case study on consumer gap in service marketing

presentation on the case study of home town solutions which shows consumer gap in its services

1. CASE 1

2. Company Background Home Solutions (India) Ltd, established in 2007, specializes in home improvement solutions with a focus on modular kitchens. The company is headquartered in [City] and has a strong presence across major urban areas in India. Known for its commitment to quality and innovation, Home Solutions has become a trusted name in the home solutions industry.

3. SWOT Analysis Strengths : Strong brand reputation, high-quality products, extensive distribution network, and professional service. Weaknesses : High operational costs, dependency on suppliers for raw materials, and challenges in maintaining quality consistency. Opportunities : Market expansion into new geographical areas, product innovation, and leveraging digital transformation for better customer engagement. Threats : Increasing competition, changing consumer preferences, and potential economic downturns that could affect consumer spending.

4. Facts of the Case Mrs.Raj Dogra, a middle income working woman wanted to revamp her home. She was keen to have a new kitchen with smart designs as were displayed at Home Town. She made several visits to Home Town and spent lot of time with Mr.Vipin, who was in charge of designing the kitchen, discussing the design of the kitchen.

5. Mrs. Dogra finalized the design specification of the kitchen for Rs.1,11,000 with a delivery due date after a month i.e. June 9, 2007. Customer got the preliminary work done. On June 6, Mr.Vipin was unsure of the delivery and reluctant to give commitment. On June 8, Mrs. Dogra went to Home Town to know the exact status from Mr. Vipin who was trying to hide himself so as to not face Mrs. Dogra

6. For one month the family was eating outside and had made temporary makeshift kitchen was made in the bathroom. On June 14, Vipin sent an SMS that the kitchen was getting air-lifted on June 20. Finally material was delivered to the customer on June 27 Look of the kitchen was spoiled as tiles had to be broken and water pipes were taken outside walls.

7. The colour and material of the shutter as chosen by the customer was different from that selected by the customer. This annoyed Mrs.Dogra as it was her kitchen and she would like to modify it according to her choice, moreover when she was not getting it done for free of cost. The replacement for the shutter was provided several days after the promised date.

8. PROVIDER GAP 1 Lack of Upward Communication : There was no proper communication channel between Mr. Vipin and Mr.Vinod. Issues faced by the Mrs. Dogra were never addressed on time and were never communicated to the higher management. insufficient relationships focus : Home Town's main motive was to close the deal rather than build a strong customer relationship. They never focused on the problem faced by Mrs.Dogra and were not at all empathetic towards her. Their reluctant response was an indication of their disinterest towards customer problems and their lack of focus towards building a strong relation with the customers. Inadequate Service Recovery : Inspite of continuous follow ups by the customer, the employees of Home Town did not respond to her promptly. Not only could they meet the deadlines that they had promised, they were also very aloof and non- empathetic towards the entire situation. Instead of providing compensation to the customer, they were trying to avoid her.

9. PROVIDER GAP 2 Poor service design : The entire process was very unsystematics unstructured. Vague promises were made to the customer which customer to build hopes which were eventually not met. There was no concrete process shared prior with the customer. Absence of Customer driven standards: The standards set by Home Town were not according to the customer needs and expectations Inappropriate physical evidence and servicescape : The technician had wrongly approved that the space was ready for installation. This eventually led to a major problem while installation. Since the plumbing work was not in order, tiles had to be broken and water pipes had to be taken outside the wall. This spoiled the entire look of the kitchen.

10. PROVIDER GAP 3 Lack of teamwork : Lack of teamwork was very evident in the case. T here was no coordination between the technician and Mr , Vipin ,the logistic team and Mr , Vipin . Problems with service intermediaries : The coordination between logistics and management was not synchronised as Mr. Vipin said that the kitchen was being air-lifted, after which the customer was informed that there would be further delay because roads were blocked due to heavy rains. The technical staff who was sent for inspection, wrongly approved the space ready for installation which created a lot of inconvenience later.

11. PROVIDER GAP 4 Ineffective Management of customer expectations : Throughout the case, none of the expectations of the customer was handled properly. Overpromising: Home Town did not leave any opportunity in overpromising. Right from the time that the modules would be fabricated at the company's world class facility at Nagpur, to assurance of desired shutters, employees had only made false promises to Mrs. Dogra. Inappropriate pricing : The expectation that a middle-income housewife had to revamp her kitchen ina modern and trendy way was thoroughly shattered because of the carelessness and non- empathetic attitude of the employees of Home Town. None of the expectation of Mrs. Dogra met sompared to the price that she was charged by the company.

12. SERVICE QUALITY The important service quality dimensions that Home town missed are as follows: Reliability : This was the major area where outcry happened, the person dealing with Mrs Dogra was very unreliable and even other people involved in this whole case. The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately was absent and no sense of reliability was passed to customer. Responsiveness : The people of Home town were giving false information to customer and delaying the whole process with vague replies and even responding very late to her queries. The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service was completely absent.

13. Assurance: The Home town people failed to built trust even though their planned work was failing, they were giving false assurance at beginning which damaged the reputation more than being good. Employee's knowledge and courtesy & their ability to inspire trust and confidence was not there at all. Empathy: After regular complain by Mrs Dogra for the delay of the whole service, the Home town people started avoiding her and didn't gave her any special attention to make her feel comfortable and reassured. Tangibles: No personnel, communication material was present or being provided for more support to the customer. Though physical facilities made it look genuine and trustworthy but it didn't hold strong in this case.

14. REASON OF DISSATISFACTION 1 . Inconvenience : Wait for appointment and service Although Mrs.Dogra cancelled her office engagements so as to be available for 3 days to facilitate installation, she came to know that the delivery of products was further delayed. Also there was no or late reply to mails she sent out of the poor service delivered. 2. Core service failure : All the service mistakes done that resulted in the poor service provided. 3. Service encounter failure : Unresponsive Mr.Vinod tried to avoid Mrs. Dogra Also the entire logistics was not clear. 4. Response to service failure : Reluctant response, not proactive to inform the customer about the delay.

15. CONCLUSION The followings things need to be improved to provide better service and better customer satisfaction and retention: Operational challenges related to supply chain and logistics management. Intense competition from both organized and unorganized sectors. Maintaining consistent quality standards across different regions.