Chapter 12

Customer Services and Retail

Selling

Learning Objectives
Explain why customer service is so important in
retailing.
Describe the various customer services that a
retailer can offer.
Explain how a retailer should determine which
services to offer.

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Learning Objectives
Describe the various management problems
involved in retail selling, salesperson selection,
and training and evaluation.
Describe the retail selling process.
Understand the importance of a customer service
audit.

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Customer Service
High-quality service - A service that meets or
exceeds customers expectations.
A way in which retailers provide the high-quality
service expected and reduce customer defections
is through relationship retailing programs.
Relationship retailing programs - The activities
designed to attract, retain, and enhance long-term
relationships with customers.
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LO 1

Customer Service
Retailers can develop long-term relationships with
their customers by offering:
financial benefits
social benefits

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LO 1

Exhibit 12.3 - Three Basic Tasks of Retailing

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LO 1

Customer Service
It consists of all those activities performed by the
retailer that influence:
the ease with which a potential customer can shop or
learn about the stores offering.
the ease with which a transaction can be completed
once the customer attempts to make a purchase.
the customers satisfaction with the transaction.

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LO 1

Customer Service
Transient customer - An individual who is
dissatisfied with the level of customer service
offered at a store or stores and is seeking an
alternative store with the level of customer service
that he or she thinks is appropriate.

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LO 1

Customer Service
It must be integrated into all the following aspects
of retailing:
Merchandise management
Building and fixture management
Promotion management
Price management
Credit management

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LO 1

Common Customer Services

Pretransaction services - Provided to the
customer prior to entering the store.
Convenient hours
Information aids

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LO 2

Common Customer Services

Transaction services - Provided to customers
when they are in the store shopping and
transacting business.
Credit
Layaway
Gift wrapping and
packaging
Check cashing
Gift cards

Personal shopping
Merchandise availability
Personal selling
Sales transaction

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Common Customer Services

Personal shopping - An individual who is a
professional shopper performs the shopping role
for another; very upscale department and
specialty stores offer personal shoppers to their
clients.
Dwell time - The amount of time a consumer
must spend waiting to complete a purchase.

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LO 2

Common Customer Services

Posttransaction services - Provided to customers
after they have purchased merchandise or
services.
Complaint handling
Merchandise returns
Renting, not buying
Fraudulent employee
actions
Shoplift returns
Price switching

Servicing, repair, and

warranties
Delivery
Postsale follow-up

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LO 2

Exhibit 12.4 - Six Rules to Follow When Handling a

Customers Complaint

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LO 2

Exhibit 12.5 - Factors to Consider When

Determining Customer Services to Offer

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LO 3

Exhibit 12.6 How the Retailers Sales Force Meets

the Expectations of Both Vendors and Customers

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LO 3

Retail Sales Management

Types of retail selling
Salesperson selection
Salesperson training
Evaluation of salespeople

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LO 4

Retail Sales Management

Types of retail selling
Retailers that concentrate on the sale of shopping
goods want their salespeople to both get and take
orders.
In lines of retail trade where predominantly
convenience goods are sold, the role of the salesperson
is that of an order taker.
It is generally true that retailers with high margins and
high levels of customer service place more emphasis
on order getting; those with low margins and a low
customer service policy tend to emphasize order
taking.
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Retail Sales Management

Salesperson selection
Hiring criteria
Predictors
Demographics
Personality
Knowledge and intelligence
Experience

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Retail Sales Management

Salesperson training
Retailers policies
Merchandise
Customer types
Customer choice criteria
No active product choice criteria
Inadequate or vague choice criteria
Choice criteria in conflict
Explicit choice criteria
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LO 4

Exhibit 12.7 - Various Customer Types

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LO 4

Exhibit 12.7 - Various Customer Types

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LO 4

Retail Sales Management

Evaluation of salespeople
Performance standards
Conversion rate
Sales per hour
Use of time
Selling time
Nonselling time
Idle time
Absent time

Data requirements
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Retail Sales Management

Conversion rate - Percentage of shoppers that
enter the store that are converted into purchasers.
Sales per hour is computed by dividing total
dollar sales over a particular time frame by total
salesperson or sales-force hours.

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LO 4

Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail

Environment

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LO 5

Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail

Environment

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

LO 5

Exhibit 12.8 - Selling Process in the Retail

Environment

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LO 5

Exhibit 12.9 - Some Closing Signals the

Salespeople Should Watch For

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LO 5

The Retail Sales Process

Prospecting - Locating or identifying potential
customers who have the ability and willingness to
purchase your product.
Closing the sale - Action the salesperson takes to
bring a potential sale to its natural conclusion.

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LO 5

The Customer-Service and SalesEnhancement Audit

The objectives of the audit
Identify the service, salesmanship, and salesenhancement methods that will produce more sales
from the existing shopping traffic.
Target the methods by store and selling area that will
produce the most significant improvements.
Determine the added sales that can be generated by
improving the accepted service level, salesmanship,
and sales-enhancement programs.
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The Customer-Service and SalesEnhancement Audit

Advantages of the audit:
Provides management with a detailed analysis of
current sales activity by location and by selling area.
Identifies how and where additional sales volume is
available.
Measures, analyzes, and reports on the specific factors.

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LO 6

The Customer-Service and SalesEnhancement Audit

Basic service
Customer contact
Salesperson-initiated contact
Customer acknowledgment

Salesmanship
Merchandise knowledge
Needs clarification
Active selling
Suggestion selling
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LO 6

The Customer-Service and SalesEnhancement Audit

Sales enhancement
Impulse purchasing
Walkouts

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LO 6