Customer Experience in Marks and Spencer

This report explores the value proposition, customer demographics, and the six pillars of customer experience in Marks and Spencer. It also discusses the implications of digital disruption and provides strategic recommendations for improving customer experience.

Customer Experience

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Value proposition of Marks and Spencer...............................................................................3
How this manifests itself in how it delivers the Customers Experience................................4
Who are its Customers by frequency of use of key demographics........................................4
The Six pillar of Customer Experience Model.......................................................................5
Implication of Digital Disruption to the delivery of customer experience.............................7
Strategic Recommendation.....................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
A customer is a person, who purchases goods and services of Organisation, they are
important as they drive profit. Without consumers organisation cannot continue to exist in
Market. Customers are the one who can make the business profitable and increase their growth
by enhancing company’s sale. It is important to understand how Firm can meet the needs of
people for this they can monitor their customer relationship to know the ways through which
products and services can be improved and attract more and more individuals (Garg and Kumar,
2021). The Organisation can gain competitive advantage by treating their customers in better
aspects and make them feel valuable. Generally it is being said that customers are always right as
happy customers show their loyalty towards the Company and they repeat the business if firm
successfully meet the needs of people. For Businesses it is important to satisfy the needs and
requirements of consumers as satisfied customers can make the organisation successful whereas
unsatisfied person can destroy the value of Company (Scheidt and Chung, 2019). The Chosen
Company for this report is Marks and Spencer, it is a retail company headquartered in London,
England and it was established in 1884. The Organisation is specialising in food products,
clothing and home products. The report is based on customer experience in which the value
proposition of Organisation, how it delivers customer experience, who are its customers are
explained. The report also consist the explanation on The Six Pillars of Customer Experience
Model and its application on Company. A discussion on implications of digital disruption to the
delivery of customer experiences is also consisted in this project.
Value proposition of Marks and Spencer
The Value proposition of Marks and Spencer is that they focus on quality, service,
innovation and trust. These factors are the cornerstones of the Company, they are managing cost
and investing in system and supply chain to improve efficiency in business. Marks and Spencer
is also responding towards the changing needs of customers by increasing their values without
reducing the quality as it helps in improving customer experiences. The Organisation is now
increasing the pace of change, leveraging Marks and Spencer direct by building more and more
channels, building international portfolio and reinvigorating brand communication. Marks and
Spencer is also working to build sustainable future which helps people to have a positive impact
on communities, planet and well being (Banerjee, 2021). The Company has launched a new food

campaign focusing on value, they get to know from customers that food is so expensive in
Campaign so, they organise Re-Marks-able-Value campaign in which price of the food items get
cut for improving the customer experience. Marks and Spencer also launched Plan A in which
they mentioned various commitments to fulfil and make changes in their business activities
accordingly. With Plan A they are working with its suppliers and customers to reduce waste,
trade ethically, live healthier lifestyle and combat climate change.
How this manifests itself in how it delivers the Customers Experience
Marks and Spencer is continuously working to improve the customer experience as their
main focus is on providing excellent products and services to people without reducing quality at
affordable price. The Company is recognised for Customer experience even they named the
Organisation with Best Customer Experience at Loyalty Magazines annual awards. The people
preference in food and style changes from season to season which become challenging for
Company. So, to remain competitive in Market, Marks and Spencer fulfils the needs and
demands of people rather than only just designing and producing the goods that are not even
satisfying the customers (Thomke, 2019). To give the better customer experience at the time of
COVID 19, company has updated its mobile notification strategy, bookable shopping timeslots,
implementing services like click and collect and grocery checkout straight from mobile app. It
becomes easy for the people to shop with Marks and Spencer in Lockdown period due to
Coronavirus Pandemic. The Organisation has also invested in NPS capabilities to better measure
customer experience. They are increasing its investment in net promoter score programmes as a
measure of success during COVID 19 and beyond. The Company also said that due to crisis they
found that how differently they can use the technology, make faster decision and run stores
effectively and efficiently.
Who are its Customers by frequency of use of key demographics
The perfect and classic range in Marks and Spencer targets the customer between the age
of 35 to 55 years old women and men. They design perfect collection of clothing for people in
simple and basic way including white shirts, jeans and black roll-neck sweaters. For busy
lifestyle customers they design clothes which are machine washable, tumble dry friendly and non
iron so that it becomes easy for them to wear clean clothes. It is important to identify the needs
of customers to fulfil their expectation and enhance the product quality. The Company use
demographic segmentation to identify the needs of customers, they target people on the basis of

income, gender, social class, age and other factors (Loo, 2020). As this helps in getting
awareness about the issues regarding the changes in needs and wants of customers. The
Organisation conducts a market research through which they can identify what products people
like and also identify the emerging opportunity they can grab to attract more and more
customers. Marks and Spencer also faces many problems in business whether it is related to poor
performance or criticism for fashion pundits.
The Six pillar of Customer Experience Model
The Six pillars of customer experience model were formed to reflect the companies about
the kind of emotional outcome linked when delivering exceptional customer experience to
people. All the six pillars are connected with each other and when they are combined they can
help organisation to understand how well they are delivering customer experience across
industries. A successful business always has a grip on these six pillars and they remain unique
from its competitors (Lim, 2019). Marks and Spencer must focus on these pillars as it helps in
increasing acquisition via advocacy, define a market leading customer experience and create a
long term shareholder value.
Integrity
It is important for the Organisations to run their business in trustworthy manner so that
they can attract people and make them loyal towards the brand. When Firm displays
trustworthiness on regular basis, they became the foundation of Integrity. To increase the
integrity organisation can develop trust building moments and events through which they can
grab more and more customer’s attention. The customer prefers products of businesses that stand
on its promises so according to them the company which can deliver on promises leads to
Integrity. So to act with integrity it is necessary to be honest with the customers related to the
product, feature, quality, price and its drawbacks. If Organisation is honest with people they also
become more loyal to the firm’s that they like the most. The Integrity displayed by the business
directly results in customer loyalty (Hilken, 2018). In Today’s World, Integrity is something that
people hope to find in Organisation’s. The Company can succeed in Market when they have
Integrity as one of its Core Values. By having Integrity in business they can get competitive edge
in Market and it also helps in facing issues during crisis. Integrity also helps in making difficult
decision easier and also secures favourable publicity. Marks and Spencer works in integrity as it
helps in succeeding in Market. The Company also maintain a healthy relationship with people so

that they can gain a loyalty of customers. They believe in doing business with Integrity, their
products are made in a factory that meets high eco or ethical standard, in a way that benefits
employees and customers.
Personalization
Personalization is the valuable component of customer experience. The personalization
element main focus is on understanding the specific needs of people and produce products
accordingly. This Component helps in creating an emotional connection between customer and
brand, also enable people to feel important and valued (Grewal and Roggeveen, 2020). The
Company must know the needs and requirements of people so that they can create the product
according to their taste and preference. When organisation personalized it makes customer feel
valued, more in control and important after interaction. Marks and Spencer must provide a
personalised products and services to their customer so that they can grab more attention and
increase its profit and productivity. If Company provide personalised product they satisfied the
need and demands of people. The personalised component can be work when Marks and Spencer
identifies the needs and requirements of people.
Resolution
Resolution generally means changing the bad experiences of customers into good so that
they feel happy with the services of Company. This pillar reflects that the organisation must turn
a poor customer experience into good one. Resolution is a formal procedure to investigate and
resolve the problem of person who is dissatisfied and make them feel happy with outstanding
services. The Organisation must create a sense of urgency by handling and solving the issues of
people. It is the responsibility of company to go extra mile for making the people tension free or
relax with the problems. The Firm must maintain their brand image by satisfying the customer
and solving their issues. An unsatisfied person can reduce the image of Firm which could create
an impact on its performance and productivity (Eren, 2021). Marks and Spencer main motive is
to make their customer feel happy with their services and products, they also ensure that people
may not face any problem and in case they face issue, company solve it as soon as they can.
They also train their employees and organise a programme in which they provide how to handle
the people and solve their issues quickly.
Expectation

Expectation is another pillar of customer experience in which organisation must
understand what their customers are expecting and the ways through which they can fulfil the
expectation of people. For getting successful in market it is necessary to identify the needs and
demands of customers and focus on achieving it so that organisation profitability and sale
increases. The Expectation can be met when Firm knows who is there target customers and
identifying the right buyers. The Company must ensure that their customers may not change their
expectation in respect of items which they are serving (Silalahi and Rufaidah, 2018). Marks and
Spencer must fulfil the demand and expectation of customers in order to satisfy them and gain
their loyalty. The Company can meet the expectation of people by conducting the research and
collecting information through which they can know what exactly people want in products and
services.
Empathy
Empathy means understanding customer’s experience emotionally and connecting with
them and makes them feel that they ate valuable for Organisation. The Company can create a
strong relationship with customers through empathy. It is important to see the things from the
point of view of customers and act on the situation accordingly but it is also necessary that firm
must choose emotional response but focus on right emotional response. Marks and Spencer
works with empathy and handle the problems of customer with patiently. This makes a strong
connection between the people and company as they handle the problem easily and also make
their customer happy by providing excellent services (Seke, 2020).
Time and efforts
Time and effort is the last pillar of customer experiences. Generally due to lack of time
customers want instant gratification. It is the responsibility of Company to remove the issues
which influences the customer decision making process and make them to accomplish their
objective through which organisation can increase the loyalty of customers. Marks and Spencer
must think innovatively to reduce the time and efforts of employees and people. Due to COVID
19, organisation has updated their mobile notification strategy so that customer can place their
order and easily.
Implication of Digital Disruption to the delivery of customer experience
Digital Disruption generally means the change that happens quickly due to new
development in Market. The digital disruption is important for organisation as it helps in making

business efficient, productive, cost effective and more customer friendly. It includes the big data
and use of business intelligence. The digital disruption helps customer to get the things which
they want in better, faster and easier way through a mobile app. To make it possible, digital
disruptors act as a mediator between vendor and customers to take over Market (Karacali and
Salman, 2020). The Examples of digital disruption are rise in streaming television services like
Amazon prime, Netflix, etc. They effectively put their videos on rental stores and gain profit.
Marks and Spencer is planning to double down on digital platforms in order to compete with
online players and survive at the time of COVID 19 crisis. The Company also paired with Ocado
for providing online grocery ordering and delivering services. Marks and Spencer has own a
stake in Texel, it is the company which uses 3D scanning technologies and create digital avatars
for customers. So, Organisation is planning to adopt a new technology that can improve the
customer experience (Lima and Pacheco, 2021).
Strategic Recommendation
Marks and Spencer can improve customer experience by focusing on the requirements and
expectation of the people. They must ensure that customers problems must be solve quickly and
as soon as possible so that they can gain a better customer experience. It is important to create an
emotional connection with people as it helps in understanding them in better aspects. The
organisation must capture the feedback of people, they can use live chat tools to have a
conversation with people on real time and also send a follow up mail to people by using post
interaction surveys. To attract more and more customers, company must maintain ratings, starts
and reviews on social media sites so that people can make judgment of purchasing the products
accordingly.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it is being concluded that customers are the key element for
every business. If they are happy company can remain profitable and their growth also increases.
So, to get successful in Market it is necessary to make customer feel happy and valuable by
fulfilling their needs and requirements. If they are satisfied with the product they can increase the
sale of Company. The needs and requirements can be met by making the products according to
the taste and preference of customers. The Organisation must ensure that they serve products

without reducing the quality and sell it at affordable price. The Company must demonstrate that
they not only focus on earning profit, they also show genuine concern for people.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banerjee, A., 2021. Breaking Corporate Silos–Making Customer Experience Work. In Crafting
Customer Experience Strategy. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Eren, B. A., 2021. New Generation Distribution Channels and Customer Experience Used in
Marketing Financial Products and Services in Digital Transformation. In Emerging
Challenges, Solutions, and Best Practices for Digital Enterprise Transformation (pp. 1-
23). IGI Global.
Garg, R. J. and Kumar, V., 2021. Prioritizing the Components of Online Environment to Assess
Customer Experience: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach. International
Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR). 17(2). pp.81-100.
Grewal, D. and Roggeveen, A. L., 2020. Understanding retail experiences and customer journey
management. Journal of Retailing. 96(1). pp.3-8.
Hilken, T., 2018. Seeing is believing: Enhancing the customer experience with augmented
reality.
Karacali, O. and Salman, G. G., 2020. Application and Integration of Omnichannel Decisions to
Customer Relationship Management. In Managing Customer Experiences in an
Omnichannel World: Melody of Online and Offline Environments in the Customer
Journey. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Lim, C., 2019. Peer-to-peer interactions for better customer experience. International Journal of
Integrated Care (IJIC), 19.
Lima, A. and Pacheco, J., 2021. New trends and tools for customer relationship: Challenges in
digital transformation. In Research Anthology on Digital Transformation, Organizational
Change, and the Impact of Remote Work (pp. 1916-1934). IGI Global.
Loo, P. T., 2020. Service employees and customer experience. The Routledge Handbook of
Tourism Experience Management and Marketing.
Scheidt, S. and Chung, Q. B., 2019. Making a case for speech analytics to improve customer
service quality: Vision, implementation, and evaluation. International Journal of
Information Management. 45. pp.223-232.
Seke, M. M., 2020. Customer Experience and the Mistake of its Inception in Organization. i-
Manager's Journal on Management. 14(4). p.1.
Silalahi, S. and Rufaidah, P., 2018. Measuring Digital Customer Experience. Pertanika Journal
of Social Sciences & Humanities.
Thomke, S., 2019. The magic that makes customer experiences stick. MIT Sloan Management
Review. 61(1). pp.56-63.