Report on Home Solutions (India) Limited-Kitchen Section

BY

PRATICK CHOUDHURY - 22

RANJINI R. - 24

SAMRAT MAZUMDAR- 25

Home Solutions (India) Limited- Kitchen Solution

Future Group is an Indian private conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. The company is known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sectors, with popular supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores like Brand Factory, Central etc. and also for having notable presence in integrated foods and FMCG manufacturing sectors.

HomeTown is a unique one-stop destination for complete home-making solutions, the first of its kind retail format in India. It provides consumers all that goes into building a house and everything to make it a ‘Home’, all under one roof.The format also offers a one-of-its-kind Design and Build service that encompasses experienced designers who help design the home, and a team of skilled technicians for services like carpentry, flooring and tile installation, plumbing, sanitary ware installation, painting and wallpaper, electrical fittings and much more. Design and Build is flexible, transparent and easy on the pocket.

The store is divided into 3 sections: Exhibitions: Puts up a live display of various rooms such as living room, dining room,

bedroom, kids room, kitchen and bathroom. Markets: Featured products for living room, dining room, bedroom, kid’s room,

kitchen and bathroom, home furnishing, mattresses and Depot. Services: this section offered service such as Mr.Carpenter, Mr.Plumber,

Mr.Electrician, door delivery and installation.

Home Town maintained its USP as “ab ghar banana kitnaaasaan!!” Offering an array of home products and the services of skilled technicians, Home Town offers an experience that is democratic, hassle-free and convenient. All this comes with service and product warranties at great prices.

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. 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.

Mr.Vipin made false promises that modules would be fabricated at the company’s world class facility at Nagpur.

Mr.Vipin had handed over the blueprint of the modular kitchen and diagrams suggesting changes in the kitchen space.

Customer got the preliminary work done. Mr.Vipin sent technical staff for inspection after repeated requests from the

customer. Technical staff approved the space ready for installation 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 When encountered, Mr.Vipin revealed that the company did not have stock as

specified by Mrs.Dogra. Customer’s dream of having a modern and trendy kitchen was shattered. For one month the family was eating outside and had made temporary makeshift

kitchen was made in the bathroom. It had become an awkward situation for the customer in front of family members. On speaking to Mr.Vinod, Head of kitchen section, Mumbai, Mrs.Dogra was to

change her specifications as the required material would be available only after 3 months.

She was assured that the products would be delivered within 10 days i.e. June 19. Promise to compensate for the delay was not attended. On June 14, Vipin sent an SMS that the kitchen was getting air-lifted on June 20. When nothing was heard till June 21, customer made enquiries about the same to

find out that due to rains the roads were blocked and further delay was estimated. If the kitchen was being air-lifted, why was it getting delayed because of the rains? Customer was not given proper information about the same. Mrs.Dograr sent an email to the Pantaloon Customer care cell on June 23, with a

request that the matter be brought in notice of Mr.KishoreBiyani, CEO Future Group. Finally material was delivered to the customer on June 27. When carpenter came to install the same, it was discovered that the material was

short supplied and the kitchen was not ready for installation as the plumbing work was not in order, even though it had been approved by the technical team of Home Town.

Look of the kitchen was spoiled as tiles had to be broken and water pipes were taken outside the walls

A team of carpenters were deputed from Mumbai to handle the installation. Plumbing problem was unattended. The colour and material of the shutter as chosen by the customer as an alternative to

the original specification, was different from that selected by the customer

Mr.Vinod visited customer’s house on July 4and promised to change the shutters within a period of three weeks

According to Mr.Vinod, even though the existing shutters were not as per the customer’s choice, they were close to what she had opted for.

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 Customer was waiting for someone to re-fix the shutters and rectify the defects that

still existed Till August 3, Mrs.Dogra was still waiting for the carpenter to complete the work The management of Home Town tried to identify its mistakes and learn from them

so that they are able to provide effective service delivery and eventually are able to meet customer expectations.

Company perceptions of customer expectations

Customer expectations

CUSTOMER

COMPANY

Gap 1:The Listening Gap

Provider Gap 1

Perceived Service

2-

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.

CUSTOMER

COMPANY

Gap 2: The Service Design and Standards Gap

Customer-driven service designs and standards

Company perceptions of customer expectations

Provider Gap 2

CUSTOMER

COMPANY Service delivery

Gap 3: The Service Performance Gap

Customer-drivenservice designs and standards

Provider Gap 3

Poor service design: The entire process was very unsystematic and unstructured. Vague promises were made to the customer which led the 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.

Lack of teamwork: Lack of teamwork was very evident in the case as there was no coordination between the technician and Mr.Vipin, the logistics 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.

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Ineffective Management of customer expectations: Throughout the case, none of the expectations of the customer was handled properly. Even when the customer was patient in following up with the service provider, she was not assisted in the right manner and none of her expectations were met as promised in the beginning.

Mrs.Dogra was never informed about the delay that was expected. She was asked to change the selection of shutter due to unavailability of stock.

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 in a 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 compared to the price that she was charged by the company.

The service that was provided by Home Solutions India Ltd was falling below the adequate service level even. If it shown in chart, it should look like the following:

Service received

The factors that influenced desired and predicted service are

Service Quality

Many services were promised and promoted during selling the product and in Ads.

It was the need of Mrs.Dogra for a new modern kitchen.Home improvements are not a casual affair for a middle income group family.

Home town lacked the basic function of the service which is called ‘musts’. As they were promised to get the kitchen installed within stipulated time, they failed which let the family to order food from outside. Satisfiers and Delights were not present.

Delay in transportation of products due to rains which was one of the reason that led to transporting the products by road rather than being airlifted.

In satisfaction versus service quality, satisfaction was very far fetched as they severely lacked on basic service quality they projected and promised.

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.

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. Caring, individualized attention given to customers were not there. It seemed like a transactional relationship rather than creating a healthy relationship b/w the store and customer.

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. Even they asked her to change her requirement since they did not have the required product.

Relationship Marketing:Home Town and Mrs. Dogra

Customer acquisition was done as she had trusted them for revamping her kitchen and had earlier also placed an order for several bathroom items including Jacuzzi etc.

But Home Town was not able to satisfy her requirements right from the beginning hence, retaining customer by giving her a chimney and financial discounts (discount of 11000) was not a good enough technique.

Hence, they failed to build a good relationship with the customer.

Customer (Mrs.Dogra) satisfaction

It is very much evident from the case that Mrs.Dogra was not at all satisfied with the service provided by Home Town.The reasons being:-

1. Service features were not up to the level-The service provided lacked the entire service marketing mix.

In this case, Home Town was only able to acquire the customer, Mrs. Raj Dogra and not able to satisfy her. Home Town wasn’t get above the Acquiring stage.

Product-The product delivered was short supplied and also the the colour and material of the shutter supplied was different from the one that she had selected.

Place-Home Town had no idea about the intermediaries when the product would be delivered, delay in time, transportation facilities.

Price-Although the price was approachable,but for the worst service delivered price couldn’t be considered.

Promotion-Campaigns and Ads that were done for promotion were just Overpromising and led to underdelivery of service.

People-Employees were not responsive to face customers and also gave reluctant replies.

Physical Evidence-The kitchen space was literally destroyed.Improper approval by Home Town staff,plumbing work not in order,cutting of tiles to find plumbing alternatives etc.

Process-It was the worst customer oriented process and a terrible experience a customer can expect.

2. Customer emotion was not understood- Mrs.Dogra desired for a new dream kitchen with trendy smart designs.She

dreamt for a beautiful smart kitchen Such type of major home improvements is not a casual affair in middle

income group family. This wasn’t understood by Mr Vinod or Mr.Vipin and it led to providing the

worst customer experience.3. Facing awkwardness with family members/friends –Humiliation/Insult faced by in

front of family members and friends as they weren’t still able to resume normal living in their home.

Service Encounter themes

Not at all upto standards. Need of Mrs.Dogra was that the kitchen be delivered on time and the service offered be smooth.But it was delayed.

Also the the colour and material of the shutter supplied was different from

Mrs.Dogra complaint actions following Service Failure from Home Town employees

Not at all upto standards. Need of Mrs.Dogra was that the kitchen be delivered on time and the service offered be smooth.But it was delayed.

Also the the colour and material of the shutter supplied was different from

Very poor.There were no proper response to mails. Mails from Mr.Vinod were short and just addressing the problems rather than being apologetic.

Mr Vipin also tries to avoid Mrs.Dogra till she caught her at the cafeteria.

Mr Vipin and Mr.Vinod never understood the ordeal Mrs.Dogra had been going through.

Service Recovery was terrible.No proper communication from Mr Vinod or Mr Vipin even after repeated mails and complaints from Mrs.Dogra

As incentives they provided chimney that Mrs.Dogra already had and didn’t mention about the Rs. 11,000 disocunt they had mentioned.

Even the response provided wasn’t timely and sometimes Mr.Vinod didn’t even reply.

Mrs.Dogra was a VOICER type of complainer. She actively complained to Mr.Vinod regarding the service gaps and customer expectations but she is less likely to spread negative word of mouth or switch or go to third parties.

Although they mentioned to provide service warranty for 1 year, but that was after the completion of job. In this case, the job itself was not carried out upto the satisfaction of the customer.So,Mrs. Dogra will have limited hopes for service warranty.

Although it is less likely that Mrs.Dogra will switch,but if she does ,these might be some of the reasons:

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.

Mrs.Dogra was a VOICER type of complainer. She actively complained to Mr.Vinod regarding the service gaps and customer expectations but she is less likely to spread negative word of mouth or switch or go to third parties.

Service Recovery Strategies

If I were the CEO what would I have done?

If Home Town would have responded to the mails sent by Mrs.Dogra in a proper and timely manner, it atleast gives a sense of relief to the customer that the service provider is working on the issues mentioned.

Also it needs to provide proper communication when the products will reach,what are the difficulties faced in logistics and what are the revised timelines so that there is more transparency between service provider and customer.

This case that happened between Home town and Ms. Dogra can be taken as a reference to improve future business from customers.

1. A dedicated Customer Relationship Manager along with a team who would be the interface between the customer and the various departments of the organization. Thus instead of voicing concerns to the Section Managers,Head of Section or Store Manager who are busy with sales ,the primary job of the Customer Relationship Manager will be to take customer concerns into consideration and solve them to build relationships.

2. Focus would be not to sell,but to build relationships with customers.This would mean investing in IT and periodic market research to know customer needs ,expectations, feedback of the service provided or the service yet to be provided and make buying an experience or ad values to the entire process.

3. Keeping complete control and track of intermediaries and channels and providing that data to customer to increase transparency between customer and services provided.Each and every process of mine will be traceable and customers will have exact information where their orders or services are pending. For ex:-They will know whether the product is manufactured, dispatched, when will it be delivered, when will the service provider come.

4. Booking or fixing appointment of service provider as per convenience of customer and service provider.

5. Have a proper Grievance Redressal system,once the grievance is received it is verified,action taken is planned ,approved and taken.

6. Motivating employees to face service delivery failures and how to handle them.Providing incentives if they achieve objectives and targets so that employees are motivated.

7. Not overpromising and leading to failure to meet expectations. Rather promising slightly more so that realistic promises made by Marketing team can be achieved by Operations team.

8. Prioritize customers having service failures and giving it more importance to service recovery and service delivery .

9. Take service failures as experience and improvise services. Also benchmarking services so that employees will be motivated to set high benchmarks for incentives.