Category: Customer

Essay on Customer Satisfaction and Its Role in Total Quality

Quality is always in an ever-changing state. What was deemed good yesterday might not be considered good tomorrow. That means constant quality control and innovation have to be considered. There are many ways to maintain quality. Maintaining quality in the traditional sense is very different from choosing to do it with a more modern quality management system like Total Quality Management (TQM). Instead of detecting the problems, Total Quality strives to prevent them. Instead of meeting customer specifications, Total Quality tries to exceed customer expectations. By following a more modern quality management method, there are longer-term profits and continual improvement, and the customer satisfaction rates are higher.

Communication between the customer and a business is one of the most important pillars of healthy and functional cooperation between the two parties. Understanding the customers and their needs has long been the key to a successful management strategy. Employees can be excellent representatives of the community, and surveying them about their everyday struggles, duties, and responsibilities can reveal a lot of insightful information about their wishes and needs.

TQM allows the company to perceive the management system as a whole entity instead of seeing it just as an output of the quality department. Total Quality makes the organization monitor all inputs from engineering, human resources, and production to service, finance, distribution, and sales. All of these functions impact the quality of all products or services of the organization. By embracing the entire process, companies have a chance to improve in most core areas like customer focus, total employee involvement, systematic approaches, and good communication.

Although the benefits of TQM are obvious, companies still need to consider if they are willing to go all in, which would mean reconstructing the existing barriers to make way for full involvement. Some companies are not willing to go as far with some managers complaining that their authority is being tested by the employees speaking up about issues at the early adoption stages of TQM. Nevertheless, with a culture that demands constant improvements in quality, feedback from the employees and customers is a crucial part of further development.

The Importance of Customer Satisfaction

In today’s competitive market, it is important for every business to stand out, attract, and hold on to their customers. If a product or service manages to attract the attention of a customer, it is in the company’s best interest to make the best impression with the quality of the product not only before, but also after the purchase. If the customer deems this transaction successful, he will be satisfied. Customer satisfaction is a major indicator of loyalty and customer repurchase; it increases customer lifetime value and reduces negative word of mouth. It is way easier and cheaper to retain customers than to bring in new ones.

The definition of customer satisfaction is also provided in the ISO series 9000:2000 standard. Customer satisfaction can be defined as customer contentment and customer perception concerning the level to which expectations have been satisfied. Customer complaints can also play a big part in determining the satisfaction level of the customer. Nevertheless, customer satisfaction is not equivalent to the absence of complaints.

There are several factors that influence a customer: technical quality of the product (safety, build quality, sustainability), reputation (perception of the customer about the company, product, or service in comparison to other competing brands), perception of the price point (sales, promotions, discounts, value in comparison to other competitors), interpersonal relationship quality (styles of communication, complaints, empathy), and service quality (competency of the sales personnel, response times, information digestibility).

Customer satisfaction can be achieved by the implementation of quality management systems. Depending on how they perform, customer satisfaction levels can either plummet or skyrocket. That is why it is important to understand in which cases each quality management system can be most effective. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint why customer satisfaction is lower than expected. In this case, quality management systems can offer some beneficial tools.

Total Quality Management and Other Methods

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a system designed to improve quality across all levels. It employs the use of versatile teams to identify, analyze, and solve problems. It places attention on determining quality by understanding how the customer distinguishes quality.

It is important to understand that TQM is more of a philosophy than a method. It uses various controls, quality measurement, and improvement tools like histograms that help see how different variations look like, scatter charts that help identify the relationships between certain factors, Pareto analysis that highlights the major problems and inconsistencies, cause and effect diagrams like Fishbone to identify underlying problems.

If we compare Six Sigma to TQM, TQM aims to ensure that the internal regulations and standard procedures mitigate defects, while Six Sigma tries to lower the number of defects. Similar to TQM, Six Sigma ensures continuous success by reinforcing strict guidelines and process standards all across the production line to reduce errors.

Six Sigma aims to reduce defects in manufacturing and other processes by applying a statistical problem-solving methodology. It identifies deviations from the standard and tries to eliminate such inconsistencies. Lean, on the other hand, uses a minimalist philosophy that aims to increase efficiency by using minimum requirements for any process. This method focuses on determining customer needs and eliminating activities that are not valuable to the customers, thereby improving processes.

Real-world applications require different quality improvement methods and tools. There are fields where the slightest mistake can cost someone’s life, like healthcare. This field requires the best possible quality tools that the Six Sigma method provides with its rigorous consistency and attention to detail. Other businesses like supermarkets and convenience stores are not as thorough in their product quality as they are focused on providing the most variety for a customer. In this case, methods like Lean that improve efficiency and reduce waste are more in line with the model of the company. In addition, mixing and matching these methods could prove beneficial, and combining methods like Lean and Six Sigma could lead to better results.

Focus on Customer Satisfaction in TQM

For a management system so dependent on quality, customer feedback and communication is crucial. Among all the existing excellence models, customer satisfaction is among the most important core values and is the basis of some of them like TQM as it is a vital element for initiating performance improvements.

There are several ways to reach customers: direct interaction, customer expectation analysis, and feedback. Maintaining these interactions and relationships between customers and employees can help employees understand customer needs and increase the indirect involvement of customers in product development processes.

Internal customer orientation strengthens practical features of TQM by observing organizational policies, regulations, and the culture of employees to assess the commitment of employees to improve service quality and customer satisfaction. Customer focus strategy can also be perceived as a corporate value of the company that characterizes the determination of the company to improve the levels of customer satisfaction.

A big part of what makes TQM so successful is the organizational culture and the commitment from the higher management, as well as shareholders. These factors are linked and depend on each other’s success. It is frequently mentioned that knowledge management and a mature corporate culture and politics play a dominant role in attaining outstanding quality and performance improvements, increasing customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Organizational sustainability and success benefit greatly from decent service quality as it is very closely associated with customer satisfaction. The customer focus principle in TQM has a considerable impact on customer’s value perception. The customer-orientated approach of TQM uses customer feedback from surveys and interviews, processes them, and considers them in further product improvement and development. Furthermore, organizations can benefit from using knowledge management to adjust their strategies to conform to TQM while staying true to the core values, beliefs, and visions of the company.

There are still a lot of resources being used to research and analyze TQM and how companies can implement customer focus to maximize their gain. However, it is certain that if implemented correctly, TQM can yield positive financial results, increase productivity, and stabilize the competitive situation, as well as many other benefits that help the company in the long run.

Ways to Attend to Customers in an Organization in Order to Ensure Customer Satisfaction: Essay

A customer is one of the most critical assets of any organization. How an organization treats its customers during interactions has a significant impact on future or subsequent decisions they make, such as making repetitive purchases, spreading positive messages about its product or services, or posting positive reviews and feedback on the company’s website and social networks. The loss of loyal customers can result in significant adverse effects, such as increased marketing costs, decreased sales, reduced market share, and a decline in the company’s stock price. The repercussions can be far-reaching if the company operates in a highly competitive environment where competitors offer substitute products. Therefore, it is extremely important for a company to put effort into ensuring customer satisfaction in order to be able to retain them and give them another reason to come back and buy its products in the future. There are many evidence-based ways to do this, but in my opinion, portraying friendliness to customers is the main key. There are many demonstrable ways an organization can use to show friendliness when attending to its customers. They range from body language, such as training employees to wear a smiling face when serving customers, to asking customers how he/she is doing. It can also use effective communication skills like being polite and courteous, introducing oneself when attending to a customer, portraying confidence when speaking, listening to a customer’s concern, and responding appropriately. The customer is always right. They have to be satisfied when leaving customer service. Lastly, company representatives should understand customers’ culture and values and their meanings, such as maintaining eye contact and talking loudly, among others. The current essay explores strategies that can be used by organizations to portray friendliness when attending to customers as a successful way to ensure customer satisfaction.

One of the ways that help in creating a friendly atmosphere in an organization is the use of body language, such as wearing a genuine and warm smile while attending to customers. Wearing a positive smile makes a person build trust and appear approachable and cooperative. When I used to work at Kroger as a customer care representative, as soon as a customer came through the door, I always used to say with a warm smile “Hello, how are you doing today? Is there anything I can help you with?”. The customer felt welcomed and appreciated. While assisting a customer, I ask “Did you find everything okay today?”, and then while completing their order, I always make sure to say “Have a good day, and come back and see us again”. Customers can evaluate and judge a representative within a short time by just looking at another person’s face. Therefore, by wearing a warm smile, a customer service employee can create a positive impression and make the customer judge him/her to be friendly and trustworthy. Maintaining a good body posture also helps in showing that the company representative is well-mannered, and it facilitates communication.

A friendly atmosphere in an organization is also portrayed through effective communication skills that help to engage customers and develop trust with them. For example, when a customer approaches an employee in the front office or engages in a conversation on the phone, the employee should first introduce him/herself in a soft voice by mentioning his/her name and then ask him/her how he/she wants to be helped. As a result, the customer is more willing to open up and share his/her concerns since he/she is convinced that he/she can trust the representative to address his/her concerns. If the customer judges the organization’s representative not to be friendly, the customer might opt not to seek help. Using practical communication skills helps in improving the customer’s experience as well as establishing long-lasting relationships. Listening to customers is a part of communication, and it is a critical aspect that helps the company representative understand the customer’s needs and concerns. Failing to listen to the customer might make him/her think that the person responding to her/him is harsh and rude, and this might be interpreted to be a form of disrespect.

Customers have diverse cultures, values, and beliefs that vary and might conflict with each other, and it is, therefore, important for a customer representative to have a background about the customer’s culture in order to be able to portray friendliness in an organization. For example, maintaining eye contact has different meanings across different cultures. For example, maintaining eye contact in North and South America is interpreted to mean a form of equality among different individuals, but avoiding eye contact is seen as a sign of respect in Asian countries. Greeting a stranger firmly in America is considered appropriate, but kissing a person on both cheeks is appropriate in France. Customer representatives who deal with customers directly in the front should have an in-depth knowledge of different customers’ cultures in order to be able to portray friendliness in the organization by treating them in ways that are consistent with their cultures.

In summary, organizations can ensure customer satisfaction during their service using various ways, one of which is by portraying friendliness. Friendliness can be portrayed differently, for example, by wearing a warm smile and maintaining a good posture. An organization can also achieve the same goal via practical communication skills such as introducing oneself and mentioning the name, encouraging customers to ask questions, listening to them, and giving positive feedback after the conversation. Lastly, understanding the customer’s culture is also important because different cultural values such as maintaining eye contact, greeting customers, and using different volumes while speaking have symbolic meanings, and if used well, can also help in portraying friendliness in the organization. The customer is always right. Customer satisfaction should be one of the customer representative priorities.

Why Is Loyalty Important Essay

Loyalty and satisfaction do not always coincide

The importance of customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is a key piece for the performance of a company, logically. However, offering an innovative, quality product or service is not enough today to get loyal customers. Their loyalty, therefore, is necessary through effective loyalty strategies, capable of fostering that trust and loyalty.

In the field of marketing, loyalty is an essential concept for customer-oriented companies, which pursue a long-term relationship with end users. In practice, the objective is none other than to achieve customer loyalty, that is, a consumer who has purchased our product or service becomes a regular customer who, even better, also recommends us.

Loyalty and satisfaction do not always coincide

Customer satisfaction does not always guarantee that they will remain loyal to the company. Although being satisfied will influence their loyalty, this does not prevent them from deciding to also purchase products or services from the competition. Therefore, there are a series of factors that also influence when choosing our company or that of the competition.

In this sense, loyalty intends that these factors add instead of subtract when making decisions. Or, what is the same, it seeks to develop a loyalty strategy that makes the customer feel well cared for, at a point of balance between the extremes of carelessness and excessive insistence.

An effective loyalty strategy, therefore, seeks to cover the needs of the client, -always within what is feasible-, responding to their requirements in different aspects and in a personalized way to know their preferences, understand their needs, and respond or, even better, Exceed your expectations.

The importance of customer loyalty

Loyalty strategies involve differentiating yourself from the competition, listening to the customer, offering news, improvements, and, in short, reverting to a better service, and this is not only a way of retaining old customers but also new ones, as well as attracting potential customers.

The importance of customer loyalty goes beyond the fact that the number of potential customers will end up stagnating and retention will be mandatory. In addition to the fact that retaining is cheaper than acquiring new customers, loyalty is necessary due to the increasing competition.

Every business, without a doubt, should try to retain its best customers, and loyalty strategies are geared towards this end. Loyalty, on the one hand, allows the business to grow, but on the other, it can be of great help to maintain a fixed income that helps us to maintain the business.

In turn, the implementation of a loyalty program helps to reorient the business according to the needs of customers direct the company to seek efficiency, and add real value to the relationship with the user. Not in vain, as long as smart loyalty strategies are applied, strong loyalty to a business or a brand ends up translating into profitability and business value.

Essay about Customer Loyalty

This paper discusses the various elements of customer loyalty. Past researchers have concluded that with the right set of value elements and investigating what customers truly need, companies retain customers effectively thus ensuring greater customer loyalty. It has been concluded by various researchers that cognitive, affective, conative along motivation contribute immensely to customer loyalty. The terms customer and consumer have been used interchangeably in this paper. This paper’s literature review studies the dynamics of customer satisfaction and emotional attachment and it has been shown that these factors are responsible for ensuring customer loyalty. This paper also investigates the relationship between loyalty programs and customer loyalty and the various methods by which loyalty programs enhance a customer’s loyalty toward the company itself. This paper also investigates the innovation capability of an organization on a company’s reputation and loyalty and also interlinks consumer experience in the whole dynamics. The author of this paper has been through academic literature to write about user-driven customization in–use – phase, its relationship with customer loyalty to the brand, and the emotional attachment to the product.

Introduction and Literature Review

The “holy grail of marketing” has been customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, and customer relationship marketing – these have been regarded as a business question of immense importance (Srivastava and Rai, 2018; Nguyen et al., 2016). It has been observed that products become obsolete before reaching their life expectancy resulting in a shorter product life cycle on the customer side, as well as shorter product life cycles on the company side (Antonia et al., 2017).

A loyalty program can be defined as a structured set of marketing activities that reward and foster loyal customer behavior (Sharp and Sharp, 1997; Gupta et al., 2018). Customers are loyal to a company until they receive a better offer from its rival companies – loyalty programs by themselves cannot be a tool for retaining customers and ensuring their loyalty. It has been agreed by most researchers that customer loyalty in general means that the customer benefits one seller over competitors (Jones et al., 2008), and exhibits a willingness to pay a premium (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Sundstrom and Lidholm, 2019). Dick and Basu, (1994) have shown that customer loyalty has two dimensions: behavioral dimension and attitudinal dimension, and most are a mixture of these two types of dimensions.

According to the study carried out by Foroudi et al. (2016) and research by Bhattacharya and Sen (2003), consumers perceive a company as trustworthy and respectful because of three reasons: (1) their experience with the company, (2) its products and services, and (3) the company’s corporate reputation.

Past research has shown that moderately successful loyalty programs have acted as switching barriers between rival companies and these positively influence customer loyalty. This was highlighted in the study by Gupta et al., (2018) and as per research by Evan- Schitzky and Wunderlich (2006); Patterson and Smith (2003). Bolton et al. (2000) have argued that reward programs help consumers and companies alike by shifting the consumers’ attention away from the price and hence, resistance to price-related persuasion from competitors eventually develops.

Some researchers have also argued in the past that loyalty programs do not truly create true loyalty. Recently Forbes declared Apple the most valuable company and it enjoys tremendous customer loyalty, still, Apple has never designed an official loyalty program for its customers (Srivastava and Rai, 2018).

Ngo and O’Cass (2013), concluded the socio-technical system theory of innovation. (1) Technical innovation capability (development of new services, service operations, and technology) and (2) non-technical innovation capability (managerial, market, and marketing) (Ngo & O’Cass, 2013).

Foroudi et al., (2016) researched to study the influence of innovation capability and customer experience on a company’s reputation and loyalty among its customers. Foroudi et al. (2016) stated, “In retail environments, not the individual customer factor, but complex demographics configurations influence the prediction of customer loyalty and reputation; technical innovation capability and non-technical innovation capability modifies the effect of complex demographics on loyalty and reputation; effective customer experience and the intellectual customer experience in a retail setting modifies the effect of complex demographics on loyalty.”

Reading through the literature on customer loyalty, it can be seen that commitment and trust have differential effects on attitudinal and behavioral loyalties (Watson et al., 2015). Wolter et al. (2017) investigate the customer loyalty concept and presents the customer loyalty concept and present the need for customer-company identification for enduring customer loyalty.

According to Gupta et al. (2018), there have been studies in the past that show loyalty programs can have a positive impact on attitudinal loyalty (Noordhoff, Pauwels, and Odekerken-Schroder, 2004; Wirtz, Mattila, and Lwin, 2007) and behavioral loyalty (Meyer- Waarden, 2007; Noordhoffetal et al.,2004). According to the research carried out by Dick and Basu (1994), loyalty programs launched by the company lead to an increasing number of the transaction thus building positive attitudinal shifts towards the brand.

According to Gupta et al. (2018), customers whose loyalty is only to a program may tend to switch to a competitor’s program that offers more attractive benefits. Hence, it becomes imperative for the organization to understand through what processes customers navigate from program loyalty to company loyalty (Gupta et al., 2018)

Srivastava and Rai (2018) say that customer loyalty programs fail to capture the complete spectrum of customer loyalty and loyalty programs by themselves do not acknowledge the fact that there is more to customer loyalty than repurchases and revisits. Customer loyalty is made up of the attitude, behavior, and cognition of a customer – this gets reflected in his or her patronizing the brand even at a premium price (Srivastava and Rai 2018). According to

Srivastava and Rai (2018), it is customer satisfaction and or emotional attachment that together build the truest form of customer loyalty.

Rai and Srivastava (2014b) stated, “Customer loyalty is a psychological character formed by sustained satisfaction of the customer coupled with emotional attachment leading to a state of willingly and consistently being in the relationship characterized by preference, patronage, and premium”. The companies must deliver satisfactory service to their customers and form an emotional bond with them to retain their customers – this creates customer loyalty with a profitable customer lifetime value.

Breugelmans et al. (2015) have opined that in today’s growing market, the competition has made many firms focus even more on winning new customers and making them come back to entice repurchases as has been stated by Jain and Patel (2016).

In the FMCG sector, a research study was carried out to develop a framework for repositioning customer loyalty. Sundstrom and Lidhom (2019) opined that the FMCG market has serious challenges concerning weak customer loyalty. The FMCG market requires practical output that broadens the view on customer loyalty and a framework that helps FMCG and other companies build strong customer relationships (Sundstrom and Lidhom, 2019). Ritzer (2009) pointed out that co-creation is part of business and production and consumption are essentially interlinked. Prahalad and Ramaswamy, (2002; 2004a) underlined the fact that when customers are treated as co-creators — they not only help the company financially but they also add to the knowledge management of the company leading to higher efficiency and effectiveness.

As stated by Sundstrom and Lidhom, (2019), “If organizations have a well-functioning HRM- strategy, they can identify specific operations that might be transferred into the customer relationship management (CRM), and develop these insights into actions”. Sundstrom and Lidhom (2019) concluded that employees and customers are two important actors, and companies may be in a profitable position by comparing the metrics between employee loyalty and customer loyalty. Contributions from customers such as feedback on problems that have not yet been identified in the organization are valuable to the organizational profitability and survival and hence, the customers that deliver such information are highly valuable (Hjelm-Lidholm, 2011).

Gupta et al., (2018) opined that:

• Perceived functional value = Product quality / Net monetary cost
• Absence of loyalty program rewards: Net monetary cost = Price
• Presence of loyalty program rewards: Net monetary cost = price – Economic rewards

It was shown by Gupta et al. (2015) that when there is involvement with experience, it leads to better customer-brand relationship satisfaction which influences customer loyalty. It was Kang et al. (2015) who underlined the fact that program loyalty acts as an antecedent to customer loyalty. The benefits associated with a loyalty program include functional/economic benefits, hedonic/experiential benefits, social benefits of a sense of community, and personalized communication from the brand (Gupta et al., 2018). It is not very easy for marketing managers to understand how the customer transits from program loyalty to company loyalty. Gupta et al., (2015) showed that a customer takes three routes when shifting from program loyalty to company loyalty – these are functional value, involvement with experience, and communication effectiveness.

Customization in marketing terms can be defined as the offering of an individual product for the individual customer, customization has moved away from being a trend and now has become an inevitable premise for companies to meet the market demands (Antonia et al., 2017).

According to Uncles et al. (2003), when dealing with the context of CRM, factors such as customer loyalty programs or the availability of products with an exclusive supplier are variables.

Gronoldt et al. (2000) concluded that due to increasing digitalization, engagement of customers through Social Media supports the dialogue between companies and customers, and this engagement helps to discover individual needs and wishes.

In the study, Fels et al. (2017) developed the hypothesis that customized products increase satisfaction and thus increase loyalty by inducing repurchasing behavior. However, it was found that customization in the use – phase does not lead to a longer usage time (Fels et al., 2017). According to Kwon et al. (2012), customers assess the effort to self–customize a product as a burden. Customers, who strongly customize their products, are savvy technology users and it can be concluded that such customers are eager to (1) repurchase a new product rather quickly, and (2) are also not reluctant to try a new brand/product (Fels et al., 2017).

The right combinations of value in a company’s product offerings result in stronger customer loyalty and a greater consumer willingness to try a particular brand leading to sustained revenue growth (Almquist et al., 2016). According to Almquist et al. (2016), there are 30 elements of value — fundamental attributes in their most essential and discrete forms and they fall into four categories: functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact. Companies should strive to establish a discipline around improving the values in three areas: new–product development, pricing, and customer segmentation.

Companies that work on emotional elements tend to have a higher Net Promoter Score than companies that focus only on functional elements (Almquist et al., 2016). According to the analysis carried out by Almquist et al. (2016), across all the industries perceived quality of product offerings has the greatest effect on advocacy by customers and thus directly affecting customer loyalty. Almquist et al. (2016) working with Bain and Company concluded that what consumers in products vary by industry and they identified the top five elements that strongly influence customer loyalty for 10 types of businesses.

Conclusion and Further Research

Customer loyalty and its relationship with various elements have been discussed in the literature review. Further research can be carried out in the Indian subcontinent to study the dynamics of loyalty programs and customer loyalty by conducting a longitudinal study and accounting for factors like loyalty program differentiation, market share, and product substitutability within the same category (Gupta et al., 2018). Further research can take into consideration user-driven customization and its effect on loyalty programs – such loyalty-based programs can be further studied to assess how customers move from program loyalty to company loyalty in the scenario of user-driven customization.

A study can be conducted in the Indian subcontinent to understand the customization possibilities in the use – phase about the length of the usage time and more importantly its effect on customer loyalty (Fels et al., 2017).

References

1. Gupta, S., Gupta, T., and Shainesh, G. (2018). Navigating from program loyalty to company loyalty. ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2018.01.009
2. Srivastava, M., and Rai, A. (2018). Mechanics of engendering customer loyalty: A conceptual framework. ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2018.05.002
3. Foroudi, P., Jin, Z. Gupta, S., Melewar, T.C., and Foroudi, M. (2016). Influence of innovation capability and customer experience on reputation and loyalty. Journal of Business Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.047
4. Sundstrom, M., and Hjelm – Lidholm, S. (2019). Re-positioning customer loyalty in a fast-moving consumer goods market. Australasian Marketing Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2019.09.004
5. Fels, A., Falk, B., and Schmitt, R. (2017). User-driven customization and customer loyalty: A survey. Procedia 27th CIRP Design 2017. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
6. Almquist, E., Senior, J., Bloch, N. (2016). The Elements of Value: Measuring—and delivering — what consumers want. September 2016 Harvard Business Review. https://digitalmarketing.temple.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/236/2018/09/Session-5- Elements-of-Value.pdf
7. Dolnicar, S., Grabler, K., Grun, B., Kulnig, A. (2010). Key drivers of airline loyalty. Tourism Management. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.08.014
8. Dick, A.S., and Basu, K. (1994). Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science https://www.academia.edu/5464947/Customer_Loyalty_Toward_an_Integrated_Conceptual_ Framework

Essay on Customer Loyalty

This research is motivated by the development of technology in the banking world which simplifies banking transactions, namely the digital marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara. Digital Marketing is products or services advertised via the Internet. Internet marketing can be technically creative, both design, development, advertising, and selling through the Internet. The analytical method used is path analysis with quantitative research methods. The data used are primary data with the type of associative research. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling taking 91 respondents. Data was processed in this study using SPSS 25. The results showed that relationship marketing partially has a significant positive effect on loyalty in the Digital Marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara. Next, partially the promotion mix has a significant positive effect on loyalty. Moreover, partial relationship marketing has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction in the Digital Marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara. Furthermore, partially, the promotion mix did not have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction at the Digital Marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara. Another important finding shows that partial loyalty has a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction variables. Finally, relationship marketing and promotion mix influence loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable. This means that consumer satisfaction can mediate the effect of relationship marketing and promotion mix on loyalty in the Digital Marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara. The current digital age economy is growing very rapidly and rapidly. That requires economic actors to be more agile, resilient, and fast in determining strategies and breakthroughs in marketing activities, so it can be ascertained today economic actors are increasingly competing to dominate the market and become the main so that their products are in great demand by the wider community, they also do various ways to attract consumers.

The tight competition in the banking world makes each bank compete to attract as many customers as possible by establishing close and close relationships with customers and providing value to customers with different capabilities from other banks, to create customer satisfaction that will form customer loyalty. Different types of companies use marketing strategies to attract as many consumers as possible.

In conducting integrated marketing communication activities, it cannot be separated from the existing promotion mix. The promotion mix consists of advertising, personal selling, promotional selling, public relations, and direct marketing. There is one element that is included as an element of this promotion mix, namely digital marketing.

Internet marketing is also known as digital marketing. According to Sanjaya and Tarigan (2009), digital marketing is marketing activities including branding that use various web-based media such as blogs, websites, e-mails, AdWords, or social networking. The use of the internet empowers consumers because they can enter the network and quickly find which price is the cheapest for certain products or services. Consumers benefit from the internet because it can reduce product search costs and product-related information. In digital era developments like this, online services are the choice of most customers. This is due to the ease of doing all types of banking transactions.

Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara (BPTN) as one of the national commercial banks, initially focused on after-service (pension) services. Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara (BPTN) provides online-based services and facilities. Online-based services from BPTN banks are also diverse, the following are e-banking facilities offered by Bank BPTN, including BTPN Sinaya online and BTPN Sinaya mobile are internet-based services that offer easy and convenient banking access from PCs, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. BTPN Sinaya online can be accessed through the website, while the BTPN Sinaya mobile application can be downloaded from the application store on a smartphone with the following specifications: iPhone / iOS.

Commitment to always prioritize the security of BPTN Sinaya online and BPTN Sinaya mobile customer deposit funds is equipped with various security features. Every financial transaction is equipped with a secret PIN or passcode that will be received via SMS on the mobile phone via a soft token. BPTN Sinaya online and BPTN Sinaya mobile can be used for BTPN Sinaya online and BTPN Sinaya mobile can be used for, accessing Sinaya Giro, BPTN Taseto Premium, BPTN Taseto Mapan, BPTN Tabungan Pasti and BPTN Deposit.

Consumer loyalty is influenced by many factors, one of which is consumer confidence. Trust is the key to maintaining and maintaining long-term relationships between consumers and companies. One strategy that can be applied by companies to retain consumers is to create relationships between companies and consumers. This strategy of creating relationships with consumers is known as relationship marketing.

The core of bank management in general is to bridge the relationship marketing consisting of their employees towards customers, especially those closely related to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty for the company through financial resources, experience, and knowledge to be able to use relationship marketing strategies to accelerate growth corporate and banking success.

Consumer satisfaction is a concept that has long been known in marketing. Kotler and Keller (2009) define consumer satisfaction as someone’s happy or disappointed feelings that arise after comparing the expected performance. Consumers have a level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction after getting services received from the company based on the level of expectations that have been met or not. Companies must try to make customer satisfaction develop into loyal customers of the products and services provided by the company.

A promotion mix is an activity or effort to notify or offer a product or service, to attract potential consumers to buy or consume. The promotion mix is the best combination of strategies from the advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling variables planned to achieve the sales program objectives. If the three components are combined then run well and correctly, it will have a positive effect on sales. This means that if the three combinations run successfully, it will increase the level of sales and sales can be done optimally.

Literature review

Marketing Services

Marketing in a company plays a very important role because marketing is one of the activities carried out to maintain the viability of the company, make progress towards the company, and achieve the company’s goals for profit. Ordinary people in general often equate marketing with sales. This view is too narrow because sales are only one of several aspects of marketing. Marketing seeks to identify the needs and wants of its target market consumers and how to satisfy them through the exchange process while still paying attention to all parties and objectives related to the company’s interests.

Digital Marketing

According to Coviello, Milley, and Marcolin (2001), digital marketing is the use of the internet and the use of other interactive technologies to create and connect dialogues between companies and consumers that have been identified. They also argue that e-marketing is part of e-commerce.

Relationship Marketing

Saputra and Ariningsih (2014) suggest that relationship marketing is a marketing strategy concept that seeks to establish long-term relationships with customers, namely maintaining a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between service providers and customers that can build repeat transactions and create customer loyalty.

Promotion Mix

Swastha (2009) promotion mix commonly called promotion mix is a combination of the best strategies of advertising variables, personal sales, and other promotion tools, all of which are planned to achieve the sales program objectives.

Loyalty

Customer loyalty has an important role in maintaining the survival of the company because with this loyalty the company will get even more benefits.

Sangadji and Sopiah (2013) stated that loyalty is the commitment of customers to persevere deeply to re-subscribe or to re-purchase selected products or services consistently in the future, even though the influence of the situation and marketing efforts have the potential to cause behavioral changes. Creating loyal customers is the core of every business. Creating strong and close relationships with customers is the key to long-term marketing success.

Satisfaction

According to Zeithaml and Bitner in Sangadji and Sopiah (2013), meeting consumer satisfaction is a ‘customer evaluation of a product service in terms of whether that product or service has met their needs and expectations.’ Consumers who are satisfied with the product or service purchased and reused will use the services or products offered. This will build consumer loyalty.

Research methods

Types of Research

This research is a causal associative research using a quantitative approach. Sugiyono (2014) causal associative research is research that looks for a relationship or effect of cause and effect, namely the relationship or effect of the independent variable (X) on the dependent variable (Y). The survey method was chosen as the primary data source obtained through a questionnaire. According to Sugiyono (2014) in survey research, data collection was carried out using a questionnaire to get respondents’ responses. The survey research method aims to obtain data or facts that cannot be observed, past information that has not been recorded, or from the respondent’s attitude.

Research Location and Time

This research was conducted in the Digital Marketing of Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara which is located at Jalan Putri Hijau No.20, Kesawan, Medan Baru, Kota Medan, Sumatera Utara 20235. The time of this study began in March 2019 until August 2019.

Population and Sample

Erlina (2011) population is a complete group of entities that can be people, events, or objects that have certain characteristics, which are in an area and meet certain requirements related to research problems.

The sample is part of the number and characteristics possessed by the population of Sugiyono (2014). The sample in this study were consumers of PT. BTPN Bank which was taken from 2017 to 2018 with 1,501 consumers. In this study, researchers did not take the entire population due to the large number of consumers which is around 91 people, as well as limited costs and time, the researchers used a nonprobability sampling technique with a judgmental sampling method. The number of samples used in this study was 91 respondents.

Path Analysis Techniques

In the path analysis, the terms independent and dependent variables are not used, instead, the terms exogenous variables (causes) and endogenous variables (effects) are used. Path diagrams provide explicit causality relationships between variables based on theory, in describing path diagrams that need to be considered the direction of the one-headed arrow is a regression relationship and the two-headed arrow is a correlation relationship. If there is more than one exogenous variable in the model, then these exogenous variables must be connected with two-headed arrows (Ghozali, 2016). From the t-statistical test in Table 1, it can be concluded that the significance of relationship marketing variables and promotion mix > 0.05 then H0 is accepted and H1 is rejected, partially the effect of each independent variable can be described as follows:

1. The relationship marketing variable with statistics is 3.193 with a confidence level of 5% with a significance of 0.002 smaller than 0.05 so it can be concluded that relationship marketing has a significant positive effect on loyalty.
2. The promotion mix variable with statistics of 2.656 at a confidence level of 5% with a significance of 0.009 smaller than 0.05 so it can be concluded that the promotion mix has a significant positive effect on loyalty.

Second Hypothesis Testing

From the t-statistical test in Table 2 above it can be concluded that the significance of relationship marketing variables and promotion mix > 0.05 then H0 is accepted and H1 is rejected, partially the effect of each independent variable can be described as follows:

1. Variable relationship marketing with statistics of 5.240 at a confidence level of 5% with a significance of 0,000 smaller than 0.05 so it can be concluded that relationship marketing has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction
2. The promotion mix variable with a statistical value of 0.591 at a confidence level of 5% with a significance of 0.556 which is greater than 5 0.05 so it can be concluded that the promotion mix has no significant positive effect on customer satisfaction.

Third Hypothesis Testing

From the Tabel 3 t statistical test, it can be concluded that if the significance of the customer satisfaction variable < 0.005 then H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted. Partially the effect of loyalty on the dependent variable can be described as follows:

Variable customer satisfaction with statistics of 5.802 at the level of trust α = 5% with a significance of α = 0,000 smaller than 0.005 so it can be concluded that customer satisfaction has a significant positive effect on loyalty variables.

Fourth Hypothesis Testing

From the results of the t statistic in Table 4, it can be concluded that if the significance of the relationship marketing variable and promotion mix > 0.005 then H0 is accepted and Ha is rejected. Partially the effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable can be described as follows:

1. The relationship marketing variable with a statistical value of 0.575 at the level of trust α = 5% with a significance of 0.567 which is greater than α = 0.05 so it can be concluded that relationship marketing has no positive significant effect partially on loyalty.
2. Promotion mix variable with a statistic of 0.823 at the level of trust α = 5% with a significance of 0.413 which is greater than α = 0.05 so it can be concluded that the promotion mix is not a partially significant positive effect on loyalty.
3. Customer satisfaction variable of 4.125 at the level of trust α = 5% with a significance of 0,000 which is smaller than α = 0.05 so it can be concluded that customer satisfaction has a significant positive effect on loyalty.

Conclusion and suggestion

Conclusion

Based on the results of research and discussion in this study, the following conclusions are obtained:

1. Relationship marketing has a significant positive effect on loyalty.
2. Promotion mix has a significant positive effect on loyalty.
3. Relationship marketing has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction.
4. Promotion mix has no significant positive effect on customer satisfaction.
5. Customer satisfaction has a significant positive effect on loyalty.
6. Relationship marketing and promotion mix affect loyalty with customer satisfaction as an intervening variable. This means that customer satisfaction can mediate the effect of relationship marketing and promotion mix on loyalty.

Suggestion

Based on the previous conclusions, the researchers suggest as follows:

1. Relationship marketing strategy is the right strategy to be recommended when the company targets to get customer loyalty. By knowing the 4 key dimensions in the application of relationship marketing, namely trust, communication, commitment, and conflict handling, it is expected that Bank BPTN can further intensify the company’s marketing infrastructure in support of the 4 dimensions, thus BPTN banks must establish good relationships using Balance Checks. BTPN Bank via BTPN Sinaya Mobile and Check BTPN Bank Balance via BTPN Online.
2. We recommend that the BPTN bank conduct a more vigorous promotion mix and increase promotion activities and funds for promotions, such as improved promotions in the form of television media advertising promotions both in terms of advertising messages and hours of delivery, sales promotions in the form of direct gifts more increasing, and opening of stands/exhibitions in shopping centers.
3. Loyalty is the main thing that needs to be maintained and even improved because with customers who are loyal to Bank BPTN are a big advantage for Bank BPTN both financially and in socialization and actualization of the company in the public eye, because loyal customers tend to refer what is he feels positively to others, and is willing to pay a high price for the service he receives. This is the ultimate goal of every company, therefore it must be guarded as well as possible so that no customers leave and may even have to increase and become more abundant from time to time.
4. For Further Researchers It is expected not only to examine relationship marketing and the promotion mix but also to include external factors outside the banking that will affect loyalty and customer satisfaction and is also expected to expand the sample size, not only to one bank but to more than one bank as a sample in further research.

Essay on Customer Service and Communication

There are a lot of benefits of online shopping because it is easy to use for most people of many ages and also, it takes little time to do as the forms take a short amount of time to complete (if your details are already saved on the business’s website). When someone sees a product advertised on a social media site, it is easy for them to look at it specifically as various links can take the user to the business purchasing pages and the business website, to give them further insight into what the product they want specifically (such as size and color). The users may have noticed there is a sale on a specific date through promotion on social media. They may consider purchasing the product between then and getting it delivered on a specific date to give them an advantage of getting a discount.

Another benefit to online shopping is that it allows customers to feel free to make slow decisions. This can be different in shops as they can feel rushed to make a choice. In addition, choices can be changed easily and quickly before the order has been made. There is also a further choice to cancel orders for customers if they are truly indecisive about the product.

There are few disadvantages compared to advantages of product promotion. One example of this is that customers may feel there is too much product promotion on the business’s social media sites. This might put them off from following them and their products as they may feel there is too much repetition occurring. If the customer has lost interest in the promotion, the advertisement can lose the overall effect on the target audience. in addition, if the customer does not have any interest in the product then it has been a waste of time, effort, and resources for the business to prepare for them.

Customers might feel annoyed by how much promotion there is if the product isn’t up to their standards, so they may feel the product is a waste of their time and a waste of money for the business to promote and produce- which they may feel isn’t environmentally and economically friendly. This can further give the business a negative reputation for showing careless actions. To prevent this from happening, the business needs to keep up communication with the customer. This can be done by doing polls on social media sites to ask for opinions on specific products, and if the polls are negative then the business shouldn’t waste their time and money promoting a certain product.

The advantage of customer service and communication is that there is a higher chance of resolving customer queries, especially if it is a direct conversation (such as on the telephone). However, this can be very time-consuming for the customer and can potentially cost them money depending on how long they have been discussing the issue with the business. This may convince the customer to give negative feedback as they may feel that discussing the issue with the business has cost them extra money. On the other hand, the customer could feel they have had excellent support through the process and can give positive feedback for the help they have received. This may encourage the customer to make a further repeat purchase as they may know what to do independently to prevent the issue from occurring again. In addition, if the customer is really satisfied with how their problem is resolved, they will gain confidence to recommend the business and products/services to a friend or family member- thus increasing the business’s customers.

If a customer receives good customer service, they might feel strongly confident that the mistake will not occur again. This is also an effective way for the business to show their expertise about the business and how to prevent mistakes from occurring as well as quickly resolving issues. If the customer is happy with the business and the communication, then it is more likely for the customer to recommend the business to another person who might need their products and services. In addition, if the customer is more satisfied then they can write an online review on the business’s website to give an anecdote. This is effective as it can show other potential customers the previous customers’ experiences when communicating with the business and how they felt during the process. They could also talk about the many benefits they gained and additional drawbacks. It is good if a customer shows critical thinking to allow the business to see how the customer felt to improve in the future.

Resolving customer queries is vital for the business as it determines whether or not the user is happy with the business’s communication as a whole. If the customer service is successful, the users may feel they can further trust the business to answer other questions that are holding back the customer from purchasing goods. This increases the likeliness of the customer using the business again to fulfill a repeat purchase- which is a positive for the business as they gain money and satisfaction from the customer. The more customer queries to answer the better as it informs the business what the customer wants from the business and how they can provide it to the customer. Furthermore, this also allows the business to see if there is a repetitive pattern in queries. This is good for the business as they could fix an entire problem without lots of customers asking them. an example of this can be a lack of specific information in the product description such as where the items are shipped out to.

If the customer feels they have had excellent customer service, then they can feel confident in generating a repeat purchase for the business. This is a positive for the business and the customer as they can rely on the business to provide appropriate items for them, and the business can make enough money to expand and become more known- which can increase the number of customers that the business has. They can use the extra money to increase the promotion of popular products or to expand their collection of products and services. Regular customers can become more aware of how the business works. For example, they will know when it is best to contact the business when they are least busy to save the customer time. Repeat purchases show comfort and loyalty from the customer as they trust the business- whether from past ease or trust through friends’ anecdotes

Feedback is important for the business to know how the customer feels about their discussion with them. Many customers feel disappointed with general customer service, but only 4% send a formal complaint whether on the phone or via email. However, customers may not have understood the customer service they received when inquiring about their queries. This has the potential to annoy and distress customers to write negative feedback to the business. The customer’s aim may be to prevent this issue from occurring again to another customer as it may have been an unpleasant experience for them- thus is used for writing reviews on the business’s website to potentially warn others. Another reason why feedback may have been negative is that the customers may have felt a lot of their time has been wasted during the day and might have other tasks to complete. In addition, customer service lines usually charge depending on how long the call duration lasts. This might be quite expensive for a confused customer and may further irritate them. Furthermore, this can convince the customer to not want to continue purchasing from the company as they consume the customer’s time and money.

A few advantages of promoting brand image online is that it shows the business audience that they have confidence in providing products/services to them. This additionally shows that they are professional and know what they are doing- thus presenting their expertise in working with customers to quickly gain their trust. Furthermore, this shows the customers that the business may be successful in handling customer queries and giving customers clarification about the problems that might occur. However, a disadvantage can perhaps be that if the business accidentally creates a negative reputation, people will associate the business’s brand image with their reputation. This therefore indicates that the customer might consider purchasing their products but may remember the business’s bad reputation.

Another disadvantage is that if the business changes its brand image, then its target audience may not necessarily appreciate this and can further put them off purchasing any more products from the business. Furthermore, it may persuade the customers to purchase similar products from the business’s competitors.

Promoting brand image shows the potential customers that the business is professional and has lots of confidence. This can make the customer feel more confident when interacting with the business- either to make a purchase or to communicate with them to resolve an issue. Professionality can reassure the customer that the business is legit. A good brand image for a business is usually well known and can be easily identified by anyone, even if they don’t interact with the business at all, this can give them some form of indication on what the business provides and when they are available to purchase from. These people who have little knowledge of the business are aware of their existence still, so when they are questioned about it by another individual they can still provide some information to them. This proves that the brand image that the business has can give people some form of knowledge and understanding, so when they need to use the business, they will know how to contact them, how to make a purchase, and what items are available.

By promoting a specific brand image, competitors can get the impression that the business is big-headed and is only financially motivated. In addition, if a business is known for being ethically wrong, a negative reputation can stay with the business’s brand image for most of its life expectancy. This can prevent customers from generating a repeat purchase and can even stop new customers from purchasing from the business as a first-time customer. Furthermore, this shows the lack of trust people would have for the business as a whole and can further damage their reputation through people’s anecdotes about how they haven’t had a good time dealing with the business.

Physically changed, people won’t like it as they could have been used to one way in which it looks rather than another. A od example of this is Instagram and how they changed their entire structure and layout. This dramatic change generated many mixed emotions from viewers but in the end, it just generated further publicity for the social networking site. If customers were to decide to delete their accounts, the would still be the potential that other customers would want to create their account- which effectively doesn’t harm the social networking site, but just balances it out and changes customers and their different wants and needs.

Resolving customer queries will make the customer feel satisfied that their problems are sorted by the business, however, in some circumstances, the customer may not understand what the business is advising them to do. This might give them a lack of patience as they don’t know how to handle the situation and therefore might prevent them from working with the business in the future. On the other hand, the business can give excellent advice to the customer which can prevent the same mistake from occurring multiple times- thus showing the customer that the business cares about them.

In addition, another advantage is that it shows the customers that the business has time to help them through confusing stages while interacting with the business. Contrasting that point, customers may feel they are wasting their own time and money while discussing the issues with the business as most customer service lines charge people depending on how long the call has duration was.

Resolving customer queries is essential for the business to identify what the customer wants from them. This can be done through customer service and simple interaction with the business- such as commenting on various social media posts. Instant and quick replies can help the customer feel satisfied with the information the business provides them with. The interaction also allows the customer to feel confident when talking to the business and allows them to not feel they are wasting the business’s time when asking questions.

When a business clarifies to the customer how to resolve the issue carefully, it can also emphasize how to prevent the problem from repeating, this allows the customer to become more independent when dealing with the business. The customer can also help others online to stop the mistake from happening again by writing an online review, where various customers can come together and share the feedback that the business gave them collectively.

Another advantage is that resolving customer queries proves to the customers that the business can help them through confusing moments. This shows the business’s loyalty to the customer and how they have time to help them prevent negative opinions from arising.

There are many disadvantages of resolving customer queries, an example of this is that the customers may not understand what is being said to them. The technical language a business may use to help the customer might be confusing if they aren’t aware of what anything means. This can decrease a customer’s patience while dealing with the business and can prevent them from using the business again. A long-term effect of this is that the business’s sales can decrease if multiple people feel the same way. However, this can be prevented if the business uses simplistic terminology and lots of descriptions to help them resolve minor and major problems. In addition, lots of descriptions may consume a large amount of time for the user which can demotivate them and feel they are wasting their time and money on the customer.

Viruses can affect a businesses social media account by monitoring their activity. This is a disadvantage as there is a risk of losing specific information (such as content and possibly followers) and frequent crashes on the social networking site. This can affect a company’s reputation as it shows they cannot handle a situation. On the other hand, it can be prevented through the use of antivirus protection and an appropriate firewall. The business needs to avoid opening spam emails, avoid opening messages from unknown senders, and immediately delete messages they predict to be spam.

Trojan malware is often disguised as trusted software. They can be paid by cyber thefts to gain access to the user’s systems. This is dangerous for businesses as their information can be seen and manipulated into something different. They can often take your money and expose your private files to the internet. Antimalware software can prevent these issues from occurring on most devices and they are usually reasonably priced to suit each user.

Spyware can be placed in programs that a business downloads to monitor their activity (such as social media content and reports on sales). They have the potential to request money to release you from their grasp, however, this doesn’t usually work. To avoid this from happening businesses should install an antivirus tool to prevent it.

Worms silently affect the user’s computer without them knowing. They enter the user’s files and computer through spam emails and direct messages. Worms can modify and delete entire files and steal information- thus allowing hacker groups to further gain access to files. This is a risk for a business as their long-term records can be deleted.

Blackmail is used to stop a business from feeling comfortable with selling products/services. This is usually done by threatening the business as a whole into believing they can be impacted by selling their products. Competitors or hacker groups can usually do this to scare the competition in 

Store Observation Essay

Today’s market researchers are using a variety of techniques to explore market trends and customers. In-store observation is one way that has brought surprising results. Paco Underhill has devoted his life to exploring consumer behavior. He has gathered all his findings into a book called “Why We Buy. The Science of Shopping”, which analyzes thoroughly purchasing journeys. He shows clearly how and why there is much more than buyers’ beliefs and desires behind purchase decisions. Several in-store factors – how clients move, what they see or do not see, what they read, how they react to obstacles etc., are evaluated and explained. There are numerous details that people do not acknowledge, but they feel pleasant if all the elements are in place. Understanding these features helps to create a positive shopping experience and increase sales. (Underhill 2000: 5) Underhill’s findings have been used by numerous authors as a base for further investigation of in-store consumer behavior.

Store-keeper’s goal should be to create a pleasant atmosphere, where customers feel welcomed. It means understanding the person’s journey thoroughly. Often people go shopping for hours or they are with other family members. Either way, a seat would be highly appreciated, but too many stores are ignoring this fact. Underhill states that placing only one seat in a store would increase sales instantly in most of the stores. The chair is a way of saying “We care about you” and people buy from ones that care about them. (Underhill 2000: 92) Other methods for offering a joyful shopping experience would be to simply pay as much attention to customers as possible. This attitude helps to prolong the customer’s stay in the store. A positive correlation between time spent in the store and purchase likelihood has been noticed. (Ebster 2011: 117; Quelch & Cannon-Bonventre 1983: 20; Underhill 2000: 113)

The customer needs to have both hands free to be able to try the products. Stores should think of where visitors could place their jackets, bags, purchases, etc. Consumers entering a cosmetics store do not think they are going to buy lots of items, therefore they do not feel the need for a shopping basket. At the moment, when the customer has already found items to buy, a store clerk should offer a basket. People appreciate the fact that someone has noticed them and wants to help. As baskets are often overlooked, it would be useful to scatter them throughout the store instead of placing them at the entrance. It has been noticed that usage of the basket also increases the number of purchased items. (Ebster 2011: 62; Underhill 2000: 54)

The reason behind people not noticing shopping baskets or any other items or products at the entrance is the so-called “twilight zone”. It is right beyond the entrance, where people are adjusting to the environment, sounds, lighting, colors, signs, etc. The area should be used to attract customers and not for important information or high-margin products. Women like to first check their look before starting to search for products, therefore there should be mirrors close to the entrance. The number of mirrors should be even greater in cosmetics and body care stores. Reflective surfaces and soft floors (covered with carpets) are generally good ways of slowing people down and making them notice products. (Ebster 2011: 60; Underhill 2000: 42)

As most visitors to beauty stores are women, it should be considered that women feel uncomfortable in narrow aisles, where there is not enough space for passing other people or reading about the products. It is considered so unpleasant that the journey might be canceled, and the person leaves the store. Women like to familiarize themselves with the product before the purchase – 63% of the buyers read at least one label. There should be enough space between aisles for passing others, moving with a pram, or reading. It is also beneficial to place most needed products in the back of the store as that requires the customers to pass the store twice, which may lead to noticing other products. Another way of inviting people to move towards the back of the store is to design the back wall effectively; it could be done graphically or with videos. (Davies & Tilley 2004: 10-13; Underhill 2000: 12)

Customers’ movement in the store is generally the same – people tend to head rightward and move counterclockwise while looking in front of them. Therefore, the end-of-aisle layout is most profitable as it is easily noticed. Natural beauty stores have fewer products than supermarkets and they could try out a highly profitable layout called “chevroning”, where shelves are positioned at a 45° angle to attract more buyers. It takes more store place, but the products are noticed easily, and it works especially well for cosmetics, where consumers want to read about the items. Since people rarely stop in front of signs or display windows, the same rule applies – to allow people to notice them, everything should be placed under an angle and have enough lighting. Moreover, signs and informative texts should not be just placed out, but the location, size, height, etc. needs to be calculated from the consumer’s viewpoint. Unless the product is particularly searched for, people see only things that are above knee level, but not much higher from eye level. Easy to change, but few store managers know how to do so. (Davies & Tilley 2004: 10-13; Underhill 2000: 82)

Samples are essential in cosmetics and body care stores. People are very sensitive to aromas and women can be especially picky towards the texture and colors of cosmetics. It should be normal to be able to try the product before purchase, even better if some privacy can be felt while trying. Almost all impulsive purchases are the resulresultouching, feeling, tasting, smelling, and hearing. Still, some companies find it too costly to provide samples. That leads to a terminated purchase journey or trial of the products that are for sale (which no one wants to buy after seeing that it has been already opened). Trying often leads to purchase and more innovative producers should offer small sample sets for sale so that people can try the products at home as well. (Underhill 2000: 95)

The body care industry is mostly focused on women and their needs. While men would be interested as well, their needs and behavior tend to be ignored. The product lines for men are growing, but these are usually placed in an entirely feminine atmosphere, between lipsticks and mascaras. If we know something about men’s behavior in the stores, it is that they like to go straight to the product and buy it. They do not want to scan through the whole store of women’s products. Therefore, there is a demand for men’s body care products, but there should be a separated area for these products. (Underhill 2000: 119)

Observations over shelf displays have shown that disorganized shelves for ingestible products create disgust among customers and may decrease sales. It does not apply to non-ingestible products, where disorganized shelves with a limited quantity of products (especially with unfamiliar brands) can create even more interest and increase sales. (Castro, Morales & Nowlis 2013: 118-133; Davies & Tilley 2004: 10-13)