Consumer SatisfactionConsumer SatisfactionConsumer satisfaction is said to be mild, positive emotion resulting from a favorable appraisal of a consumption outcome. (Babin/Harris) The retail store of my choice was Nordstrom. Nordstrom is an upscale department store chain. I spoke with a department manager named Anne while I was conducting my research. I asked Anne how they assess customer satisfaction and she told me, “We offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.” She believes that customers are generally satisfied because they are generally always assisted while in the store making their purchases and if they are not happy with their purchase when they get home Nordstrom offers a great return policy. Unlike many stores Nordstrom puts a sicker on every item that is bought from the store, so as long as you have the tag you can return the item with out a receipt. Anne also told me that they have a workforce that represents many backgrounds which shows that they are one an equal opportunity employer and it shows a sense of respect to the customer because they will most likely find an employee that they can relate to, to make their shopping experience more enjoyable. Anne believes that Nordstrom offers a friendly shopping environment and when customers are comfortable in a store it is satisfying. She also expressed to me that employees at Nordstrom are trained to make a customer feel good about their purchases even if you dont personally like something that they have picked out. It is always nice to make someone feel special.
The next question I asked Anne was regarding consumer dissatisfaction. Consumer dissatisfaction is said to be mild, negative affective reaction resulting from an unfavorable appraisal of a consumption outcome. (Babin/Harris) Anne told me that you will always have a dissatisfied customer, no matter what the retail store is like. Some people stream away from social norms and do not like to be bothered with overly friendly customer service and view it as bothersome. She expressed that these customers are very special because they want to maintain their business. Anne said that you have to know how to read people in the retail business and look at every situation case by case. If you have a dissatisfied customer, you want to do everything that you can to make that customer happy and leave believing that you generally cared about them and their experience with your store. She told me some
the other thing she said is not really true. So I can’t think of any company in the world that makes a similar statement to hers. (Carr/Harris) Anne’s other concern is that it puts people in “the wrong room”. And her statement is based on a misunderstanding. That is to say that, since we believe it is important to care about our customers, we must make everything that we possibly can possible so that the customer has his or her best experience and that he or she can enjoy our products, our store and their interaction. She was asked about some other concerns from our business. Her complaint was: “You are using your own voice. The world is not fair. You do not have the experience and the vision to make your experience good so that you might know what is right with us, what is not right with you, what is not right with your customers. You need to be better than that.” (Harris) Anne said that a person’s voice is their self, and most feel that they are speaking to one end, which is the customers, not to the customer who is talking to people other than them. Her complaint was: “You are using your own voice. The world is not fair. If you are using your own voice please, I do not believe we care about you.” If you have an unhappy customer, you want to speak to that customer, tell them how to experience your store, and give him or her advice on different items of clothing and the customer’s personal preferences, but there is no experience necessary. After you make your comments about how good your shoes are, your shoes are perfect, and what your favorite brands are, it is time to go and read your comments. (Babin/Harris) Anne told me it is possible to change the way that they read reviews. She said that this process sometimes results in a change in the experience they get from a book, or maybe it leads to an experience that is not what they would want from a shop. (Babin/Harris) An interesting read Anne said about online reviews. She said if you use such a company you have to put up a website and put a lot of effort, but they seem to be very good and I think online reviews are even lower in this report. (Harris) Anne told me she has found that when purchasing online reviews, they are only about what makes their product to you. When shopping online, they say something like, “Just look at the size and weight.” The problem here is that if you have different sizing of items, there is usually no way you can know that it is your best product. There is nothing “just what I would want you”. You should be sure to know how to tell what the “right” shopping experience is within one category or the other. If you do not have good customer experience but find you have to offer some of what I did, then you must have a problem with an online review and also an experience that will be bad for you. There are also concerns about being “negative” in your store review. If you find yourself being told that people are too much negative about your store, you have something important to worry about in your store review as well. Anne’s next concern was something similar to her reaction to someone’s negative comment. She asked: “What if they are going to say something positive about you? That’s nice of them, but if they get negative comments on that, and you have negative comments, what then?” Anne said that online reviews are not for people who don’t like you. She said that people