Operations Management (3)

Customer service:

Customer service: Providing services to customers before, during & after purchase, to standards that meet their expectations.

How to offer good customer service:

·      Reliability (keep promises & offer reliable service).

·      Pre-sales service (advice, advantages & disadvantages of products & key terms)

·      Service at time of purchase (products meet customers’ need, different purchasing methods, ensure customer knows how product works).

·      After-sales service (helpline or web service – important concept of ‘customer relationship marketing’, which focuses on keeping repeating customers for profit).

Benefits of good customer service:

·      Customers will return time after time

·      Loyal customers will recommend the business, which will lead to further sales.

·      There will be fewer customer complaints, which can be time consuming & expensive to deal with.

·      Staff will be more motivated, as they are not being complained at all the time.

Consumer protection:

Consumer protection: Laws that protect the interests of consumers when buying goods/ services.

Disadvantages to business if law is broken:

·      Bad publicity

·      Loss of customers

·      Legal action & the possibility of very heavy fines to pay

- These laws are out so business owners can’t take advantage of consumers just to gain fast profit and not worry about their long-term reputation.

Law	Main conditions
Sale of Goods Act 1979 & Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982	·      Goods & services sold to consumers must be as described by business. ·      They must be ‘fit for purpose’. ·      Goods & services must be of satisfactory quality.
Consumer Protection Act 1987	·      Compensation must be paid to a consumer who suffers injury or damage to property when correctly using the good.
Competition Act 1998	·      Businesses must not agree to fix prices at a high level with other similar businesses.
Consumer Protection 2000(distance selling – internet, TV, telephone & mail)	·      Firms must give clear information about the good/service. ·      This information must be provided in writing. ·      Firms must offer a cooling-off period of seven days for customers to change their minds.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008	·      Advertisements must not mislead or deceive. ·      It must be possible for consumers to check price comparisons made in advertisements with other business (e.g. by accessing a website).

Advantages to business of consumer protection laws:

·      Consumers have confidence to purchase.

·      Reduces risk of losing customers due to bad products/misleading adverts.

·      Prevents unfair competition from low-price businesses that save on costs by selling low quality goods.

Disadvantages to business of consumer protection laws:

·      Meeting conditions of laws can be expensive.

·      Any slight error by business can lead to legal action& heavy fines.

·      Very time-consuming to keep up to date with new laws on consumer protection.

Impact of ICT on customer service:

Customers		Businesses
Benefits	Limitations	Benefits	Limitations
- Easy to access website. -Contains details.	- Not everyone has access to a computer.	- Cheap to setup.	-Frequent cost as need to be updated.
- Easy to compare prices.	- Website might not be updated.	-Larger customer base & promotion for business cheap.	- Communication & transportation problems around the world.
-Can order & pay from home.	-Goods cannot be tested before purchase.	Cheap way to sell products, than shop.	- Need to prepared to reply to emails/orders quickly.
-Easy to contact business.	-Staff may not respond quickly to email; no personal contact.

E-commerce: The buying & selling of goods/services over the Internet.

Advantages	Disadvantages
- Open all the time.	- Long delivery time.
-Users not charge by distance.	Customers unsure if businesses exist.
- Electronic orders for information are instantaneous - improves cs.	- Limitations on sale of certain goods.
- Cheaper supplies.	- Too small or too large transactions may not worth it.
- Improve cs & loyalty, as system knows the user.	- Selling abroad, may need language skills, adds to cost. Or change of product as different laws.