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
reducing the number of people the customer must contact,
providing clear instructions, and speaking in the customer’s
language.
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
expectations. If their perceptions are lower than their
expectations, customers are dissatisfied. If their
perceptions are better than their expectations, they might
be satisfied or even delighted.
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
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
time starved and in a rush. Using a service like Scandit might facilitate a speedier
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
Books
Book
Kindle books
Textbook
Audiobooks
Advanced Search
Browse Subjects
New Releases
Bestsellers
Bestsellers in Books
Any Category
Books
(Updated hourly)
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
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
reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness.
– Reliability is the ability to perform the service dependably and accurately, such
as performing the service as promised/contracted or meeting promised delivery
dates.
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
service providers follow a set of rules and procedures when providing service. By strict
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
employees know about the firm’s service standards, merchandise/service offering, and
3. Consider customer service at IKEA. How does this retailer utilize a self-service model to
gain a competitive advantage over traditional furniture stores?
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
through the books. When the customer makes a selection, the order is placed with the
In contrast, IKEA uses a self-service model based on extensive in-store displays and
information. At information desks in the store, shoppers, as they enter the store, can pick
up a map of the store, plus a pencil, order form, clipboard, and tape measure. Every product
available is displayed in over 70 room-like settings throughout the 150,000 square foot
warehouse stores. Thus, customers don’t need a decorator to help them picture how the
furniture will go together. Adjacent to the display rooms is a warehouse with ready–to–
assemble furniture in boxes that customers can pick up when they leave the store. After
studying displays, customers proceed to a self-service storage area and locate their
selections using codes copied from the sales tags.
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
was torn when the customer opened the package, it is unlikely that he would have worn it.
If the shirt appeared to be worn, I would assume that the customer was attempting to be
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
positive aspects of customer complaints, the learning opportunities to improve practices
and enhance their offerings to provide better customer satisfaction. Service recovery,
encouraging complaints, and handling problems in a satisfactory way provides the retailer
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 two exists when there is a difference between management’s perceptions of customer
expectations and the specified service. If long waits in line are perceived by management
not to be important to customers and the store does not implement measures to maintain
short waiting times in line, then a gap two situation exists. Several techniques are available
to bridge the standards gap including setting more clear service goals related to customer
wait times, definite the role of service providers in reducing wait times, and measuring
service performance through techniques such as mystery shoppers to determine whether
employees can be playing a role to reduce customer wait times.
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;
4) Credibility: reputation for honoring commitments; trustworthiness of salespeople;
guarantees and warranties provided; return policy;
5) Information provided to customers: explanation of service and its cost; notes sent to
customers informing them of sales; assurances that a problem will be resolved;
6) Courtesy: friendliness of employees; respect shown to customers; interest shown in
customers;
9) Responsiveness: returning a customer’s call; giving prompt service;
10) Reliability: accuracy in billing; performing service at a designated time; accuracy in
completing sales transaction.
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
– Makes it easier to locate and buy products and services
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 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; 3) Security: feeling safe in parking lot; communications and transactions; treated
confidently; 4) Credibility: reputation for honoring commitments; trustworthiness of
10) Reliability: accuracy in billing; performing service at a designated time; accuracy in
completing sales transaction.
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.
Customer Service at
the Coffee Shop
Drag and Drop with
Video; Matching
(accessible version)
Improving Retail
Customer Service
Quality
17-1 Identify how
retailers balance
customer service
through
personalization
versus
standardization.
17-2 Explain how
customers evaluate a
retailer’s customer
service.