Introduction
Grocery stores have become an attractive engagement for investors owing to the unending demand for food stuff. Best food superstore is one of the groceries in town albeit there are many other stores engaging in the same business. Due to the large number of grocery stores in town, marketing strategies are the only way to keep up with competition. For a company in this industry to make any remarkable progress, there has to be competent marketing structures to keep existing customers and attract new ones at the same time. This balance is what makes the difference between a progressive and a dormant business. This case study looks into the difference between service delivery between Best food superstores and Sobeys as well as their effects.
Problem
Best food superstore has come under scrutiny regarding its customer service and service delivery. The company reportedly is engaged in ethical malpractice in service delivery. Complains leveled against the company has disclosed the unprofessional conduct of the staff in one of the stores belonging to the company. These incidents reported by a customer if not taken into account, the company runs the risk of loosing consumer confidence. This consequently would lead to a lot of other consequences that would hurt the company’s competence in the market (Kotler, Armstrong, Cunningham, & Triffs, 2010).
Best food superstore is a reputable company and attracts a good number of customers. However, going by these complains brought forward by a customer, the company’s staff are conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner. The staff have been neglecting the company’s policy and taking advantage of the uninformed customers. This kind of behavior is a sign that the staff hired in the company are not up to the professionally acceptable standards. This assumption could have very negative impacts on the company and would destroy its good image.
The customer is lamenting that the staff in the store are neglecting the company’s policy. Customer dissatisfaction is one way of failing when it comes to business. Whenever a customer leaves the store with an unfullfilled desire, the chances of that customer coming back to the same store are really very dismal (Kotler, Armstrong, Cunningham, & Triffs, 2010). It is important to consider the fact that this not only affects the existing customers, but may also have a negative impact on prospective customers as well. The reason why customer confidences should be protected at all cost is because a bad word about the company spreads faster than a good action. The former has drastic effects on the company than the later therefore the staff must take considerable care and maintain high levels of discipline.
Effects on the company
Neglecting the customer in a business situation is almost suicidal. The customer is the boss and is always right. This means that in the grocery, all staff should acknowledge that the customer is the priority and accord them all due attention when needed to do so. Staffs in the best food superstore have been reported to accord no respect to the customers. A case raised by a customer that she was neglected and kept waiting for more than ten minute is very discomforting. Apparently, after a staff was sent to check an item for the customer, she took too long and was caught having a personal conversation with another customer. The staff simply acted in an irresponsible way making the customer very furious for wasting her time.
In her complains, the customer establishes that the same is not true when she shops at a different grocery specifically the Sobeys. Unlike in best food superstores where she reminded the staff on the counter on their policy about overcharging, in Sobeys the customer points that the staff owned up to her mistake and insisted that she should take her compensation. This gesture builds trust and consumer confidence is strengthened hence placing the Sobeys competence ahead of the best food superstores.
Of the two companies, the customer feels more satisfied after shopping in Sobeys compared to when she shops at best food superstores. Obviously the end result may turn out that she might opt to be doing her shopping at Sobeys. This means best food superstores will have lost a customer which may translate to many more.
Solutions
Where a business risks losing customers’ confidence, the only solution to deal with this is to do a lot of marketing to win the confidence back. Marketing is aimed at building an image for a business enterprise, convincing customers why they should consider your store and not another (Kotler, Armstrong, Cunningham, & Triffs, 2010). This is when a company can rectify its mistakes and win back customers’ confidence and trust hence make a good image. For these to happen, the company must be willing to go all the lengths to achieve a good name.
This can happen if the company can adopt rebranding measures. Rebranding gives an impression that the company has changed from its previous policies and has adopted a new way of doing things. This will with no doubt attract new customers and help keep the existing loyal customers. Hiring new staff would also improve the image of the company.
Conclusion
Some activities and decision made in business can cause great and regrettable consequences in the future. Therefore, it is of great importance for the staff in a company to keep to the laid company policies and live by them. This helps the company to create a culture and hence have a way of doing things. With that in place, it becomes easy for the company to know where to improve in case of a complaint. It is also important for the management to keep reviewing the company’s policies and compare with their competitors so that they keep up with competition.
Reference
Kotler, P., Armstrong G., Cunningham, P., & Triffs, V. (2010). Principles of Marketing, 8th Canadian Edition. Canada: Pearson Education.