[Analysis of the importance of Customer Service in the UK retail sector after the recession: Taking the case of Morrisons Supermarket]

by

[Name of the Author]

[Name of the Supervisor]

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Service is an intangible spectrum provided by various service organizations. (Brown and Osborne 2005) With more sophisticated customers, requiring greater focus on choice of service and changes in the marketing environment, banks have also been diversifying themselves in terms of their service. Retaining loyal customers is more profitable than attracting new customers since more than 70% of sales are made by loyal customers. Various components of service quality, such as consumer perceptions of the physical environment, service personnel, and the outcome of the service, have been evaluated in this research. For example, a study of NBA season-ticket holders by Mark McDonald, William Sutton, and George Milne highlighted the importance of tangible elements along with reliability of the organization. Sport marketers must therefore realize the importance of providing quality service because ticket holders and sponsors are less likely to renew their agreements if they are not satisfied with the quality of service provided.

Customer relationship management helps to maintain data relating to customers accounts, purchasing behaviour that can help to improve the contact with customers and retain these unsatisfied customers. Further study on Customer relationship management will help to understand the importance of CRM and improving the relationship between customers and the retailers and overcoming this with service failure problems (Turley, 2001, pp. 12).

Aims

The main aim of this study is to analyse the importance of customer service in the retail sector in the UK especially after the recession. I will in particular be looking at the changes made by supermarket retailer Morrisons in relation to improving customer services.

Objectives

The objectives of the study are as follows:

1.Analyze the impact of the recession in the UK economy

2.To analyze the importance of customer satisfaction in the UK retail sector after the recession

3.The impact of customer services in retailer Morrisons Supermarket.

Research Questions

1.Can effective customer service in the retail sector help supermarkets attain long term competitive edge?

2.Discuss the impact of the recession in the UK on Morrisons supermarket.

3.Has Morrisons supermarket managed to overcome the impact of recession in the UK?

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Recession in UK

A recession is a sustained economic contraction. Consumers consume less, businesses invest less, the government spends less, and foreigners buy fewer UK products. Job losses follow for an extended time, which further erodes economic activity and directly impacts family well-being.

Family incomes used to increase when a recession ended, but that has not been the case since the early 1990s. Income continued to fall after recessions ended in 1991 and 2001. The output recovery did not translate into a labour market recovery, as was the case in recoveries before 1990. Instead, corporate profits saw a stronger-than-usual recovery.

There may be a continued disconnect between output and incomes after the 2008 downturn. Economic growth resumed in the third quarter of 2009, and no financial corporate profits started to rise from their lowest point ...