US 2018 Highest Domestic Appliance Consumption: 31B - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to a report by Liu (2019), home appliances comprise of the mechanical and electrical devices such as the microwaves, refrigerators and ovens used within the households. In the United States, 2018 recorded the highest consumption of these appliances so far, with their imports amounting to 31 billion US dollars. The essential home appliances manufacturing companies globally include; the Haier Electronics Group and Media Group from China, Bosch and Siemens Group from Germany, Whirlpool Corporation and General Electric from America, LG and Samsung Electronics from South Korea and the Swedish Electrolux. The table below represents their market share as published by Nikkei Asian Review (2018).

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Based on this background, it is essential to note that customer service strategy can be a useful competitive tool in maintaining customer loyalty to a company since the production technology of these appliances are almost similar (Saeed, 2013). The society set service at the center of any economic activity. Gronroos (2000) defined service as intangible activities that facilitate the provision of solutions to the problems faced by consumers. Also, Bozorgi (2007) reinforced the same by noting that customer service is not a business in itself, but instead, it is the principal component of any business.

Therefore, the lack of effective customer service in a company can be detrimental to a company's market share. According to Hawkins et al. (2004), the classification of customer service is into three categories, namely; pre-sale services, services done during the sale and after-sale services. Assessing customer service activities is of great importance for home appliance companies as it gives them more insights into the perceptions that their customers have about their products and services. Therefore, this case study seeks to understand the practical techniques used in the research of customer service activities for home appliances.

Techniques for Research

Review of Customer's Feedback on Social Media

One of the fundamental practical techniques used to obtain information on customer service activities is by monitoring a home appliance company's social media engagement platform. Companies are currently adopting the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter as it is a convenient platform where customers share their customer service experiences (Rosmann et al., 2017). Using platforms can also run short surveys as well as test new concepts on customer service activities in home appliances. If well managed, it can be one of the most significant research tools as the customer's reviews and comments can then be analysed statistically to provide useful information on how effective or ineffective a company's customer service activities are for home appliances.

Customer Service Audit

A second practical technique I would employ as a researcher would be to conduct an audit of the customer service activities of a home appliance company. This technique can be achieved by administering customer surveys or feedback questionnaires. When administering the questionnaires, it is crucial information gathered from new customers, current or loyal customers, as well as lost customers (Cao, 2012).

An effective way of obtaining data from new customers can be through focus group discussions to discuss their perceptions on the type of customer service activities in-home appliance stores, sales staff attitudes and behaviours as well as their sales techniques and strategies. Participants must offer an incentive such as shopping vouchers, money, free coupons or gifts as this will make them more willing to provide relevant information as they will feel better compensated for their time. Secondly, designing and administering face-to-face or online questionnaires to current customers can help to compare their expectations in terms of customer service activities with the home appliance of company's performance. Thirdly, conducting group or individual interviews on the lost customers with the focus being on the customer service activities or lack of that led to the customer decay.

When designing the questionnaires, it is vital for the researcher first to identify the customer's requirements. Secondly, designing the questionnaire in a manner that makes the customer requirements assessable by being user-friendly to encourage the customer to participate in the survey. Lastly, no changes considered when administering the questionnaire to ensure the answers obtained are measurable and reflect on the perceptions of the customers. Hayes (2012) recommends that it is crucial that the data collected is stored well and is reachable when needed for further analysis.

Conducting Phone Surveys

The technique uses telephones as a way of gathering information from customers. This technique practised systematically to get the best information from the research. The first procedure involves obtaining a list of home appliance customers and categorizing them according to their rate of purchases. The second step consists of designing a questionnaire that can be limited to about three to five minutes to avoid customers getting bored and hanging up before answering all questions. Thirdly, a sample must select for the phone survey be chosen at random, for example, by selecting every fifth person from the list to reduce bias from the data.

Observations

When conducting observation techniques, it can either involve communication and interaction with the target participant or be through no communication at all with the participant. The main advantage of observations compared to surveys and questionnaires is that observations adopt a more personal approach and is therefore superior in measuring evaluating the actual types and quality of customer service activities in home appliances stores as opposed to customer reported information. Insights from observational research are always helpful and reliable as the research technique is a reflection of reality. Some examples of this kind of research are whereby a researcher conducts an in-store observation by merely walking into a home appliance store and observing what shoppers notice about the store, products and even customer service. Another example would involve the researcher being the mystery shopper and pretend to be a regular shopper at the home appliance store to obtain information on the shopping experience.

Experimentation

This technique involves scientific testing of hypotheses and variables. Experiments may be conducted either in the natural setting of the activity. This activity is in the home appliance store in this case, or within a controlled environment away from the store. An example of this kind of research would be whereby a home appliance company would have two different packages of customer service activities at the same store, thereby offering different customers different packages. Alternatively, the two various customer service activities can be provided differently in two separate stores. After a certain period, individual sales from each package evaluated to conclude from the data on the most preferred package of customer service activities. The technique is very crucial as it can provide an evidenced-based output used in making informed decisions about the business.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the case study focused on the importance of quality customer service as there is no more significant achievement for any business other than meeting customers' expectations. This is because when a customer base increases for any home appliance company, revenues, as well as profits for the company, are also expected to increase. The paper aimed at discussing several practical techniques that can be used in researching home appliances company's customer service activities. The case study employed a review of previous literature to achieve this objective. Five practical research techniques were identified which are; review of customers' feedback on social media, conducting a customer service audit through surveys, questionnaires and focus group discussion, conducting phone surveys, through observations and lastly, through experimentations. The paper notes that it is essential information is collected from new customers, current customers, as well as lost customers for comparison and diversity of data. Analysis of this information and presentation of the output is essential to any home appliance company in terms of improving their customer service activities as well as making better-informed decisions.

References

Bozorgi, M. M. (2007). Measuring Service Quality in the Airline Using Servequal Model. Master Thesis, Lulea University of Technology

Cao, W. (2012). Customer Satisfaction Research of Suning Appliance. A thesis submitted to the University of Applied Sciences.

Gronroos, C. A. (2000). Service Management and Marketing, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA

Hawkins, D. (2004). Consumer behaviour. Mc Graw- hill/ Iywin, 9th edition.

Kim, J. (2018). Samsung, LG, lead the pack in US home appliance market. Trump's safeguard tariffs will have little impact on South Korean companies. Retrieved from https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Electronics/Samsung-LG-lead-the-pack-in-US-home-appliance-market2

Rossmann, A., Wilke, T., & Stei, G. (2017). Usage of Social Media Systems in Customer Service Strategies. Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Science, PP3950-3959. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/41637

Saeed, R., Nawaz Lodhi, R., Bilal, M., Iqbal Rana, M.(2013). Impact of 'After Sales Service' on 'Consumer Buying Behavior' in Sahiwal Pakistan. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, Vol. (2), No.(5), PP555-562.

Shanhong, L. (2019). US Home Appliance Industry- Statistics & Facts. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/2843/home-appliance-industry-in-the-us/