Final Customer Purchasing from an Intermediary of the Product

Use Steps: Use steps include all the Final customer's activities to find the appropriate product category at the Intermediary, to choose among the alternatives to the product and to take delivery of the product.

C.
Experience: Enhance the experience the customer has with the product

3.
Increase the customer’s sense of security with the product

B.
We can fix problems promptly

No. Year SIC Note
1 2004 4841 In response to viewer frustration when they miss the first part of their favorite show, Time Warner's cable division began testing a new feature for digital-cable subscribers, Start Over, that allows viewers to restart the show at any time during the broadcast. The television industry has been moving towards more responsive features, like TiVo and on-demand movies.
2 1999 4899 Mindspring and Earthlink have attracted customers in the past years by stressing service. This has brought in subscribers that switch from large corporations.
3 1994 5000 Retailers are sending around mystery shoppers to critique their customer service. Test if salesperson greets the customer, product knowledge of the salesperson.
4 1991 5411 Randall's stacks produce neatly, its workers take customers to find items, it provides mini grocery carts and free bakery cookies for kids. It has security officers in all stores and bright lights in parking lots. One store has free valet parking.
5 2002 5941 Dick's Sporting Goods focuses on salesmanship because people don't buy golf clubs and tennis rackets at the same rate as T-shirts. Dick's high-customer service level is not always seen in a sporting-goods retailer, or any retailer. Dick's sales reps might recommend a less expensive set of golf clubs to a customer who likes golf but doesn't want to spend $1000 on clubs that just collect dust.
6 2001 5942 A huge Barnes & Nobles opened up down the street from longtime independent bookstore Brookline Booksmith. In order to fight competition they "got busy and upgraded our customer service from 'somewhat indifferent' to 'every customers leaves with a better experience'.
7 1990 5961 Lands' End has distinguished itself for customer service. About 230 volunteers, including the CEO, respond personally to letters that people write in.
8 1997 5961 Viking's elevated customer retention rate (73%) relative to other catalog merchants is due to its high level of customer service, which includes a commitment to ship virtually all orders on the day they are received.
9 2003 5999 Overall, a recent Forrester Research survey of 100 large U.S. Retailers found that 63 currently sell online, and 52 of those accept in-store returns of items bought online.

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