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3. Resolving Problems Quickly
• Customer satisfaction is affected by the time it takes to get
an issue resolved.
• Retailers can minimize the time to resolve complaints by
Ask Students: What can retailers
do to resolve complaints quickly?
Is it always best to resolve
complaints as quickly as possible?
V. Summary
Customer service provides an opportunity for retailers to
develop a strategic advantage through two basic
strategies: personalized or standardized customer service.
• Customers evaluate customer service by comparing their
perceptions of the service delivered with their
ANSWERS TO SELECTED “GET OUT AND DO ITS”
2. Scandit has created a mobile application to increase the speed of the checkout process by
enabling customers to scan the products they want to purchase and pay for them on their
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smartphones. Visit the website (www.scandit.com/products/mobile-app-suite-retail/self-
checkout/) and review both the application and the provided checkout process. How useful is
this application for retailers? What sorts of retailers seem most likely to adopt it?
There are retailers, like grocery stores and convenience stores, that need to expedite
the checkout process in order to satisfy customers. Many customers at these stores are
3. INTERNET EXERCISE Visit Amazon.com and shop for a best-selling book. How does the
website help you locate best sellers? How does the customer service offered by this website
compare with the service you would get at another book retailer’s website or in a brick-and-
mortar bookstore?
The web page is organized by departments.
Department
First level menu
Second level menu
Third level menu
4. GO SHOPPING Go to a discount store such as Walmart, a department store, and a specialty
store to buy a pair of jeans. After visiting all three, compare and contrast the level of
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customer service you received in each of the stores. Which store made it easiest to find the
pair of jeans you would be interested in buying? Evaluate the perceived service experience in
terms of reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy, and responsiveness. Does the service
quality match the store format? Explain your response.
Student responses will vary. This could be a good class or team discussion topic. It is also
a good way to review store format from The Types of Retailers chapter.
Five customer service characteristics that affect the perceptions for service quality are
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ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. Both Nordstrom and McDonald’s are noted for their high-quality customer service, but
their approaches to providing quality service are different. Describe this difference. Why
has each of these retailers elected to use its particular approach?
In the chapter, we discuss two approaches for providing high quality customer service—
standardization and personalization. McDonald uses the standardization approach. Its
2. Have you ever worked in a job that required you to provide customer service? If yes,
describe the skills you needed and tasks you performed on this job. If no, what skills and
abilities would you highlight to a potential employer that was interviewing you for a
position that included customer service in the job description?
Student answers will vary. This discussion is a good time to review the Standards gap and
the ways retail employees take part in closing that gap. The retailer needs to ensure that its
3. Consider customer service at IKEA. How does this retailer utilize a self-service model to
gain a competitive advantage over traditional furniture stores?
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The typical furniture store uses a showroom to display some of the merchandise the retailer
sells. Complementing the in-store inventory are books of fabric swatches, veneers, and
alternative styles from which customers can order. Salespeople assist customers in going
4. Assume you’re the department manager for menswear in a local department store that
emphasizes empowering its managers. A customer returns a dress shirt that’s no longer in
the package in which it was sold. The customer has no receipt, says that when he opened
the package he found that the shirt was torn, and wants cash for the price at which the
shirt is being sold now. The shirt was on sale last week when the customer claims to have
bought it. What would you do?
Students’ answers will vary. Potential answers might sound like the following:
“I would first inspect the merchandise to determine if the shirt was torn. If indeed the shirt
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5. Consider a situation in which you received poor customer service in a retail store or from a
service provider. Did you make the store’s management aware of your experience? To
whom did you relay this experience to? Have you returned to this retailer or provider? For
each of these questions, explain your reasons.
While discussing student responses about poor customer service experiences, review the
concept of service recovery and emphasize the importance of the retailer focusing on the
service recovery.
6. Gaps analysis provides a systematic method for examining a customer service program’s
effectiveness. Top management has told an information systems manager that customers
are complaining about the long wait to pay for merchandise at the checkout station. Take
the role of the systems manager, identify possible problems that may be occurring with
each gap, and suggest how the gap should be closed.
Strategies to Close this Gap
Gap one exists when there is a difference between customer expectations and
management’s perceptions of customer expectations. In this case the manager needs to do
marketing research to determine exactly what amount of time customers are willing to wait
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7. How can retailers provide high-quality personalized service? Use an optometrist’s office
that also sells eyeglass frames and fills prescriptions for contact lenses as your example.
How does this retailer’s service compare with the service provided by 1-800 CONTACTS?
Students’ answers should consider some of the cues used by customer to evaluate retail
service:
1) Tangibles: appearance of store; display of merchandise; appearance of salespeople;
2) Understanding and knowing customer: providing individual attention; recognizing regular
customers;
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Other support for this discussion question…
How do the services that retailers offer provide value and convenience for customers?
– Furnishes information to customers about merchandise and brands
8. Consider a recent retail service experience you have had, such as a haircut, doctor’s
appointment, dinner in a restaurant, bank transaction, or product repair (not an
exhaustive list), and answer the following questions:
a) Describe an excellent service delivery experience.
b) What made this quality experience possible?
c) Describe a service delivery experience in which you did not receive the performance
that you expected.
d) What were the problems encountered, and how could they have been resolved?
Students’ answers will likely vary quite a bit here to provide a rich basis for discussion of
excellent and poor retail service experiences.
Students’ answers should consider some of the cues used by customer to evaluate retail
service:
1) Tangibles: appearance of store; display of merchandise; appearance of salespeople; 2)
Understanding and knowing customer: providing individual attention; recognizing regular
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CONNECT ACTIVITIES FOR CHAPTER 17
Activity Title
Activity Type(s)
Topic(s)
Learning Objective(s)
Gaps Model
Drag and Drop;
Matching (accessible
version)
Customer Evaluations
of Service Quality,
Service Recovery
17-2 Explain how
customers evaluate a
retailer’s customer
service.
17-4 Articulate
retailers’ service
failure strategies.