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.

B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product

2.
Time: Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product

B. Improve wait times in the process

Increase service capacity
Add more regular customer assistance
To find and choose product

Increase focus of sales people on sales

No. Year SIC Note
1 1987 5311 Marshall Field started service-improving campaign. Four years ago, it took a salesperson 10 minutes on average to approach a customer. Thanks to computer scheduling program that puts sales people on most needed floors, down to 2 minutes.
2 1991 5311 Dillard has wide selection and low costs due to its sophisticated data collection. Also able to get merchandise into stores rapidly. Customer service is emphasized–sales clerks attend shoppers in dressing rooms, have maps of stockrooms to be quick.
3 1996 5531 AutoZone, Pep Boys, Discount Auto Parts and O'Reilly Automotive have been wooing the consumer w/ conveniently situated clean stores that stay open long hours 7 days/wk, have helpful salesclerks and are well-stocked.
4 2002 5611 Men's Wearhouse stores are using Web-enabled PCs to take the place of cash registers so sales personnel can help shoppers find out-of-stock items or different sizes.
5 1989 5731 Circuit City sales people have been schooled intensively on the distinctions between each product, and they specialize in only one category of merchandise at a time.
6 2004 7311 Car dealerships, which account for a large share of the online postings, are starting to assign salespeople to work exclusively with their Internet customers. For buyers, this means some personal attention without being hounded.

<< Return to Use Steps