Critical Analysis Of Factors Influencing Gucci's Ability To Maximize Customer Value And Quality Processes In Essay.

Choose any specific case study (either your current employers or if not currently working any organisation of your choice, for example an organisation that you have previously worked for) and:

1) Critically analyse the factors that influence your organisations ability to maximise customer value.

2) Provide a critical understanding of your organisations quality processes and its effectiveness in meeting customer requirements.

The Importance of Customer Service and Customer Value

Italy is one of the largest hubs of Fashion and Leather brands which have given birth to numero Uno’s in the fashion industry. Gucci is one such brand which was founded back in 1921 in Florence Italy by Guccio Gucci. The 97 year old brand, which is a part of the Kering Group,  has stores in over 550 locations, earned revenue of over USD 4.3 Billion in the year 2016(Jenkins & Williamson, 2016). The present leadership is in the hands of Marco Bizzari, who is characterized as a transformational leader. The brand Gucci has been ranked on 49^th number in the Interbrand Top Global 100 brands(Roll, 2015). Gucci business model is a combination of directly operated stores, wholesale seller of products through Franchisees and upscale departmental stores.  The consumers of Gucci resonate with the brand because of three main factors; Fashionable products and accessories, high quality and trust in the brand(Tumiet, 2017).

Gucci’s brand attribute across the globe is known as an Influential, innovation and a progressive brand, which never fails to impress its millions of customers. Under the leadership, Gucci is on a mission to reinvent itself into a wholly modern approach towards fashion(Ellen, 2015). The recently appointed creative director, Alessandro Michele has redefined luxury to better adopt the growing needs of the 21^st century customer. Eclectic, contemporary and romantic- Gucci products represent the zenith of Italian craftsmanship and are unsurpassed for their quality and attention to detail. Gucci’s is a Unisex brand whose product offering lies in the category of handbags, ready to wear, shoes, accessories, wallets, belts, jackets and clothes for special occasions. Since the inception of the company, Gucci has always focussed on its customers, and have always created policies and practices which in the longer run would be beneficial for the customers. Gucci’s consumer experience strategy is a combination of its social media marketing activities, in stores activities, various quiz and contest and traditional marketing. The company is of the opinion, that greater the engagement with the client, higher would be the customer experience with the brand(Bruner et. al., 2017).

The learning outcome of the report or the assignment here is to develop a critical understanding of the quality process in the workplace and analyse the customer’s experience of Gucci. The report will also critically evaluate the benefits and challenges I developing and maintaining good customer relationships, which will help in understanding the factors responsible to influence the ability of the organization to maximize the customer value. The report while illustrating how does Gucci enhances its customer experience, will utilize concepts related to customer service, customer centrality, buyer-seller relationship, role of CRM, managing customer expectation and ethical consideration in buying process of the customers. Thus, the report will help in identifying the critical success factors behind maximizing the customer experience of the brand, whilst giving certain recommendation to Gucci in order to maximize the value of its customers. An important role here is played by the contemporary tools of marketing communication such as Digital and Social, and how does the brand uses these channels to its maximum advantage with the aim of providing maximum value to its customers.

Quality Processes at Gucci

Customer service can be understood as the process which ensures high customer satisfaction by providing a product or service to the customer. Customer service is the art and skill of handling the customers, his objections, concerns and grievances with the objective of enhancing the value of the customers. A great customer service is one, where the customer service agents provide a First call resolution to the customers. Customer value on the other hand is a term which is used to define how the customers value and weigh the benefits of the individual purchasing decision in tandem to the cost incurred in those purchase. It is important for the business organization to really understand who their customers are and why does these customers perceive the organizations offering to have the highest customer value(Armitage, Roberts & Sekhon, 2017).

A customer engages with the organization only when he is satisfaction with the company at all the possible levels, some of the levels are; Product quality, customer service, customer experience, engagement level, trust and relationship with the brand and ethical practices. It is a combination of all these factors which heightens the experience of the customer. It is important to understand the reasons which make it imperative for the business organization to focus on the customer experience and accentuating his value with the brand. Some of the reasons are:

• Building loyalty with the clients- One of the most significant benefits a brand derives out of excellent customer service is, creating brand loyalists for it. For instance, Apple, which is the only Public listed company to touch the USD 1 Trillion mark, a major reason behind the success of Apple goes to its brand loyalists. Thus, excellent customer’s service helps in building strong relationship bonds with the customers, who then eventually start promoting the brand among their peers(Furno & Orselli,2017).
• Treating non-sales as customers-Customers and sales is used synonymously, however in reality this is not the case. Not every customer visiting the store leads to sales, there are plethoras of customers who take a lot of time while finalizing the product. Thus, it is the skill and the art of the customer service agent to engage with the client, and try to convert the potential customer into guaranteed sale for the brand. Thus, excellent customer service helps in creating sales for the business organization(Merlo & Perugini, 2015).
• Preventing Negative reviews-Social media has given an easy access to the customers to make their words reach directly the brand. Most of the post on the social media is related to pathetic customer service, poor quality of the product, rude behaviour of the staff and many other reasons. Thus, organization by virtue of offering great customer service can easily prevent the outflow of negative review in the market.
• Increase the revenue and profits-Great customer service and high customer value is an indication that the customers are happy with the brand and its offering. This in turn means more revenue and profits for the business organization.
• Building strong community-Brandsthese days are focussing on strong community, just like Apple, who play an important role in the success of the brand. In order to build a strong community and not let the revenues slide even for one bit.
• Increasing the Net Promoter Score of the brand-With the evolution and development of social media marketing, the concept of Net promoter score has taken a big leap. Brand these days puts efforts to retain the customers, provide him excellent services with the intention of retaining him and increasing the net promoter score of the brand(Straker & Wrigley, 2016).

Thus, the above points clearly define the importance of customer service and customer value to the business organization. Excellent customer service is one of the yardsticks along which the customer weighs the relationship with the brand.

The section here will focus on the quality process ensured by Gucci in meeting its customer expectation and creating a long term relationship with esteemed customers. In our daily lives, we are always talking about quality, may it be related to a gadget, appliance, clothes, food etc., but people are always talking about quality. However, in practice the concept of quality is quite vast; it is extremely difficult to agree on a single definition of quality, as it differs from person to person. However, certain dimensions of reliability, usability, ease of use, value for money and fit for purpose are some of the quality factors which matters to the customers. Some of the factors which have a positive impact on the customer value are:

Wheel of Quality was conceptualized by Kenneth H.Rose and is one of the most fundamental models which answers the question of why, what and how in respect to the quality management. The model is an extension of PDCA (Plan do check action) cycle, which helps in focussing on the quality management in the organization. The fundamental purpose of wheel of quality is to provide a comprehensive understanding to the organization regarding the best practices of quality management. For instance, continuous improvement in the process, customer focus, implementing controls, process and meeting the requirement of the customers is one of the ways of ensuring high quality in the workplace. The wheel of quality provides a fair understanding to the organization, on the quality parameter which needs a significant improvement.

Wheel of Quality Model

Training is the centre of the universe in excellent customer service. Organization have to rely and focus on providing intensive training to the employees on how to deliver excellent customer service and tackle the concerns of the customers. Training helps in analysing the gap in the skills of the individual, which can then be improved by the organization by virtue of providing training to the employees. Thus, training impacts the customer satisfaction and the value immensely(Leckie, Nyadzayo & Johnson,2016).

The industry has revolutionized in the recent past and the focus of the business processes and quality management is inclined towards the customers. The focus on the requirement of the customers and the experience has increased exponentially. The need of the hour is to analyse and identify the needs and requirement of the product and offer them the products and services which provide them with maximum value. Focus on customers will further help in tailoring the product needs of the customers, which can be worked upon to give them a feeling of excellent customer service.

The best way to determine the satisfaction level of the customer is by the virtue of taking customer feedback, interviews and surveys. The analysis of customer feedback and services helps in revisiting the process and policies of the organization, which provides maximum value to the customers. Organization create standard process and practices keeping in mind the customer at the centre, but these policies are consistently monitored and reviewed to inculcate the best practices to provide excellent customer experience(Ucok, Bendoni & Pehlivan, 2016).

Leadership is the essence and the skill of an individual to influence, motivate and empower the organization or the individuals to reach the organizational goals and objectives. It is essential for the leadership to take active interest in creating policies and procedures which will translate into excellent customer service. Leaders have a great influence on the organization, thus if the leadership creates a culture which promotes excellent customer service, the same will be replicated in the organization by all the employees. Thus, leadership has a significant impact on the creating customer value in the organization(Grassi & Wigley, 2018).

Communication is one of the pivotal factors behind the success of a business organization. It also plays a significant role in managing the expectation of the customers and providing them with enriched experience and service quality. The important concept here is to ensure that a seamless communication is maintained with the customers on all the possible platforms such as social, digital media, traditional platforms and even in the stores. The customer loses the momentum with the organization, if different platforms fail to provide reliability and consistency in its information. It is thus imperative for the organization to ensure that it maintains consistency in its communication with its esteemed customers. Once the customers are satisfied with the reliability of the communication and the consistency, there experience gets heightened organically(Ryding et. al., 2016).

Most of the successful companies in the past have excelled in their customer service owing to high level of effective and active listening of its customers. The purpose while listening has to be to understand the customers and develop a clear understanding of their requirement. After effective listening one can provide the solution which meets the requirement of the customers. Thus, effective and active customer listening helps in delighting the customers and increasing their customer value.

This is a parameter which ascertains the ease with which the customer is able to find and access the product on the preferred channel. The easier the access to the offering of the organization more is the impact on the customer’s value.

This is another factor which has an impact of the customer value, for instance, the easier it is to look and browse for the products on the website, the greater the value delivery to the customers. Thus, in order to make the navigation real smooth on the website, it is recommended to feed in keywords which would help in easy search for the customers.

There is a simple yet very effective ruling here, faster the website page loads, happier the customers. In the absence of a fast page loading, there are plenty of chances that the user might shift to another website, which will impact his customer value. Therefore it is advisable to keep the page lighter to increasing the loading speed.

Language is another factor which has a significant impact over the customers, easier the language used while interacting with the customer, higher the experience of customers. It is also advised to not use industry specific language, as it confuses the customer, which decreases his experience with the brand.

Customer expect from the organization that they keep their all the records intact with them, even while they are switching channels to consume information. Customers also expect that the brand does not show them the product to which they have already shown disinterest. Memory also implies that the organization remembers the need and wants of the customers and pitches them the product accordingly(Moody, 2015).

Customers appreciate the effort of the brand while personalizing the content or the shopping list for them. They also appreciate when the right content is shared with them at the right time; it helps in increasing their satisfaction and experience with the brand.

Convenience is another essential element which helps in increasing the experience of the customers.  The convenience is in deciding what to buy, from where to buy, convenience of transaction and the post benefit convenience. All these convenience factors help in increasing customer value.

Real time interactions are the new big thing which has a significant impact on the experience of customers. With the evolution of technology more and more devices are coming in the market, such as the chatbots. Chatbots helps in capturing the real attention of the customers and also provides them with the feeling that the brand is there for its customers.

More the choice the brand gives to its customers; more they will be engaged in the offering of the organization. This helps in increasing their experience and satisfaction with the brand.

With the evolution of digital technology, customers get an option and a platform to research for the product before making a purchase. Thus, in order to provide the customers with the relevant feedback, brands are building strong community who can act as influencers for the customers. This community building exercise helps in providing the real feedback to the customers which helps in increasing their customer experience(Ozuem & Azemi, 2018).

There are plenty of other factors which have a significant impact over the customer value and their experience; it though depends entirely on the brand to pick out the best practices suitable for their brand. However, the most important thing which heightens the experience and the value of customers over time with the brand is paying closer attention to the details and builds relationship on the pillars of trust, respect and care. Thus, these are some of the factors which impact the ability of the organization to maximize customer value and earn their brand loyalty. It is the virtue by which the organization influences the customers and builds a long term relationship with them, which in turn impacts the customer value.

The section here will focus on the specific policies related to quality with Gucci, which ensures a good engagement with the customers while meeting his innate requirements. One of the major identified factors behind the success of Gucci is its strong association with its customers; the company uses an engagement communication strategy in the process. The company uses both the social media platform and traditional platforms to meet the requirements of the customers which ultimately drive increased customer value, experience and satisfaction for the customers.

Gone are the days when the customers used to visit the store, search for the products with the help of a salesperson and stands in a long queue for making the payments. The mortar model has been effectively tweaked with the click and mortar model for increasing the experience of the customers and giving him convenience while shopping.  Storytelling becomes all the more important when it comes to luxury e-commerce experience. Luxury brands are strong defined and characterized by a fine and rich history of absolute craftsmanship and design; hence it is extremely important to communicate the same. Luxury brand, such as Gucci focuses on Storytelling in order to differentiate the brand and communicate its value to the customers. Gucci uses storytelling to communicate how it creates exclusive products for its customers and also explains them the rich history of the brand, and testimonials of the client. All these factors help the brand in building brand loyalty and most definitely add to the value of the customers(Amatulli et. al.,2017).

This is one area, where Gucci outsmarts all its competition, May it be Burberry, Emporio Armani or any other brand, Gucci is impeccable with its customer service strategy. The brand employs people who have rich experience in fashion and lifestyle, or are keenly interested in the trends in lifestyle and fashion products. Salespersons are integral to the success of the stores, the brand thus employs people who are filled with knowledge and are willing to share their knowledge with the customers. Knowledge sharing is one of the most important aspects of customer service strategy. The salesperson employed at the store guide the customers, pamper them and provide them with the best customer experience. This experience has to definitely be translated on the website, thus Gucci on every page of its website, gives a popup to the customers if they would like to get further help and get in touch with the salesperson. The company offers customer service options on every product page, which prompts an overlay with multiple options to speak with the salesperson. This customer service strategy settles down well with the customers, as they are assured that if they get stuck somewhere, they have a person with whom they can talk to and get their query resolved. Thus, customer service is one feature which accentuates the experience of the customer with the brand(Keller, 2017).

Luxury brands have to focus on providing a great in-store experience to its customers. Gucci here uses the e-commerce website design as a means to promoting their stores and boutiques. Luxury brands know that customers might search for the product online, but there are strong chances that he will ultimately go to the store to make the purchase. Thus, Gucci here tries to provide the closest in store experience on the website to its customers. Gucci thus uses this strategy where it builds the desire for customers to go and visit the store. This is another strategy of Gucci which helps in increasing the experience of the customers by providing them a real time experience on the website. In all fairness, this strategy of Gucci attracts a lot of footfall at its stores(Sondhi, Sharma & Kalla,2017).

Luxury e-commerce site gives a lot of attention to its detail, so that those details pertain in translating the brands personality in the digital space. Brands like Gucci do not sacrifice with their web usability in favour of providing unique aesthetics. Gucci here finds different ways to differentiate themselves online as well as offline. This is ensured by using high end visuals and specific language. For instance, Gucci uses Complementary shipping in lieu of free shipping. All these features help in creating a different image of the brand in the mind-set of customer which finally leads to added customer experience. Attention to detail helps in scoring brownie points for Gucci, and its customers appreciate the efforts of the brand. This then eventually turns in higher customer satisfaction and value for the customers(Verissimo & Loureiro,2018).

Industry experts in the earlier days wrote down luxury e-commerce to be a pipe dream, however, the acceptability of the luxury e-commerce has grown manifold in the present day organizational context. Moreover, e-commerce is another successful channel in delivering value to the customers. Luxury brand such as Gucci works really hard towards all its elements in order to communicate through heritage with its customers. Gucci provides the customer a call to action on all its pages so that the customers not only get an easy access but their experience on the website increases significantly(Helal & Ozuem, 2018).

Gucci at present operates in over 540 locations and its business model is a combination of wholesaler, franchise model, retail stores and e-commerce. The strategy of the company remains the same in all of its channels of product offering. Gucci has repositioned the brand in order to appeal to a wider audience and has tailored its product line to better suit the needs of its customers. The company delves into extensive marketing research on the products, taste of customers, current and future marketing trends, which further help them in coming up with the products customer desire the most. The company always aims to match and meet the aspiration of its customers, and customers in turn resonate with the brand by giving good feedback on the social media platforms and other channels. Thus, caring about customers is another strategy of Gucci which helps in delivering high customer experience and value for them(Gabriel et. al.,2016).

Increasing competition , growth of business and e-commerce technology are some of the major factors which has pushed the brands to woo the customers and drive them to the stores or push them to shop online. Gucci focus lies on retaining its existing customers and acquiring new customers at the lowest cost possible, in such a situation the role of Customer relationship management comes in the picture. CRM is the set of practices, strategies and the technologies used by the company with the intention of managing its growth strategy while building relationship with its clients. Gucci uses CRM tool to build strong loyalty with its clients. The company ensures the same by remembering important days of the customers and making them feel special by providing them exclusive deals on their special days. The customer feels delighted knowing that the brand cares for them, this directly impact their experience with the brand(Berguson, 2002). Gucci uses CRM tool in the organization for the following purpose:

• Collecting primary and critical information about the customers and create a database for the marketing activities.
• Using data analytics or business intelligence to break the collected information and use the result to drive customer experience.
• Collection of data to monitor the effectiveness and the efficiency of customer service and marketing strategy(Gummesson, 2002)
• Using the tool to touch the customer pain points and to identify the customers with stable relationship with the brand(Epstein, 2018).

It can be thus easily said that Gucci’s doing extremely well in managing its customers and providing them with a great customer experience while providing them with satisfaction and increasing the customer value in the organization. The company does not use too many elements to increase the customer value, but it researches and uses the option which will have the maximum impact on the customers.

Conclusion

Gucci is a world renowned fashionable luxury brand which was founded in Italy back in 1921. The company which started off its journey as a retail store has now graduated and moved to click and mortar model in order to leverage the opportunities created for the e-commerce industry. The luxury brand ensures a high level of engagement with its customers through the entire possible communication channel, this helps in relationship building with the clients. The company in order to enhance its in-store experience for the customers, employees salespeople with rich experience in luxury brands or who have a knack of spotting the current trends in fashion and lifestyle. The company uses these people to help the customers in exploring their options and help them in making the right choice. The company also tries to provide the real time in store experience on the website. Thus, Gucci’s ensures that it keeps its customer happy, satisfied which ultimately increases the customer value for the organization.

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