Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Customer Relationship Management Issues-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Analyzes Customer Relationship Management Issue that the Retail Giant Woolworths Must Address to be a Customer-Centric Organization. Answer: Introduction An existing problem in the workplace which is a retail sector company in Australia, The Woolworths Company is the effective Customer Relationship management. Customers are major stakeholders of business and they are often referred to be the King of Business. The tastes and preferences of customers change continuously and should be constantly monitored by companies. The cost to acquire new customers is hefty for business and five percent of customers are only new customers for a business (Yi and Gong 2013). So business should focus on customer relationship management to retain customers. The customer relationship management process should be centralized using Information Systems software like Enterprise Resource Planning software and Customer Relationship Management software. The automation of this business process is essential for business for centralize management and to achieve accuracy and efficiency (Choudhury and Harrigan 2014). Discussion Business has to continuously sustain in a competitive world. With increase in number of competitors in the market, it has become important for business to identify the key issues and analyze them. The key issue that business like retail sector in Australia faces is efficient management of customer relationship. Retail sectors should continuously upgrade and improve the quality of its products to satisfy customers. Feedback from customers should be taken to understand the areas that do not satisfy them and requires improvement. Improvement can be required in multiple arenas of business in retail sector like improvement in the store ambience and layout where visual marketing team plays a major role, improvement in code of conduct and behavior of front line employees and their ability to deliver service to customers effectively and efficiently and also there can be an improvement which is required in product design and quality. Feedbacks should be taken from customers using both digital platform and in-store feedback forms should be available for customers so that they can give their prompt feedback each time they visit the stores (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). Woolworth Supermarket is the Australian supermarket/ grocery store which holds eighty percentage of the market share in Australia along with Coles Supermarket. Aldi is also a major competitor of Woolworths. The supermarket giant must focus on being a customer centric organization. One of the problems that the organization faces is that there is stiff competition in the supermarket sector in Australia and for fast moving consumer goods customers spend very less time in the buying process and switching costs for customers is really low. Customers can easily switch to buy products from competitors like Aldi which also offers fresh stocks of good quality at low cost (Juster 2015). In order to sustain its business in the competitive supermarket sector, Woolworths must be a customer centric organization. For effective management of Customer Relationship Management, the retail giant must undertake the following steps- Reengineer its business process and implement modern digital technology solutions which will lead to effective data mining to track customers behavior. Also promoting itself on digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using digital marketing tools will enable Woolworths to capture and retain online customers (Trainor et al 2014). Focus on ranking customer centric metrics on top priority for performance measurement for front-line employees in stores. The front line employees play a major role in building relationship with customers. During the moments of truth, that is, front-line-employees should be able to serve customers efficiently and timely and should follow a strict code of conduct. Customers data plays a vital role in customer relationship management and Woolworths should have efficient real-time cloud solutions to handle sensitive data of customers(Wei et al 2013).Data of customers should be protected from cyber theft. Customer Relationship management software should be upgraded. Cloud-based CRM solutions can cost the company more than in-house CRM solutions but it should be implemented by Woolworths (Stein, Smith and Lancioni 2013). The retail supermarket giant, Woolsworth must focus on store layout, store display and there should be effective management of visual merchandising so that navigation within the store becomes easy for customers and customers are engaged in the stores. Promotional activities should be conducted within stores to engage customers. The quality of the products should constantly be improved and Woolworths should constantly focus on effective Supply Chain and logistics management and quality control to provide customers with fresh stocks. Customer loyalty program should be upgraded and managed effectively to retain customers and to earn more revenue from repeat purchase done by loyal customers (Solomon 2014). Implementation of the proposed solution and continuous improvement The Woolworths supermarket should capture online customers by matching online price with store price. Click and collect locations and drive-through collection points must be developed by the supermarket giant. Customers can save time by this model (Rafiq, Fulford and Lu 2013). Woolworths must constantly focus on innovation of products and take into consideration customers feedback for improvement of its products. Woolworth already sells private label brands like Woolworths Home brand, Select, Gold, Fresh and segments the market to cater to special needs of customers by offering Macro Whole foods Market like gluten-free products, organic products and products with lower salt and sugar levels. A new division for the company should be set up which will focus on developing categories of new products. The supermarket giant should also strengthen its partnership with suppliers to provide fresh and timely stocks for customers (Jahanshani et al 2014). Pricing strategy for Woolworths should be competitive so that customers do not switch to competitors like Aldi and Coles. This can be achieved by implementing a Lean Retail model and non-customer facing operational costs should be reduced. This might require slashing of jobs in the back office sector (Saarijrvi, Karjaluoto and Kuusela 2013). Woolworths should invest into data consultancy firms to handle customers data effectively and analyze this data to reach meaningful conclusions. Decisions should be focusing on customers perspective and their actual needs and behavior should be considered (Hollensen 2015). There should be an improved loyalty system on the cards which can target customers more effectively. Customers should be able to accumulate points for repeat purchase and should be able to redeem the points on their next purchase. Also the supermarket can tie-up with movie theatres or eating outlets where customer can avail services at a discounted rate using loyalty card of Woolworths (Yoo and Bai 2013). Effective method of introducing the solution to colleagues Woolworths supermarket can introduce the solutions in team meetings and break the resistance for change. The performance measurement scorecard of all employees should have customer metrics at top of the rankings. Colleagues will enjoy the implementation of solutions only when their inner values and vision is aligned with the companys vision on being more customers centric. The role of human resource team and the store managers are of paramount importance to introduce the solutions to the employees of stores. Also, training and development and change management programs should be conducted so that employees are able to handle the Enterprise Resource Planning and in-store Customer Relationship Management software more effectively. Conclusion Woolworths supermarket can focus on customer relationship management by sharing information with customers. Information about the suppliers and food products should and how they are creating perceived value to customers should be provided on the website of the company as well as on other networking sites. Brand value should be created and stories and images of in-store promotional activities and testimonials of loyal customers should be shared on social networking sites. The Corporate Social Responsibility of a company helps creates a good image about the company in minds of customers. Woolworths can do so by addressing concerns of the environment like sustainable and healthy farming methods to grow quality food products. The company should focus on building a relationship and connecting with the community of Woolworths. Reference Lists Choudhury, M.M. and Harrigan, P., 2014. CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management.Journal of Strategic Marketing,22(2), pp.149-176. Hollensen, S., 2015.Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Jahanshani, A.A., Hajizadeh, G.M.A., Mirdhamadi, S.A., Nawaser, K. and Khaksar, S.M.S., 2014. Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Juster, F.T., 2015.Anticipations and purchases: An analysis of consumer behavior. Princeton University Press. Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation.Information Management,51(1), pp.27-42. Rafiq, M., Fulford, H. and Lu, X., 2013. Building customer loyalty in online retailing: The role of relationship quality.Journal of Marketing Management,29(3-4), pp.494-517. Saarijrvi, H., Karjaluoto, H. and Kuusela, H., 2013. Customer relationship management: the evolving role of customer data.Marketing intelligence planning,31(6), pp.584-600. Solomon, M.R., 2014.Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being(Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Stein, A.D., Smith, M.F. and Lancioni, R.A., 2013. The development and diffusion of customer relationship management (CRM) intelligence in business-to-business environments.Industrial Marketing Management,42(6), pp.855-861. Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM.Journal of Business Research,67(6), pp.1201-1208. Wei, J.T., Lee, M.C., Chen, H.K. and Wu, H.H., 2013. Customer relationship management in the hairdressing industry: An application of data mining techniques.Expert Systems with Applications,40(18), pp.7513-7518. Yi, Y. and Gong, T., 2013. Customer value co-creation behavior: Scale development and validation.Journal of Business Research,66(9), pp.1279-1284. Yoo, M. and Bai, B., 2013. Customer loyalty marketing research: A comparative approach between hospitality and business journals.International Journal of Hospitality Management,33, pp.166-177.

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