appliance sales departments in prominent South African retail stores

Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »

THE RESEARCH IN PERSPECTIVE

This chapter provides the background and justification for the study. It introduces the research problem as well as important and relevant conceptsthat were used to guide the study.

INTRODUCTION AND JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH

Dramatic socio-political changes in South Africa over the last decade have resulted in major changes in the life styles and living conditions of millions of previously disadvantaged citizens. A sharp increase in black consumers in the middle-income group is the result of increased educational status, better job opportunities and higher earnings since the introduction of a new socio-political dispensation in 1994 (Black middle class on the rise, 2004; Perspektief 1; Wortley & Tshwaedi, 2002:9). This has changed the profile of the average South African consumer who drives the economy. Retailers consequently have to deal with challenges in terms of the provision of consumer goods and services that will satisfy the needs of emergent consumer groups. A sustained increase in GDP growth (Du Plessis & Rousseau, 2003:49) and employment opportunities in South Africa has resulted in an increased demand for certain consumer goods, particularly the more expensive commodities such as electrical goods and household appliances. Global influences also enable exposure to sophisticated products that compare favourably with those found in affluent countries elsewhere in the world.
A key concern, however, is that despite the improvement in the living conditions of millions of South Africans, limited product-related consumer socialisation and inadequate product knowledge and experience unequivocally restrict consumers‟ ability to make informed buying decisions,especially regarding the expensive, complex, durable commodities they are confronted with in retail (Erasmus, Makgopa & Kachale, 2005:10). Consumers with limited product-related experience do not have the knowledge (Malhotra, Ulgado, Agarwal, & Baalbaki, 1994: 97;) to handle sophisticated technology in terms of the design of modern household appliances correctly or to its full capacity (Erasmus et al., 2005:97; John, 1999:6). Rapid changes and developments in new appliances exacerbate matters further (Wingo, 1996:176). In addition, consumers are not necessarily properly informed and educated on the use of these appliances owing to inadequate assistance by sales people, a lack of guiding information in stores and the consumers‟ apparent hesitance to trust sales people (Erasmus et al., 2005:99; Gothan & Erasmus, 2003:10).
Consumers therefore need to be assisted to make informed, responsible buying decisions when selecting major electrical household appliances, and the in-store environment seems to provide a logical opportunity for this assistance. 1.2 A FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE IN RESEARCH The abundance of research that has been published in various accredited journals over the past two decades on the topic of customer service (CS) and related topics, such as the influence of price, product quality, the performance of salespeople and the like on buyer behaviour, bears evidence of their significance in retail and marketing. These publications however, largely reflect scenarios in First World circumstances and often only emphasise a particular aspect of customer service, for example price.
A scrutiny of articles that have been published on customer service in prominent accredited journals since 2000 confirms the neglect of attention to culture as an influencing factor on customer service while references to augmented customer service and its relevance in terms of informed, responsible buyer decisions, especially in emerging countries, are insignificant. Reports on such endeavours with regard to the sales of household appliances that represent a category of complex, durable and expensive merchandise are equally limited. A key concern is that there is limited empirical evidence for any efforts being made in retail to counteract and/or facilitate global influences that have enabled the proud presentation of sophisticated merchandise to all corners of the globe – especially to consumers who regrettably do not necessarily possess the relevant knowledge or experience to handle buying decisions, especially those concerning these sophisticated appliances (Erasmus et al., 2005:98).

Table of contents :

• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF ADDENDA
• CHAPTER : THE RESEARCH IN PERSPECTIVE
  • . INTRODUCTION AND JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH
  • . A FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE IN RESEARCH
  • . CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SERVICE QUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
    • Challenges for salespeople in developing countries
    • .. Augmented customer service in developing countries
  • . A UNIQUE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSUMER MARKET
    • Problems faced by South African consumers
      • fficulties encountered during the decision-making process

• . THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ACQUISITION OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES
• . RESEARCH PROBLEM
• . RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
• . PRESENTATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
• CHAPTER: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND LITERATURE REVIEW CHOICE OF THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
  • .. The systems approach
    • . Core assumptions of the systems theory
• .. The cognitive perspective
  • Application of the cognitive perspective in the research
• . AN EXPLICATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE WITHIN THE SYSTEMS APPROACH
  • Customer service defined
• CHAPTER : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • . INTRODUCTION
  • . PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • . RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
  • . RESEARCH STRATEGY
  • . RESEARCH DESIGN
    • Phases and : An implementation of qualitative techniques: projective techniques and personal interviews
  • . METHODOLOGY
    • .. Phase : Customers’ judgement of the CS in retail stores
      • trategies to eliminate error
• CHAPTER : RESULTS
  • . DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF THE SAMPLE
    • Sample
    • Gender of respondents
    • Age of respondents
    • Respondents’ personal experience with appliances
  • . CONSUMERS’ SATISFACTION WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE AFTER A SALES ENCOUNTER
    • . A proposed factor structure for customer service
    • The relationship between specific influencing factors and consumers’
  • satisfaction with CS
  • . CONSUMERS‟ PERCEPTION OF THE SERVICE QUALITY OF RETAIL STORES
    • Consumers’ perception of SQ in appliance departments in retail stores
  • . AN EVALUATION OF Consumers‟ PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
    • Consumers’ product knowledge related to specific variables
      • The relationship between difficulty experienced and product knowledge
• . AN IN STORE SURVEY TO INVESTIGATE EVIDENCE OF THE SERVICE OFFERING
• CHAPTER : CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  • . INTRODUCTION
  • . A DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS IN TERMS OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
    • .. Consumers’ judgement of Customer Service in appliance sales departments in retail stores
  • … The elements of CS
  • … Consumers‟ satisfaction with CS
    • .. Consumers’ perception of the Service Quality in appliance sales departments in retail stores
  • … An identification of the dimensions of SQ
  • … Consumers‟ perception of the SQ in retail stores
  • .. An assessment of consumers’ product knowledge
  • … Product knowledge as an indication of consumers‟ ability to conclude informed, responsible buying decisions
  • … Consumers‟ product knowledge related to gender; years of experience with appliances as well as ease of making the buying decisions
  • .. An in store assessment of the service offering in retail stores by store management
  • .. Augmented customer service from the perspective of experienced sales people
  • .. Industry’s responses to the service offering in appliance sales departments in retail stores
  • .. Proposals for augmented Customer Service
• CHAPTER : EVALUATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  • . LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY
  • . VALUE OF THE RESEARCH
  • . VALIDITY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE STUDY
  • . CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEORY
  • . IMPLICATIONS

GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT