SERVICE MARKETING ASSIGNMENT

Vatsal Singh B.Com (Honors) 3rd Year Batch 2011-14 Amity University Haryana

Q1. How are the GAPS covered? a) GAP 1 - Not Knowing what customers expect. Relating customer data to overall service strategy Increasing management contact with customers Increasing internal communications Tracking performance on satisfaction Collecting Data on customer expectations. b) GAP 2 - Not selecting the right service design and standards. Cant be done - creating possibilities Standardizing tasks Goal setting - based on service goals c) GAP 3 - Not delivering to service standards. Providing data on performance, on definition of standards for excellent service Providing opportunity to change and to grow Providing training - educate employees about customers Harmonizing roles - define in customer service terms Developing team environment - work together d) GAP 4 Not matching performance to promises. Breaking down barriers between departments Communicating freely Understanding and mentoring internal customers Standardizing and communicating policies and procedures Communicating standards, policies and procedures to customers Emphasizing primary characteristics Managing customer expectations

Q2. Explain retail service. Use specific retail brand to assist your answer. Ans. Retail is the service of providing goods and services to the end-users. Where, the Retailers are a part of the Supply Chain. They generally buy bulk goods directly from Manufacturers or through Wholesalers and then sell smaller quantities in profit. Most of the retail brands are actively involved in Supply Chain Management, in order to make it more efficient and reduce risks. Some of the major Retailers: Tesco Wal-Mart Marks & Spencers Amazon IKEA

IKEA is an internationally known home furnishing retailer. It has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1943. Today it is the world's largest furniture retailer, recognized for its Scandinavian style. IKEA cuts down its Transport costs by sourcing materials closer to Supply Chain. Delivering product directly from Suppliers to IKEA Stores slashes its handling costs and also reduces road miles. Also, warehouses are attached to Retail Stores.

Q3. Match the following with P.E.S.T: Services (Economical) Infrastructure (Technological) Tax Policy (Economical) Regulation (Political) R&D (Technological) Demography (Social) Labour Cost (Economical) Business Cycle (Economical) Technology Transfer (Technological) Income Distribution (Economical) Education (Social)

Growth Rate (Economical) Inflation (Economical)

Q4. Depict and explain services marketing mix on Facebook. Ans:

There are 7 Ps of Service Marketing Mix: Product Price Place Promotion People Process Physical Evidence

Facebook is a Social Networking website found in 2004 by Harvard University alumni Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Initially the sole purpose of creating Facebook was to connect all the Harvard students together. However, now it is done worldwide. Behind this glorious achievement are the 7 Ps of marketing mix: Product Facebook has launched number of products including friends, messages, games, groups, photos, links, videos, a marketing space, advertisements, products pages, uncountable applications and a lot more. Proxy and private settings are provided to the users to settle up their profile availability along with the customization of the material being loaded up on their profiles.

Price People that are lured into Facebook enjoy all services free of cost.

Facebook earns most of the revenues by the commercial groups, online events that are organized by the company, advertisements that come on the side of logged on page. Facebook being a private company doesnt opens up its revenue earning units but always welcomes Brand advertising, performances advertising.

Place

The network is most popular nowadays as it can be accessed anywhere, in schools, colleges, universities and homes throughout the world. Almost 750 million users are registered with Facebook, being accessed mostly by Indian community presently (25 million users). Promotion Facebook had become partner with Microsoft, Pandora and Yelp according to a planned strategy, and has earned a lot of promotion by taking this step, by increasing user number along with ads promotion on Facebook by different companies. The website is providing small businesses big blow opportunities to establish and this promotes face usage as well, by their product customers being Facebook users ultimately. People Facebook has currently 5,400 employees. Facebook creates incentives for its employees by providing various perks on Campus. Various graffiti in the office walls keep the staff motivated.

Process: Users are now provided access to Facebook through their mobile phones and tablets. This has rendered more clicks to Facebook by increasing the daily user percentage because of any time access. Facebook has provided an opportunity to Facebook users to register their complaints for the
website access, while improving the services miles forward.

Physical Evidence: Facebook has opened around 4 offices worldwide. 4th being in Hyderabad, India. This is an evidence of its success and its seriousness towards customer priorities.

Q5. What are the business activities which come under the service marketing mix elements? Ans. The additional Ps have been added because today marketing is far more customer oriented than ever before, and because the service sector of the economy has come to dominate economic activity in this country. These 3 extra Ps are particularly relevant to this new extended service mix. The three extra Ps are: 1. Physical Evidence - in the days when manufacturing dominated the UK economy the physical layout of production units such as factories was not very important to the end consumer because they never went inside the factory. However, today consumers typically come into contact with products in retail units - and they expect a high level of presentation in modern

shops - e.g. record stores, clothes shops etc. Not only do they need to easily find their way around the store, but they also often expect a good standard or presentation. The importance of quality physical layout is important in a range of service providers, including: Students going to college or university have far higher expectations about the quality of their accommodation and learning environment than in the past. As a result colleges and universities pay far more attention to creating attractive learning environments, student accommodation, shops, bars and other facilities. Air passengers expect attractive and stimulating environments, such as interesting departure lounges, with activities for young children etc. Hair dressing salons are expected to provide pleasant waiting areas, with attractive reading materials, access to coffee for customers, etc. Physical layout is not only relevant to stores, which we visit, but also to the layout and structure of virtual stores, and websites.

2. Provision of customer service - customer service lies at the heart of modern service industries. Customers are likely to be loyal to organizations that serve them well - from the way, in which a telephone query is handled, to direct face-to-face interactions. Although the 'have a nice day' approach is a bit corny, it is certainly better than couldn't care less approach to customer relations. Call centre staff and customer interfacing personnel are the front line troops of any organization and therefore need to be thoroughly familiar with good customer relation's practice. 3. Processes - associated with customer service are a number of processes involved in making marketing effective in an organization e.g. processes for handling customer complaints, processes for identifying customer needs and requirements, processes for handling order etc