1. Research questions
2. How does customer satisfaction affect sales performance of the Australian retail industry?

1. Discussion between themes

Question 1

This topic aims to understand the relevance of the client within the retail sector. After a short investigation, it is clear that all quoted researchers validate the client as the most important character of the retail market and, according to Javed and Cheema (2017), it is considered the keystone to all organisations to accomplish their objectives in service environment.

According to the previous texts, customers are the foundation of every organisation and their satisfaction is purely related to their personal interpretation of the complete sales process. Therefore, the interpretation of the client will determine their perception of the value of the product or service and, consequently, theirs’ level of trust and loyalty to the company. As an example, Toyota, Valero Energy Corporation and Dell computers’ goals are to offer the best customer experience in order to sustain and increase profits (Verhoef et al., 2009). For instance, Starbucks has succeeded by creating a unique and positive experiences to their customers (Michelli, 2006). On the other hand, “nearly 80 per cent of customers tell more people about a negative experience than a positive one” (Robbins, 2017) which means that a negative customer experience causes destructive publicity.

Badgett et al. (2007) We believe that retailers that are customer- focused achieve greater customer advocacy, retention and loyalty, capture increased share of wallet and market share, develop deeper customer trust and demonstrate superior financial results.

Becoming more customer-focused is important for all retailers, regardless of value proposition. The pace of change in the marketplace will quickly make winners and losers. Leading retailers will move first to build strong bases of loyal, profitable customers who are also advocates of the company and achieve sustainable, differentiated advantage. Where will you be? (Badgett et al., 2007)

Duncan and Elliott (2004) These findings are important as they provide evidence of the empirical relationships between three groups of “key performance indicators” commonly used by financial institutions worldwide and within Australia. From a financial services marketing perspective, the positive correlation between customer service and financial performance is the most notable finding. …
Thus, this study adds to the current body of knowledge that customer satisfaction plays very important part in understanding financial performance in a banking automated service context. It is the raw text
(Duncan and Elliott, 2004)

• Should have researched more on the figures (financial performance of those co.s).
• 10 articles for each question.
• No theory is used to analyse the data.

1. How does customer satisfaction affect sales performance of the Australian retail industry?

Data analysis and presentation

Thematic analysis was used to analyse the collected data….

1. Customer interpretation, perception and value of the product: the interpretation of the client will determine their perception of the value of the product or service and, consequently, theirs’ level of trust and loyalty to the company. As an example, Starbucks, Toyota, IBM and Dell computers’ goals are to offer the best customer experience in order to sustain and increase profits (Verhoef et al., 2009). In addition, “nearly 80 per cent of customers tell more people about a negative experience than a positive one” (Robbins, 2017) which means that a negative customer experience causes destructive publicity.
2. Level of trust and customer loyalty:

Or

Companies	Factors that affect customer satsiafction	Sales performance
A

Question 2

2.What would be the best practice for the Australian retail companies to develop to maintain a good customer experience?

Companies (up to 10)	Best practices (strategies)	Outcomes
A

In addition, Grewal et al. (2009) explain that customer experience and behaviours can be shaped by several ways such as promotion, price and merchandise. They can result in an increase in store visits, profits and client satisfaction. The scholars describe the factors as:

• Consumer promotion: the retailer uses this strategy to improve its own performance. A product in promotion has an instant and considerable increase in sales. However, consumer promotions are responsible for 30-45 percent of brand switching.
• Price: this factor has a great influence in customers’ perception. Customers perceive the product or service value as poor and will not buy it when it is priced too high. On the other hand, customers see low product quality or any other negative feature when the price is set to low. “Although setting the ‘right’ price is clearly an important retailing task, it is often treated as an afterthought, partly because it remains the least understood and therefore most difficult to manage task” (Grewal et al., 2009).
• Merchandise¹: According to the scholars, it is very likely the biggest challenge retailers face is to “get the right merchandise in the right quantities to the right stores at the time that customers want it” (pg 6). This is result of the client’s unpredictability who enjoys flexibility.

The research will analyse some of the current strategies outlined in this proposal (CRM, the three ‘Cs’ of customer satisfaction, promotion, price and merchandise) to improve customer satisfaction, in order to improve sales performance and ultimately propose some of the most effective ones. In addition, the research will propose some of the best practises in order to improve Australian retail’s sale performance.

Javed and Cheema (2017) The role of CRM is explained as an aspect of managing relationship between businesses and customers which includes various elements such as keeping contacts, positive communication and proactive procedure [32]. The basic role of CRM is to attract customers, build strong relationship with customers and successfully retaining the relationship for long run [33] ; planning the accurate customer segmentation and to find the effective mode of communication to target customers at the right moment [34]. The customer relationship management has quality to increase the chances of more profitability for the company as well as gaining maximum loyalty [32]. The firm’s investment towards CRM is driving force to make customer feel connected and also its ability to sustain the link and continuous effort to enhance the relationship [35].

The two fundamental elements of CRM are trust and commitment and are considered exceedingly influential for developing and maintaining the strong connection between the firm and customers (Javed and Cheema, 2017)

Yuen and Chan (2010) Therefore, it is essential to build a long-term and stable relationship with customers in today’s competitive society. (Yuen and Chan, 2010)

. Badgett et al. (2007)

This journey toward becoming a customer-focused enterprise is game-changing and transformational, requiring total focus and commitment across the entire business model. The path for each retailer will depend on its value proposition and existing customer strategies. The starting points will be different. For example, a mass-market retailer that has traditionally focused its efforts on driving efficiencies in operational areas now seeks to take a more sophisticated approach to its segmentation strategies to create more tailored assortments. On the other hand, a mid-market retailer that has focused its customer efforts on segmentation strategies might now look to create greater consistency in cross-channel merchandising and marketing.

The first step for retailers is to review their desired customer experience against their existing operational capabilities and build a strategic roadmap that focuses on the priorities that matter most to their customers and that enables them to achieve their specific goals.

As you begin your journey, consider the following strategic actions:

– Know who your most important customers are and have a clear understanding of what defines a successful shopping experience for them.
– Incorporate segmentation strategies that go deeper than demographics and geography to include lifestyle, psychographics, shopping occasions or profitability to understand several dimensions of your customers.
– Understand the profitability of each of your top customer segments by individual customer and have the capabilities to calculate lifetime value.
– Leverage customer insights beyond marketing into key areas such as merchandising, customer service and store/channel operations so that the customer perspective is embedded into the day-to- day operations of the company.

– Help ensure that customer data is available and shared across the organisation to help eliminate the silos that prevent a common understanding of the desired customer experience.

– Build accountability for customer experience into all departments and levels so that customer satisfaction is everyone’s responsibility.
– Provide adequate support, training and incentives to develop committed associates and adjust staffing models to meet the needs of your core customers.

– Put in place the required IT capabilities to create a single view of the customer and operationalise customer insights.
– Review all customer touch-points across all your channels and adjust them so that they are connected and can enable near real-time communications.
– Update your information systems so that business logic can be shared across the enterprise.

Becoming more customer-focused is a multiyear journey that will require executive sponsorship to orchestrate the changes required in culture, organisation, processes and technology.

It is a vital strategy for all retailers and the means of turning shoppers into advocates and creating a sustainable, differentiated advantage.

Leading retailers are already moving forward. The time to get started is now. (Badgett et al., 2007)

References

BADGETT, M., BOYCE, M. S. & KLEINBERGER, H. 2007. Turning shoppers into advocates. IBM Institute for Business Value, 35, 352-369.

DUNCAN, E. & ELLIOTT, G. 2004. Efficiency, customer service and financial performance among Australian financial institutions. International Journal of bank marketing.

GREWAL, D., LEVY, M. & KUMAR, V. 2009. Customer experience management in retailing: An organizing framework. Journal of retailing, 85, 1-14.

JAVED, F. & CHEEMA, S. 2017. Customer satisfaction and customer perceived value and its impact on customer loyalty: the mediational role of customer relationship management. The Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 1-14.

MICHELLI, J. A. 2006. Starbucks experience, Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

ROBBINS, M. 2017. Nearly 80 per cent of customers tell more people about a negative experience than a positive one [Online]. Retail World. Available: https://www.cpm-aus.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/RW-Article-The-State-of-Customer-Service-in-Australia-July-2017.pdf [Accessed 27 April 2020 2020].

VERHOEF, P. C., LEMON, K. N., PARASURAMAN, A., ROGGEVEEN, A., TSIROS, M. & SCHLESINGER, L. A. 2009. Customer experience creation: Determinants, dynamics and management strategies. Journal of retailing, 85, 31-41.

WIKIPEDIA. 2020. Merchandise [Online]. Wikipedia. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchandising [Accessed 01 May 2020 2020].

YUEN, E. F. & CHAN, S. S. 2010. The effect of retail service quality and product quality on customer loyalty. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17, 222-240.

• 1 “In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase” WIKIPEDIA. 2020. Merchandise [Online]. Wikipedia. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchandising [Accessed 01 May 2020 2020]..

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