BMSK5003 - Gucci's Customer Experience: A Detailed Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Gucci's customer experience strategies, focusing on how the luxury brand cultivates customer loyalty and maximizes customer value. It explores various techniques employed by Gucci, including social media monitoring, attention to detail in-store experiences, CRM tools, and specific language usage. The report highlights the importance of building strong customer relationships and brand loyalty through these activities. Key factors impacting customer value, such as the wheel of quality, training, customer focus, and seamless communication, are critically examined. The analysis extends to Gucci's quality processes, storytelling, customer service initiatives, and the creation of a luxury online experience. The report also touches upon ethical considerations and the role of digital and social media in enhancing customer engagement, ultimately offering recommendations for Gucci to further elevate its customer experience.

Understanding and engaging in the
customer experience
Gucci

Executive Summary
Globalization, growth in business technology, evolution of social media platforms are
some of the factors which have pushed business organization to have a sustained focus
on its employees and always come up with strategies to ensure high customer
experience. Gucci which was founded in the year 1921 is a well -known luxury brand,
which uses plethora of strategies to ensure higher customer experience with the brand.
The company in order to drive customer experience strategy uses plenty of techniques
such as social media monitoring, attention to detail providing in store experience to the
customer, using CRM tools, specific language and plenty of other methods. The aim of
the company is to build strong relationship with the customers and drive brand loyalty
with its activities. The report here has provide the methods and the techniques Gucci
uses in order to focus on the experience of the customers, and at the same time building
strong brand loyalty.

Table of Content
Brief Background............................................................................................................................................. 4
Impact of customer service and value on the organization............................................................6
Critical analysis of Factors impacting the ability of the organization to maximize
customer value.................................................................................................................................................. 8
Understanding the wheel of Quality.................................................................................................... 9
Training......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Focus on the customers and his requirement...............................................................................10
Variation and Processes......................................................................................................................... 10
Leadership................................................................................................................................................... 10
Seamless Communication...................................................................................................................... 11
Effective and Active Listening.............................................................................................................. 11
Accessibility................................................................................................................................................ 11
Navigation.................................................................................................................................................... 12
Page Load Speed........................................................................................................................................ 12
Language...................................................................................................................................................... 12
Memory......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Personalized................................................................................................................................................ 12
Convenience................................................................................................................................................ 13
Real Time Interactions............................................................................................................................ 13
Choice............................................................................................................................................................ 13

Community.................................................................................................................................................. 13
Critical analysis of Gucci Quality processes and its effectiveness in meeting the customer
requirements................................................................................................................................................... 14
The art of Storytelling............................................................................................................................. 14
Customer Service...................................................................................................................................... 14
Driving to Stores........................................................................................................................................ 15
Attention to Detail.................................................................................................................................... 16
Luxury Experience Online..................................................................................................................... 16
Care about the customers...................................................................................................................... 17
Customer relationship management................................................................................................ 17
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................ 18
References........................................................................................................................................................ 19

Brief Background
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 49th 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 21st 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.
Impact of customer service and value on the organization
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-Brands these 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.
Critical analysis of Factors impacting the ability of the organization to maximize
customer value
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:

Understanding the wheel of Quality
(Source: Cook, 2017)
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.
Training
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).
Focus on the customers and his requirement
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.
Variation and Processes
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
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).
Seamless Communication
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).
Effective and Active Listening
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.
Accessibility
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.