, leading to better decision-making, service and processes. Monitoring customer services also allow you to see what can be improved to make the customer service calls andor emails be responded to more efficiently.

By recording phone calls, you will be able to see how your employees are responding, how your customers are reacting, and what your customer needs assistance with. If there are many customers with the same issue, then maybe there is something wrong with your product or service, and it should be investigated. You can also use these recorded calls to train new employees. This can be very useful as it allows new employees to deal with real scenarios to prepare for when they have to deal with real customers.

When asking customers for feedback, it is important that you take what they say into consideration. This will help you improve your customer services dramatically, as you are adapting to what the customers think. This will show your customers that you care about what they say suggest.

Legislation can help protect consumers, but companies need consistent attention for outstanding customer service. There are many laws within every business that they must all follow in order for the business to be able to operate lawfully. Some ways that businesses can be sure to follow legislation are listed below:

Keep up with ever-changing laws and regulations. Your company does not only happen to be compliant. It’s a continuous process of scanning for new laws and regulations, determining how they affect your company, changing policy and enforcing policy changes, and tracking the results. Make sure you know which laws and regulations apply to your company and that you keep up to date with any changes. When you’re prepared for future changes, you won’t be caught off guard when new legislation goes into effect.

Specialists should be consulted. Small and growing businesses, in particular, could inadvertently break the law. To avoid this, make sure the organization’s activities are clear. Furthermore, to ensure that everything is in order, it is advisable to recruit experts or consult with consultants. This enables owners and workers to seek advice if required in order to ensure that their acts and practices are compliant.

Ensure the workers adhere to protocols. Employees must obey company policy in order for it to be effective. Changes in policy, in particular, will not always be well received by the workforce, and workers may be unable to alter their daily routines. It is critical to include HR in this process.

Most significantly, make sure the organisation’s policies and practices are well communicated. It’s also important to make sure they’re well recorded and available, both digitally and physically. Additionally, ensure that workers understand why policies and practices are in place or have changed. It may also be appropriate to include employee training on how to change procedures properly. Finally, you may want to consider introducing a compensation scheme for workers who follow the rules and developing penalties for those who do not.

A proposed Consumer Protection Act is expected to improve the economy by £4bn in the next 10 years. The Bill is designed to consolidate overlapping consumer legislation into one single straightforward Act, making it easier for companies as well as customers to recognize their rights and obligations.

This can have a huge impact on customer service, as it, as mentioned previously, it can help protect consumers. This will, however, require mass concentration in order to achieve great customer service that customers are pleased with.

I have taken the time to do some research on how businesses can improve customer service provision. One of the best ways to improve is to try and show the customers that you are listening to them. Clarify and rephrase what the customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and reflect on their feelings by saying things like, ‘That must have upset you’ or ‘I can see why you feel slighted.’. Little things such as these show the customers that you do care, and do listen, as there are sometimes some employees that don’t listen, or simply can’t understand what the customer is saying. A good business also has excellent relationships with customers. But a smart firm will always ask ‘what is good customer service?’. Good customer service centers around listening carefully and attending to the needs and desires of your customers. If you are not actively searching for ways to improve your customer service, your relationships can stagnate.

There are many other ways of doing so, such as:

• Practice active listening (as mentioned above).
• Learn to empathize with your customers.
• Use positive language.
• Improve your technical skills.
• Know your products and services.
• Look for common ground.
• Communicate clearly.
• Measure and analyse customer feedback.

These are just a few other methods that businesses can use to improve their customer service provision. I will briefly explain why these are good ways of improving customer service provision. Empathizing with customers shows your customers that you care about their opinion and that you will do everything you can to help them. Using positive language can also put the customer in a good better mood, this also shows that you care about the well-being of your customers. Improving technical skills is also a great idea as it means that you may be able to deal with a few more things yourself, without having to make the customer wait for someone else to assist them, you can do it all for them! Knowing your products and services is extremely important. There may be times where they have to sell to customers, for example, if someone using Virgin Media decides to leave them for another broadband company, then usually, the employee will offer some sort of deal to encourage them to stay longer. This shows customers that staff value their customers and will try their best to make them happy. It is also essential that you communicate clearly. If customers cannot understand you, it could frustrate them, so making sure that you are speaking clearly is very important. And finally, note down any customer feedback, it is very important that you take their feedback and use it to make your services better than other competitors.

Moving on, businesses need to make sure that they meet the expectations and satisfaction of customers, but how can they do that? I will be using my chosen business Bershka for this explanation. An obvious way to do so is to make some aims and objectives. This will allow Bershka to see what they need to do all the time, and so will be encouraged to put this into action. When they get used to it, it will become second nature for them, and they would then be doing it every day. They will also need to understand what it is their customer needs assistance with. They need to do their best to try and help them, however at the same time, Bershka will have to adhere to the current legislation and regulations. They need to do their best to meet the needs of the customer so that they return, and possibly tell others about their great experiences with Bershka, creating a free form of advertisement called, Word of Mouth.

Meeting the needs of customers is very important. As mentioned, many times, making the customers happy is what makes a successful area of customer service. Without customers, there would be no customer service, so a business (Bershka) will need to do everything in their power to keep customers satisfied, and follow any critiques they may have that will help improve these services.

When delivering customer service, different businesses will deliver differently. Virgin Media and Bershka will have different delivery methods. Virgin Media can make every experience for their customers different yet give them the customer satisfaction they need by personalizing their experience. This can build rapport, which is very important. The stronger the rapport, the more successful the business’ customer services. Bershka can also do the same however customer service for Virgin Media tends to be a lot longer, as Virgin Media talk to their customers longer as their calls tend to be about upgrading mobile phones, broadband etc… whereas Bershka’s customer service tends to be used for questions and returning pieces of clothing that are damaged, or just simply do not fit well. Virgin Media will need more trained staff than Bershka, as they will most definitely have more customers than Bershka, due to the size of their brand, and the different services and products they have to offer. The employees for Bershka’s customer service will still need training as they do get a lot of calls and emails, however their queries tend to be short, and easily fixable. Both businesses can put in the effort of a friendly voice over the phone. This will show customers that you have friendly staff that are always willing to help. Even after a long day at work, it is important that employees build a stronger rapport with customers. For Virgin Media, they can have quite a long hold time on the phone. This is simply due to the size of their business. There are always customers waiting to talk to staff. Another way to deliver great customer service is to improve response time. This is a huge factor for delivering good customer service. Some customers are impatient and tend to hang up them phones after waiting what they think, is a long time. So, by reacting quicker to customers’ calls, they will have more customers and more satisfied customers. People don’t like waiting a long time for help, they call you in order to get assistance quickly, but there may be times where Virgin or Bershka are very busy, so the waiting time will be longer. You could tell this to customers so that they know what to expect, otherwise, it looks like you are just taking a long time, with no reasoning. You must communicate with your customers in order to create a strong rapport with them, and that is the key to successful customer service.

1. Bershka. (2020). Bershka. Available: https:www.bershka.comgb. Last accessed 18th May 2020.
2. Catherine Heath. (). 10 Ways to Deliver Consistently Great Customer Service. Available: https:www.helpscout.combloggood-customer-service. Last accessed 19th May 2020.
3. Customer service definition and skills for 2021 and beyond. (2020). Customer service definition and skills for 2021 and beyond. Available: https:www.zendesk.comblogcustomer-service-skills. Last accessed 19th May 2020.
4. Jennifer Hubauer. (2019). 5 Simple Steps to Strengthen Your Customer Relationship. Available: Jennifer Hubauer. Last accessed 20th May 2020.
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10. Virgin Media. (2020). Contact Us. Available: https:www.virginmedia.comshopcontactus. Last accessed 18th May 2020.

Impact of Social Media Marketing on Customer’s Purchase Intention of Qarshi Refreshing Syrups

The research work is about online social media marketing and customer purchase intention. Marketing had much importance. Advertiser companies prefer social media. It is considered an important variable in global business. Findings show that there is a positive relationship between social media marketing and customer purchase intention.

Chapter 1:

1.1 Introduction of Project

This study deals with the impact of Social Media Marketing on Customer’s purchase intention of Qarshi Refreshing Syrups. It will check social media marketing and customer purchase intention. There are two variables. Social media marketing is an independent variable while customer purchase intention is the dependent variable. This study will check the relationship between these two variables in the case of Qarshi products.

With the advent of the Internet, social media marketing has got much attention. Now the old and traditional way of advertising has changed. Traditional methods of marketing like TV, Radio, Print Media, etc have lost their importance. People are more involved in social media more time due to the increase in usage of the Internet.

Customer purchase intention can be defined as the preference of consumers to buy the product or service. The evidence shows that the consumer does not purchase the product on the first advertisement or after evaluation. There are many factors that affect the consumer’s intention or decision of the customer to purchase the product. It is observed that decision depends on large external factors and consumers’ intentions (Mohr, L. A., & Webb, 2005).

Social media marketing and customer purchase intention have a great relationship. In social media marketing, users share reviews with their friends and relatives by the use of mobile applications. Hence, social media marketing never stops. It causes to develop the purchasing intention to users. As a result of this spreading message, It covers a vast area but is not limited to one person (Yan and Zhou, 2011)

1.2 Background of the Project

There are two variables in this study. Social media marketing and customer purchase intention.

Now the internet is making progress. value of customers and retailers is increased by using social media marketing. Social media marketing has appeared as a new tool. It is one of the important tools of digital marketing. There are many things that come to our mind are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and similar social networks that are used online and virtual platforms like websites. (Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, 2015). )

Social media has a great role to change customer purchase intention. Internet technologies has changed the way of communication in both personal and professional life. It has also affected the purchase intention of the customers (Mahalaxmi, K. R., &Ranjith, 2016)

There is much influence of social media marketing with the consumer intention to purchase. The influence of social media marketing on the intentions of the consumer towards the brand and the product is very strong. There is a good relationship of social media marketing and customer purchase intention. (Makinean, 2013)

Purchase intention shows that there is the promise of the customer to himself/herself. The customer will be busy same product again. It is the measurement of customer retention for the same product( Halim & Hameed, 2014)

1.3 Objectives of the Project

To determine the impact of social media marketing on customer purchase intention of Qarshi Refreshing syrups.

1.4 Significance

This research work can provide many outcomes. This research work can help to readers/companies in social media marketing. They will be able to understand from the research how time changes customers’ mindset against social media marketing. This study will help to make a new marketing policy for promoting the products. It will also increase the purchase intention of the company’s customers. This research work will provide knowledge about the marketing strategies of the companies. It will help in the enhancement of their businesses. This research work will help to identify the advantages as well as disadvantages of social media marketing. Readers can understand social media’s importance easily.

Chapter No 2:

Literature Review

Good knowledge of the quality and quantity of information on online sites is essential for the sale of the products. Purchase intention depicts the marketer what the consumer wants to buy. The intention is the buyer’s forecast for any company (SHANSI, H. 2008).

Social media marketing has now become the most usable and fast method in terms of marketing and advertising as it has transformed the ways of advertising. New opportunities for the brand’s retailer and brands are created by it (Yousif, 2012)

• Theoretical Frame Work
• Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Hypotheses:

1. H1: There is a positive and significant impact of social media marketing on consumers’ purchase intention of Qarshi Refreshing Syrups.
2. H0: There is no positive or significant impact of social media marketing on consumers’ purchase intention of Qarshi Refreshing Syrups.

Chapter No 3:

Research Methodology

3.1 Type of Research

The research type was quantitative. Questionnaires were used to collect the data from the population selected.

3.2 Data Collection Sources:

• A) Primary sources:

A primary source is the user’s Qarshi Refreshing syrups through Social Media.

• B) Secondary sources

A secondary source is the internet, web, previous research, and previous reports.

3.3 Data Collection Tools/Instruments

Questionnaires were used as a data collection tool.

3.4 Subjects/Participants:

• The population was the age of 20 to 40 years old.
• Both males and females.

3.4.1 Sample Size:

The sample size comprised of 100 customers.

3.4.2 Sampling Technique:

A convenience sampling technique was used.

3.5 Fieldwork/Data Collection:

Data was collected by field study.

Data Quality Assurance:

1. Questions were asked about the use of Social Media through questionnaires.
2. Self-created data was entered.
3. Rechecking and proofreading was checked.

3.6 Data Processing and Analysis:

Simple linear regression was used for data processing, analysis, and interpretation.

Chapter no 4

Regression analysis

• Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. The error of the Estimate

1. 1 .950a .903 .902 8.15212

• a. Predictors: (Constant), SM

This table provides the R and R2 values. The R-value represents the simple correlation and is 0.950 (the ‘R’ Column), which indicates a high degree of correlation. The R2 value (the ‘R Square’ column) indicates how much of the total variation in the dependent variable, customer purchase intention, can be explained by the independent variable, social media marketing. In this case, 90.3% can be explained, which is very large.

4.1) Summary

With the advent of the Internet, social media marketing has got much attention. Now the old and traditional way of advertising has changed. Traditional methods of marketing like TV, Radio, Print Media, etc have lost their importance. People are more involved in social media more time due to the increase in usage of the Internet.

Regression analysis shows that there is a positive association between social media marketing and customer purchase intention.

Chapter no 5

Conclusion, Recommendation & Limitation

Conclusion:

The purpose of this research was to explain when, why, and how social media marketing has an impact on consumer purchase intention of Qarshi’s refreshing syrup. Research questions were narrated to narrow down the objective of the study and to help the researcher to identify the explanations of the issue. We collect the data from surveys by using a questionnaire tool. The result shows that there is a positive relationship between SMM and CPI hence hypothesis 1 (H1): There is a positive and significant impact of social media marketing on consumers’ purchase intention of Qarshi Refreshing Syrups. Has been proved. As the firms increase their spending on marketing on social media. The profitability of the firms was also enhanced. It provides benefits to the firms in the long run by increasing sales and profits. SMM assists firms to gain a competitive edge and enhance their profitability of companies. The result shows the positive relationship between social media marketing and customer purchase intention.

Recommendation:

• This research was not related to other social media tools like Imo, and Pinterest. Yahoo, google plus, Twitter, Instagram, etc
• The researcher recommends future research to investigate various online media for their effectiveness in promoting the existence of e-commerce or other types of online business.
• The evaluation of this research can be linked to consumers’ purchase decision-making based on their purchase intention.
• With more comprehensive research, future research can expand to other research objects (other than e-commerce) and apply models to local startup business performance in developing countries.

Limitation:

There was limited time, limited money, and limited sample size.

References

1. Armstrong, A. (1997). [BOOK REVIEW] Net gain, expanding markets through virtual communities. Economist, 343, supp-11.
2. Weber, L. 2009. Marketing to the Social Web: How digital customer communities build your business. John Wiley and Sons.
3. http://no1pdf.com/aims-and-objectives-of-the-project-on-Social Media
4. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/10144/9/09_chapter%201.pdf
5. http://www.studymode.com/subjects/objectives-of-Social Media-page1.html
6. https://cashcofinancial.com/2016/01/the-history-of-Social Media/
7. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/50672704/The_Impact_of_Social_Media_Marketing_on_20161202-26122
8. https://www.slideshare.net/pagalahaha/43888714-plasticmoneyfullproject

MacDonalds Customer Policy

Introduction

Strategic analysis is the way of conducting research on a company and its operational environment including internal and external factors that influence the company’s ongoing situation to create a strategy. Data becomes the key competitive advantage nowadays. Managers of an organization use this data to know about the competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Data collection is not only important to operate the business but it also leads the company to develop a unique data strategy that helps them to maintain and maximize the wealth and value of their company. (Marr, 2019)

Mcdonald’s Corporation is one of the largest American fast food chain corporations in the world recognized for its hamburgers. Mcdonald’s Corporation uses the growth strategy to find a way to globalize more their business and create more value for all stakeholders. Mcdonald’s also uses this strategy to meet customers’ expectations. Through globalization, Mcdonald’s creates opportunities for unemployed people, as it is known to be the second largest private employer and consists of 1.5 million employees across the world. (www.britannica.com, 2018)

Business Strategy concerning Customers

An organization’s main competencies ought to be targeted on how to meet customer expectations and need to attain more profit and this will be done through business-level strategy. Business level strategy refers to a decision made by the organization to value customer needs and expectations and how to increase competitive advantage in the market by offering new products and services to the customers. (Starr, 1999)

For example, McDonald’s business strategy develops a mixture of cost leadership and worldwide business expansion strategies. Furthermore, McDonald’s products and services standards are of high quality all over the world. Moreover, Mcdonald’s takes into consideration the local taste while preparing its menu to attract customers along with its high-quality standards, which is very important. Mcdonald’s added Mac Arabia to its menu only in Arab countries such as Kuwait, KSA, Qatar, etc. Moreover, Mcdonald’s has a competitive advantage over other restaurants due to its low cost of burgers of high quality. (Dudovskiy, 2016)

Mcdonald’s is also focusing on a digital marketing strategy to target young customers by advertising on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Mcdonald’s has also launched its application to target audiences by offering discounts and free meals.

Corporate Strategy concerning Customers

Mcdonald’s has adopted a market expansion strategy to expand its business in increasing economies especially in Asian countries. The golden arches of McDonalds has set their visions on searching Asian markets. Although Asian countries have many other fast food restaurants as fast as Mcdonald’s do. It is often seen that McDonalds uses the strategy of Franchising and licensing to form a new market worldwide. Today, there are more than 80% franchises of McDonalds all over the world. Moreover, Mcdonald’s uses an adaptation strategy as wherever they expand their business every country has their own rules and regulation. For example, in Russia Mcdonald’s has to purchase the meat in particular way according to Russian rules. (mcdonalds600.weebly.com, 2013)

Environmental analysis of McDonald’s

Environmental analysis is a strategic tool that businesses used to find all internal and external components that can affect the business performance in the future. Many tools are used by businesses to find out the internal and external factors. The organization does not have any control over these factors moreover, the organization can be unsuccessful if a company fails to block these factors. The most common tool that businesses used is known as PESTLE. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and environmental factors. (PESTLE analysis Contributor, 2015)

Political Factor

In countries where Mcdonald’s operates, it is very important for McDonald’s to accept the political rules and regulations if not then it would result in the shutdown of the business. The government pressurizes Mcdonald’s as they have a high amount of sodium and sugar in their meals, which leads to cause serious health problems such as high heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Economic Factor

Mcdonald’s plays a significant role in helping the economy of the United States by providing job opportunities to the people. It is a great chance for youths to work part-time. McDonald’s also has its negative side that it pays low salaries to its employees without overtime to make a high-profit margin due to this it lost its employees. (nhdbbt.weebly.com, 2018)

Social Factor

Mcdonald’s has many social impacts on society because of the food they offer to the community. Their food is high in fats and lacks vitamins and fiber. Moreover, they are using domestically produced raw materials to turn into the local restaurants of an international chain. (nhdbbt.weebly.com, 2018)

Technological Factor

Mcdonald’s has adopted all the changes to make its service better and faster. The main technology Mcdonald’s has recently adopted is a digital ordering platform that allows customers to order on a digital touch screen system which has led to reducing certain amount of time, which is used in waiting in lines to order a meal. (GREENSPAN, 2018)

Legal Factor

Legal issues can have a major impact on the business that how successful it can be. If the laws are strict then it can affect business growth, on the other hand, if laws are not strict then it might allow the business to make more profit. In the UK as per employment rights, McDonald’s offers zero-hour contracts that allow employees the opportunity of moving to stable hours. (Ruddick, 2016)

Environmental Factor

McDonald’s is one of the biggest garbage producers of the garbage in the world like other fast restaurants but McDonald’s is trying their best to reduce garbage by implementing new ideas such as they have started recycling programs and packaging programs. (corporate.mcdonalds.com, 2019)

Developing a strategy plan on social factor for McDonalds

According to the environmental analysis as discussed above, it is highly recommended for Mcdonald’s to implement the below strategic plan taking into consideration the social factor.

Strategic Plan on Customers and Social Factor

The social factor is focused on customers as we have discussed above. Mcdonald’s can use the strategy of adding new cold beverages like mojitos and new burgers with new sauces on the menu for the customers who would like to have meals on a weekly or monthly basis. Mcdonald’s is also using the strategy of giving discounts or free meals on their Mcdonald’s application it has also helped the corporation to increase its sales. The strategy of McDonald’s of acquiring local communities’ tastes wherever McDonald’s franchises are is the best way to attract customers towards themselves in India McDonald’s added the local taste burgers with local names, for example, McAloo tikki Burger, Mcveggie burger and chatpata naan kebab, etc.

McDonald’s Mission

McDonald’s mission statement is “to be our customer’s favorite place and way to eat and drink”. By reviewing the mission statement of Mcdonald’s it is clearly stated that McDonald’s is focusing on customer satisfaction, as they are the main reason to influence McDonald’s to change their decisions. Due to this reason, Mcdonald’s modify its menu as per customers’ expectations. McDonalds modifies its mission statement to react to changes in the international food industry. McDonalds considers its mission statement as important policy and strategic management tool for nonstop development. (MEYER, 2019)

Marketing Mix Strategy

As per (John, 2014) Strategic direction is a plan that an organisation follows to achieve their organizational goals. McDonald’s strategic plan is known as “Plan to win”. To achieve the plan Mcdonald’s is trying to apply 5 P’s known as the marketing mix which is as follows:

· People

People is the main factor for McDonald’s because they are the one who purchases their products which leads to increased sales of McDonald’s If customers are satisfied with the product then it will be a Boom for McDonald’s. Furthermore, Mcdonald’s uses strategies to meet customer expectations.

· Product

Products are the main factor of Mcdonald’s brand and corporate image and it is recognized all over the world due to its hamburgers. Mcdonald’s provides hamburgers and sandwiches, chicken and fish, salads, beverages, breakfast and McCafe, etc. The company adapts the strategy of local taste in making menu and they are updating their menus according to customers demand to meet their expectations.

For example, In United Stated they add Beef in their hamburgers whereas in India they are adding chicken and vegetarian products. (codes, 2018)

· Place

The place plays an important role in the fast food chain restaurant. Mcdonald’s has set up its franchises and self-owned restaurants in places where customers can easily access and enjoy their meals in an entertaining environment. Moreover, their Franchises and restaurants are located at the places where they can initiate more profit such as malls, airports, entertainments parks.

· Price

The price element of the marketing mix refers to the price of products. Mcdonald’s aims to use prices that can cover the cost and generates profits. McDonalds uses two types of pricing strategy.

Bundle pricing strategy and psychological pricing strategy

In Bundle Pricing strategy, McDonalds offers combo products with discounted rates as compared to purchase each item separately. For example happy meals and extra value meal to raise the cost and value. Whereas psychological pricing strategy refers to Mcdonald’s using prices that look more affordable such as 0.99 Dollars instead of rounding off the figure to 1 Dollar. This pricing strategy helps the customers to purchase more products. (MEYER, 2018)

· Promotion

The fourth element of the marketing mix is a promotion that discusses the platform that McDonald’s uses to communicate with its customers to aware them of McDonald’s new offers and products. The platform McDonalds use to communicate with its customer are direct marketing, billboard advertisement, sales promotion and TV advertisements. (MEYER, 2018)

Objectives

In a corporation where there is any number of people working each one has their own way of thinking due to which organisation sets their objectives so everyone could work on a plan to achieve the objective. Objectives assists the businesses to develop. It can use as a standards or plan. (Cram.com, 2008)

McDonald’s main objective is to give 100% and to provide quality food to the customers. It struggles day by day and bring changes in the menu to meet customers’ expectations. To achieve this objective they are using “Plan to win” strategy, which has discussed above.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key performance indicator measures the value that explains how a business is achieving its main objectives. Some businesses use KPI’s at some levels to assess their success in achieving objectives. The focus of High-level KPI’s is on the performance of whole business whereas the focus of low level KPI’s is on the specific departments progress such as sales, HR or marketing department etc. (Wille, 2019)

Key performance Indicators for our customer satisfaction plan can be

1. Improve Customer Satisfaction

McDonalds should organise customer service communities to know about how customers thinks about McDonalds staff. It is also required for McDonald to keep daily meetings with team leaders to explain them more about working on customer satisfaction.

2. Improve overall sales

All employees should be aware by McDonald’s mission and objectives and sell what customers want. They should take feedback from customers to act according to their needs. If Mcdonald’s come to know what customers want so it can work on it and cut the production cost to improve and increase sales.

3. Improve Brand Image

Brand Image is not only about McDonald’s logo it needs to do a value check and organize a high-profile event to get known globally although it is a global brand fast food chain restaurant it is a food restaurant that people should be aware that it is not harmful and have the FDA approved quality products.

4. Improve staff skills

Mcdonald’s has to conduct a training session every 3 months to train its staff with new skills and prepare them to adapt to new technology rapidly. Therefore, Mcdonald’s can achieve its target easily and can serve the food with fast service and good quality.

Strategic Control and evaluation of a plan for McDonald’s

Strategic control refers to a process controlling the establishment and implementation of strategic plan. Strategic control is different from all other forms of management control. Strategic control is the process to check and making sure that the process carried out has the required impact on the organization. (2GC active management, 2019)

As we have discussed above the strategic plan is to introduce new drinks like Mojitos and new burgers with new sauces on the menu. The management has to organize a meeting to discuss the plan with concerned authorities like Managers who will work on the plan and make the employees work hard and achieve the goals.

McDonald’s has also introduced a new electronic machine to order food in Kuwait without standing in a long queue and it also implemented the kiosk payment system that has helped a lot of the customers to make a payment without cash in hand.

Stakeholders are the ones who have an interest in the organization’s decisions. They can influence the organization to change their decision or they can be influenced by the organization’s decision. Internal stakeholders are the Board of Directors and managers. Whereas external stakeholders are Government and customers. (CHEN, 2019).

As per (Mimar, 2015) there are main four elements to evaluate the plan

1. Financial perspective. Financial data is analysed by reviewing our sales and expenditures. For example, we have developed a plan of introducing new burgers with new sauces and mojitos. After introducing McDonalds have to check their sales of new burgers is it successful or not. If it is successful, it can introduce more burger but if it is not successful, it is better to take the burger out of menu to make stable their brand reputation.
2. Customer perspective Customer feedback is very important for McDonalds to know about its product. For example, the prices of new burgers and mojitos are affordable for the customers and they are available for the customers whenever they need. The feedback of customers can be collected by the surveys.
3. Learning and growth
4. Internal process perspective

References

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3. CHEN, J., 2019. Stakeholder. [Online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp [Accessed 7 August 2019].
4. Codes, h. o., 2018. Marketing Mix of McDonald’s | 4Ps of Marketing Mix of Mcdonald’s. [Online] Available at: http://heartofcodes.com/marketing-mix-of-mcdonalds/ [Accessed 28 July 2019].
5. Corporate.mcdonalds.com, 2019. Why climate action matters. [Online] Available at: https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/scale-for-good/climate-action.html [Accessed 24 July 2019].
6. Cram.com, 2008. Essay on Aims and Objectives of McDonald’s. [Online] Available at: https://www.cram.com/essay/Aims-And-Objectives-Of-Mcdonalds/P3YVVDKXJ [Accessed 27 July 2019].
7. Dudovskiy, J., 2016. Mcdonald’s Business Strategy and Competitive Advantage. [Online] Available at: https://research-methodology.net/mcdonalds-business-strategy/ [Accessed 23 July 2019].
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9. John, A. O., 2014. Strategic Goals and Direction of McDonald. [Online] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/akinyemioj/strategic-goals-and-direction-of-mcdonald [Accessed 27 July 2019].
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20. PESTLE analysis Contributor, 2015. What is Environmental Analysis? [Online] Available at: https://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-environmental-analysis/ [Accessed 24 July 2019].
21. Ruddick, G., 2016. McDonald’s offers staff the chance to get off zero-hours contracts. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/15/mcdonalds-offer-staff-the-chance-to-get-off-zero-hours-contracts [Accessed 24 July 2019].
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Analysis of Restaurant Quality and Customer Satisfaction

Restaurant quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry are very important because the happier the customer the more likely they are to visit the restaurant again which means more money for the restaurant and the customer will therefore recommend the restaurant to other people bring more customers to the restaurant.

According to Navaraj Budhathoki (2018), customer satisfaction is the keyway of running a business successfully and the customers being satisfied will be the base of the business for more profit. If the restaurant meets the demand of a customer through the product and service, it will bring positivity for the business. For years customer satisfaction has been considered the core element for every type of business.

Studies that have been conducted to investigate and restaurant quality and customer satisfaction has three main aspects of service quality which would be food quality, the environment which the restaurant is in, and the employee service this helps with the customer satisfaction, according to Ahmad Adnan Al-Tit (2015).

However, Bader Almohaimeed (2017) found that there four aspects of restaurant quality and customer satisfaction which are food quality, service quality, the physical environment and the price fairness on the food that is being serviced to the customers. They did a study which shows a way to measure the customer satisfaction using the following dimensions, menu price, the waiting time, staff services, hygiene quality and internal and external environment.

Customer satisfaction is calculated through the productivity and profitability level of the restaurant according to Huma Sarwar (2016). Having high service quality will improve customer satisfaction which will attract profit and the market share. The restaurant should be reliable, it shows that the restaurant is able to perform services in a dependable and accurate manner (Safwan et al., 2010).

Restaurant quality and customer satisfaction are the leading component in the system of the organization in today’s world they large determine the restaurants competitiveness. According to Asya Archakova (2013), maintaining relationships with the customers will help the company listen and accept the customers feedback and improve service and goods if the customer says so in their feedback.

In conclusion, restaurant quality and customer satisfaction are the main criteria to the business as it is the way the business gets their clients therefore the profit of the business. There are ways that the customer service can be measured which is a good way for the business to know how to keep their customers’ happy.

References

1. ResearchGate. 2021. (PDF) Restaurant Quality and Customer Satisfaction. [online] Accessed 19 March 2021.
2. ResearchGate. 2021. (PDF) The Effect of Service and Food Quality on Customer Satisfaction and Hence Customer Retention. [online] Accessed 19 March 2021.

How to Attract Customers: Essay

In the business world, everyone who is involved in the business desire to get marvelous success in their perspective field. The business mind always wants to expand its business by gaining a lot of customers. The major question that arises is how to attract customers and build a good relationship with them. For every business project, a businessman prepares presentations to impart knowledge, information, and awareness regarding the project in such a manner that everyone can understand it and get knowledge regarding it. The preparations for the business presentations are done ahead of time. The businessman keeps in mind the various strategies and tools to present a perfect business presentation because this is not just an ordinary conversation but it requires a lot of professionalism so that the company or an organization can impress and attract their target audience. According to famous business icons, a successful presentation is the sum of the various approaches, both strategic and dynamic, which would help every business or entrepreneur to conduct a successful presentation. The approach includes the voice, gestures, and physical appearance of the businessman, which are highlighted and briefly explained in the upcoming paragraphs. The essay explains the importance of voice, gestures, and physical appearance in the term of business presentations.

How to Effectively Control Voice to Attain Public Attention?

While interacting with the audience, voice is an important tool. Your voice represents your personality, confidence level, and your knowledge, in short, it is a tool that reflects real individuality. Here are some of the things that must be taken into concern while speaking to the audience.

• Tone and melody. Regular speech is boring. If the words used are regular, then the audience hardly shows any interest. So, while practicing the presentation of the words, the choice of words must be taken into consideration. Words must be attractive that grab the audience.
• Volume. While delivering any lecture, the thing that is important is the volume. Sometimes the words need more pressure, sometimes it is softer. You must take into consideration the volume. Do not think that you are delivering any lecture. Just think that you are normally talking to people. If your voice is regular, then it does not attract several people.
• Tone and clarity. Your part must be clear and to the point. Moreover, the tone you are speaking in must take into consideration. Nobody can listen to you if your tone is not good, which bore the audience.
• Pauses. When someone is delivering a lecture, the pauses are very important. If the person is not taking pauses at the right places, then the meaning of the sentence changes totally. To deliver the lecture effectively, these type of things plays a greater role.

How Do Gestures Retain the Audience’s Attention?

It is said that while talking, fifty-five percent of our body contributes to communication. Only seven percent of the words spoken took part in the conversation. Here are some points regarding gestures we should focus on while doing a business presentation:

• Keep an eye contact with the audience. While presenting, we should confidentially face the audience. When a person wears the right confidence on the face, the more likely are the chances for the audience to pay attention. This makes them trust the presenter and keeps them attracted to the presentation for a long.
• Focus on everyone while presenting. It is imperative to look at everyone while presenting. Looking at one person only during the presentation may make them feel uncomfortable. It also raises the chances for others to feel unwanted throughout the presentation.
• Don’t make your arms and legs crossed. Usually, to bring down the anxiety level, the presenter may cross his legs. However, it is counted as an over-confident gesture posed in front of the audience. So, we should always keep our backs straight with our heads facing the audience, and arms and legs should always be kept open.
• Always stand straight rather than in power poses. Power pose means keeping the hands on the hip area and keeping wide gaps in the legs than the normal gap while standing. This makes the presenter look dominant and rude. So, power poses should be avoided.
• Don’t read the notes. When the presenter keeps on looking at written material, it makes them feel nervous. Moreover, the audience would not be appreciating the rote presentation. This is because if the person doesn’t have depth knowledge of the topic, then only he would prefer looking at the notes. Even the role of the presenter becomes limited to mugging up and vomiting the material.

How Physical Appearance Captures the Audience’s Attention?

As we all know that physical presence is the great key to communication. We all have fear, urge, and a kind of anxiety while giving a speech in front of several people, so proper dressing is a must. As we all know that while dressing properly we have a kind of confidence in us.

As you represent business, be aware of any physical practices you show that might be sending unintended messages, and roll out suitable improvements, regardless of whether it at first removes you from your customary range of familiarity. This will dramatically affect your projection of certainty, warmth, and authority, just as your capacity to convince. In physical appearance, the language of a body also comes like how we stand while presenting, and yes, the dress matters too. While presenting something, it does not look good that we put the normal cloths or party clothes. Mainly the dress we are putting should not be more attractive. It should be decent as well as comfortable.

Visual and grooming – it is the most obvious matter that for personal appearance it is an important element. We can also say that it is an easy way to change how well you groom your clothes and what is your dressing sense and does it suit your personality or not. However, appearance is the reflection of personality.

Conclusion

So, here were some of the points by which we can attract our customers. So, first of all, we have to be dressed up properly like we should wear formal dresses which should give a professional look to our customers, and if we are wearing a formal outfit, it also rises our confidence. There are two more major factors to attract customers. The first one is gestures. In gestures, we should stand properly or sit properly in front of customers, there should be any hand movement in front of them. And last but most important point is the voice. Our voice should be loud and proper so that customers feel easy to hear, there should be regular pauses so that the meaning of sentences should not change, and our voice must be melodious or must be polite so that we will be able to arise a feeling of politeness among our customers. So, these are some steps by which we can attract customers very easily if followed properly.

Tips for Safe Online Shopping: Essay

Finding the time and energy to go to the store is not always easy. Because lifestyles are so busy, it is easy to put off shopping. For this reason, online shopping is now becoming more and more common. However, given its clear benefits, one should not forget about the risks that may occur. In this essay, I am going to provide some tips on how to make online shopping safe.

First of all, as a customer, you should read the information before making a purchase decision. Just by looking at a picture online, you can be misled. It can be difficult to determine the exact size. Be sure to review the product description to understand what you are getting.

Make an effort to only retail outlets with an organization that is found in your property nation. Store shopping at these retailers lets you invoke state and federal client protection regulations work to protect you. You may not get the exact same safety on worldwide sites.

Only go shopping with just a connection to the Internet. Hackers frequently look for unsecured wireless network connections to get other people’s information.

One more tip – do not make use of a learn private data while you are making use of multiple websites. Always keep your security passwords saved in the record that is protected.

Before providing your Visa or Mastercard card number, it is very important to pay attention to the website URL. When it is ‘https’, it is OK to carry on, as this signifies your data has been securely encoded. If you do not check this out, your data is not protected.

Also, be sure you defend your credit card info. Make sure that every single site you only store on is secure. Look for a padlock on the decreased right-hand spot of the payment site. You will discover this on the best appropriate of your respective website browser’s URL pub.

And finally, it is important to check out lender statements regularly once you order online. Make sure that your demand is precisely what you imagined you had invested. When you see unanticipated fees, let customer satisfaction know about them immediately. Also, you can get hold of your financial institution to end the payments.

You certainly should be using online shopping. You save fuel charge, save your time, and also have an easier encounter than having to deal with crowds inside a shopping mall or store. Heed the following tips and initiate shopping on the web right now.