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Retail Communication Mix

Molton Brown

Two of the retail communication mix that is adopted by Molton Brown are:

Store Atomosphere and Visual Merchandising

At Molton Brown, it has a quiet and contemplative atmosphere which leave the customer with an impression of a premium brand that Molton Brown wishes to convey. Often, customers unknowingly spend longer time in the shop due to the aroma of the products, soothing music, the ambience and the wide aisle which make them feel comfortable.

Besides that, products are grouped according to categories in an open and glass fronted cabinets and are displayed in a clean, simple and contemporary manner to ease the search of products for the customers. New arrivals or impulse-buying products are often placed in-front of the store to attracts customers into the store. Store displays are back-lit, visually relaxing and subtly elegant. Molton Brown manages the tester experience by providing a stone sink to test hand-washes and body lotions that can be a welcome refreshment to tired city shoppers.

Reason: To allow each shopping experience in Molton Brown to be pleasurable.

Sales Promotion

In Molton Brown, they use gift vouchers as part of their sales promotion as it can be purchased as a gift to friends or family. Gift voucher helps to prevent an unwanted gift for the customers' friends or family as they can decide on what they want to buy with it. Other than gift vouchers, Molton Brown has other promotions such as discounts and free delivery when an order meets a certain amount.

Carl’s Junior

· I saw two examples of poor customer service.

#1 I waited for more than five minutes just trying to get a refill on beverages, which I never did get. Three employees, including the manager, saw me waiting and ignored me. I could see that they were busy but how long would it have taken to refill two sodas? Why don't they put a soda machine near the counter like every other fast food restaurant?

· An elderly lady next to me had a question about her order. There was a large packet of fries on the tray. She told the guy working the register that she didn’t order it. He argued with her! Not just once, but at least three times he told her that yes, she had ordered it. She ordered small fries. He didn’t understand what she asked for but wouldn’t admit that it was his fault. This kind of customer service leads to loss of customers. I don’t think I’ll be eating there any time real soon.

1. Time waiting- No customers should be left standing at one corner. The very least a waiter or waitress can do is to let the customer know that he or she has been taken note of and will be attended shortly. Never, never, never ignore a customer.

2. Even though the customers may be wrong but it is bad customer service etiquette to argue with them, and in this situation the customer was right and had to be told three times that she was wrong.

3. The place would lose its customers and they will lose the sales. The average business spends six times more to attract new customers than it does to keep old ones. That says a lot about the importance of putting the customer first.

4. Statistics show that the average dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about their problem. One in five of those will share that with 20 others. So you can see how repeated offenses of poor customer service can quickly snowball into the downfall of a business.

5. Being polite and courteous should be observed by all the staffs there. This is to make the customers feel good and want to come back again.

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.

It is often categorized into two different headings:
Customization
Standardization
Firstly Customization approach: encourages the individual retailer, outlet or sales person to cater or tailor their service according to the needs, wants or desired feature that that particular customer prefers.

For example during our visits to Molton Brown the sales staff would
address us by name
find out about our preferences of smell and scent
know what type of products are we looking for, such as gifts, personal use, perfume, shower gel

However we noticed that the only weak link for this method was the inconsistency of the service level.

For example as we visit Molton Brown in a group, there would be a few staffs that would be allocated to us and after the shopping experience, some of us left the store feeling well taken care of while others felt that their sales assistant could have done better.

Hence when such a thing arises, as when one staff performs excellent, the rest of her colleges are bound to do less better.

Secondly Standardization approach: they are a set of rules and procedures that are implemented for the staffs to follow consistently.

For example during our visits things such as “hi welcome”, “good evening”, “how may I serve you”, “thank you and come back again” are all basic steps that the sales staff have to follow.

Now I would like to share the various service characteristics that we observed:
Reliability-
When we made a purchase and paid, the billing was accurate and we did not have to worry about whether the cashier had cheated us or not.
As Fessie has a skin allergy, we needed to know if the product contains certain chemicals that would irritate it. The bottle behind states exactly every ingredients that are used to make the product.

Assurance-
When the purchase was made, we were guaranteed that if the product were to turn bad, we would be able to come back and change for another one.
If we did not like the flavour or scent we are allowed to come back and change for another one provided if the bottle was still unopened.

Tangibility-
The staffs were very pleasant and they spoke with confidence. They seemed to know their products very well and were sure of the ingredients used, the prices as well as the intended purpose of the product.

Empathy-
Liked I mentioned above, they found out our names and remembered it throughout the entire visit and addressed us by our names whenever they were to speak to us.
When we had one of our purchase wrapped as a gift, they had a special equipment to label the paper bag as well as the bottle with the person’s name.

Responsiveness-
Whenever we needed help or attention, they were quick to respond and were all ready to open the bottle for us to try the scent.
Before we arrived we called to make sure that they were open, and they took no more than 3 seconds to answer the call.

Merchandise Presentation & Store Design

Free-Form (Boutique) Layout

Fixtures and aisles arranged asymmetrically

• Pleasant relaxing ambience
• Small store experience
• Inefficient use of space
• More susceptible to shoplifting – salespeople cannot view adjacent spaces
• Used in specialty stores and upscale department stores

Store Design

• Wide aisles -> ease of movement
• Convenient to find -> according to the product & variety

Display Areas

Feature areas

• Promotions items & signages are place near entrance
• Display new products on the windows.

Human Resource Management

3 HR PRACTICES - UNIQUELY SINGAPORE!

Below are some examples of unique Human Resource Practices.

IKEA

• IKEA has a strong belief in the importance of family, and it shows in their HR policies as well as their store design and features. IKEA offers co-workers the opportunity to try new positions and actively encourages co-workers to try 10 jobs in 10 years.

• In their corporate headquarters, dress is casual and employees enjoy the opportunity to bring their kids to work on occassion. Co-workers enjoy their own private cafeteria where there's more than just meatballs, and there are even 'quiet rooms' for co-workers in the stores - a secluded place to quietly relax or even meditate while on a break or before or after work.

ESPLANADE

• Many companies have taken steps to put prospective customer service staff through various stages of testing. Often intangible attributes like "a great personality", or a "sense of being ready to help out" are factors for hiring a candidate.

• One example would be when the Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay hired part-time ushers, who was hired depended on the candidates' smiles.

Workforce Development Agency(WDA)

1. Collaboration with key agencies and associations to develop and implement an effective engagement and leadership development strategy with Retail CEs and HR managers to educate them on the importance of training investment and business outcomes, as well as to highlight the rationale of Retail CET Framework and courses. For instance, this can be done through mounting breakfast meetings, priority conversations or industry forums with CEs and HR managers. Renowned retail experts or speakers will also be invited to speak on new ways and ideas of retailing and retail training.

Price Management---- EVERYDAY LOW PRICE?!?!?!?!

What are the methods?

1. Demand-Oriented- whatever price the customer is willing to pay
2. Cost-Oriented- fixed percentage over cost price of product
3. Competitors Oriented- similar to competitor's pricing
4. Mark up pricing- a markup is added on to the total cost incurred by the product
5. Bait and Switch- introduce customer to a cheaper product first

How retailers set their price?

1. Cost of goods- cost of importing the goods
2. Forecasted sales- whether it is feasible
3. Demand- whether the product is in demand
4. Price- how much the customer are willing to pay
5. Customer Income- how much customer earns
6. Need for product- do customer need it
7. Availability of products- whether the customers have a wide choice to choose from
8. Frequency- time spent on product

Price Adjustments

1. Coupons- discount
2. Rebates- money that is returned to customer based on a portion of money spent
3. Variable discount- weekend special, location

Prices to stimulate Sales

1. Leader Pricing- price priced lower than other competitors
2. Price Lining- limited pricing to predetermine price points e.g handphone plans
3. Odd Pricing- price that end with a odd (6.77) or round number ($46)

• Hence we feel that for a premium brand such as Molten Brown, it should be offering a high mark up pricing and the prices should not be determined by competitors products.
• However from visits to the store we noticed that they used Bait and Switch method- as people may be attracted to the low prices that Molten Brown offers at such a high quality.
• Molten Brown from what we observed does not practise leader pricing nor coupons but occasionally they offer variable discount.
• Molten Brown targets at people with money who can afford luxurious goods to pamper themselves thus enabling them to set their price according to customer's income.