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BTEC BUSINESS LEVEL UNIT 29 UNDERSTANDING RETAILING P3,M3,D2
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BTEC BUSINESS LEVEL UNIT 29 UNDERSTANDING RETAILING P3,M3,D2
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Unit 29 – Unit 29 – Understanding RetailingTask 1
Customer Service
You must explain how focusing on the customer and providing good
customer service is essential to retailing.
In this task, I will be analysing customer service of three diferent
organisations and what services they oferr Customer service adds
value ofering high quality customer service will add value to a
business products and service enabling them to change a higher
price still ensuring customer loyalty and satisfactionr
Pre – Transactions
Pre– transaction customer service gives customer assistant
guidelines about how initially operate with customers and ways they
can make them feel welcomer There are many ways organisations
can show customer service in their pre-transactionr Pre–transaction
aids to achieve excellent customer satisfaction where the customer
service assistant showcase exceptional products that they have to
ofer, in opposition to their customersr For example, Apple Store’s
customer assistant always greet customers when they enter the
shopr By doing this it make the customer feel welcome and relaxedr
It also builds a relationship between the two partiesr Apple go to
great lengths to ensure that their stores are set at a comfortable
temperature, lighting and even smell (scent marketing)r The store
should be easy to navigate with prices and information displayed
clearly and accuratelyr Furthermore their depth of knowledge on
products allows them to inform the customers of the technology that
is suited to their personal needsr Another example of pre-transaction
is in Marks and Spencerr Unfortunately, Marks and Spencer do not
give a welcoming entrance to their customersr This can make
customers feel uninvited subsequently not wanting to spend much
time in the storer This could make Marks and Spencer lose proft as
no one will want to shop therer
Transactions
Customer service during the purchase process needs good product
availability, efcient queuing systems, a choice of payment methods
and accurate technology/software systems so that the prices and
ofers at the point of sale match those displayed around the storer
During this stage, the customer is
satisfed with the product or service they
have choose, it is op the customer
,Unit 29 – Unit 29 – Understanding Retailing
assistant to close the deal and fnish the transactionr Failure to do
this will mean that the customer is dissuaded and probably wouldn’t
buy from the shop again or they would not recommend the product
or store to their friends or familyr Apple store have specialist
(geniuses) who have enough knowledge each product, what they do
and the advantages and disadvantages of that productr By having
geniuses in the store, it makes the customer more certain about
buying the productr Another example, of customer service during
transaction is making sure the payment is sufcient, easy and quickr
For instance, Amazon have numerous payment methods to ofer to
the customerr By doing this, it gives the customer more options
which will increase the chances of them buying from Amazon againr
Post – Transactions
Post – transaction in customer service helps build a long-term
relationship with the customerr Ofering excellent post transactions
customer service not only benefts the customer but also the
companyr Every business aims to fnd out how they can target their
customers, for them to buy from the shop and for them to
recommend to their friends and familyr An example of post
transaction is customer complaints or returnsr Marks and Spencer
ofer an excellent return policy of 35 days of purchase with a
receiptr Also keeping in touch with the customers by email, text or
phone call can make a big impression for the customerr For
instance, Amazon emails their customers after they have made a
purchase suggesting similar items they may be interested inr Or
they inform their customers of an item that has gone in sale which
may have been on their “Wish List”r By doing this, it shows that
Amazon cares and are invested in their customers and want what’s
best for themr
Task 2
In this part of the report you must explain the way in which sales
techniques and customer service have developed in retail
organisations.
For this task I am explaining the ways in which sales technique and
service have developed in retail organisationsr
Retail sector has changed in diferent ways which could be due to
the fact that there is more technology in the retail industryr There is
also more competition within retail organisations and as there are
changes within the economy such as Brexit, there would be either a
,Unit 29 – Unit 29 – Understanding Retailing
growth or a recession which would impact retailers all over the
worldr Therefore, retailers would need to put efort in to keep their
customersr
The defnition of customer service to the “assistance and advice
provided by a company to those who buy or use its product or
services”r Satisfed customer make repeat purchases and
recommend the product to friends, leading to additional word-of-
mouth salesr
Customer service focuses on making sure customer groups need are
met through their business operations such as great customer
service, keeping communication with customers, prompt deliveries
and having the customers’ interest as a priorityr For example,
Topshop and River Island are not competing when it comes to prices
but they are competing when it comes to customersr This is why
customer service is very important – this could make or break the
companyr
Loyalty is one of the advantages of great customer servicer Running
a customer-focused business helps organisation build a loyal
customer baser Customers will feel obliged and more willing to
purchase from companies that the feel they consider their needs
when they create products or servicer A disadvantage of customer
service is you can never please customer every customer because
each them has a need which is ever-changingr Whilst some
customers may know what they want, companies should research
and development to come up with ideas customers may not think on
their own when surveyed about their needsr This could be quite
frustrating for companies because they are literally using a trial and
error method and this is both time consuming and costlyr
A way retailers do this is by building a relationship with their
customers this is also known as Customer Relationship
Managementr CRM is a strategy for managing company’s
relationships and interactions with customers and potential
customersr It helps improve proftabilityr This helps the way
customers communicate with customers which means less manual
work and more time to focus on customersr
For example, Tesco keeps customer relationship by rewarding them
with a loyalty cardr This loyalty card gives the customers ofers and
discounts every time they purchase at the shopr By doing this, it will
make customers to continuously purchase from the shop in order to
redeem the goodiesr Advantages of CRM is it helps manage all
, Unit 29 – Unit 29 – Understanding Retailing
customers data in one place and allows workers to be more
productive and efcient by tracking customers history and adding
reminders for the sales calls and meetingsr It also helps centralise
datar The process becomes automated sending auto emails and SMS
to customersr It builds a long lasting relationships with customers
through small but meaningful functions such as send them birthday
wishesr The disadvantages of CRM is that the system takes time to
learningr Companies may have to hire or train staf – this is both
time and cost efectiver Companies might have to bring training
professionals to ofer support to their sales and service teams as
they learn how to use the CRM system in their day-to-day
interactions with customer and potential customersr
Overall, CRM can have a huge impact on a business revenuer By
implementing the right CRM, a business can improve customer
relationships and build customer loyaltyr
ICT in communication with customers is information and
communications technologyr Information communication is every
piece of technology that covers all
telecommunicationsr This includes
advertising, social media and TV
commercialsr A business that does
this afectively is Argos, they rely on
ICT to provide an unforgettable
customer servicer This didn’t happen
until Argos refurbished their stores in 2014r The new renovated
store allowed customers to browse through catalogues without
holding a hefty bookr It also made the shopping experience more
fun for customers as it did not require any sort of special knowledge
and it is quick and easyr
Advantages of using ICT in communication like electronic mail and
text messaging systems, speeds up the sending of information
within and outside of the organisationr It also improves
organisations communication with their customersr With technology
such as electronic mail it can send information to customersr For
example if Argos are having a sale or a clear out it will inform
subscribed customers via email or textr The disadvantages of having
customers’ personal database on a device is that it is unsafer Since
information has been centralised under one database, if the
information is exposed to the wrong people with bad intentions it
will cause chaos if the company as they may lose customersr Also
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