BIZ104: Customer Experience Strategy Report for Coles Supermarkets

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a customer experience strategy, focusing on Coles Supermarkets. It begins with an introduction to customer experience management and its importance in a competitive market. The report identifies and differentiates two customer segments based on demographic and psychographic characteristics, derived from survey data. It then proposes a customer experience strategy incorporating the IDIC and DIRFT models, recommending staff training to improve service. The report emphasizes the association between business value proposition and customer experience, advocating for customer experience mapping and regular customer interaction. It concludes that effective customer experience management is crucial for building customer loyalty and achieving long-term success, supported by the survey findings and the company's value proposition. The report highlights the significance of understanding customer perceptions and tailoring services to meet their expectations, ultimately aiming to make Coles the preferred brand in Australia and beyond.

Running Head: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
Customer Experience Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Identification and differentiation of the two customer segments............................................3
Formation of Customer Experience Strategy..........................................................................4
Association of business value proposition and customer experience......................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
In the highly competitive industry, the major concern for every company is to survive in
the market for a long time. In order to be exceptional among so many existing competitors and
market goliaths, it is necessary to build a different strategy to heighten the possibly of serving a
long –term goal in the industry. The customer experience is the most needed so that a company
can tailor its products and services to meet the expectations of the customers who are the
foundation on which a company stands. The customer experience consists of the perception the
customers have for the company that determines how the company has served them and how
long they would be engaged in a relationship with them (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Regular
customer interactions are highly necessary to enhanced the levels of customer loyalty and
satisfaction. The present report will proceed by identifying the two customer segments of Coles
supermarkets that is the selected company and further differentiate those segments.
The Coles supermarkets is an Australia based supermarket which also works as retail and
consumer service chains. The company headquarter is located in Melbourne and it was founded
in the year 1914 by George Coles. The company has expanded itself and holds more than
100,000 employees beating its biggest competitor Woolworths. As per the financial report of the
company of year 2017, it has generated huge revenues that is equal to A$22.1 billion. The parent
company is Coles Group and the company markets through various ways.to meet the customer
demands (Coles.com, 2018). There are so many stores in the Coles supermarket that consist of
almost all daily-needed products primarily the food products. The report will go on explaining a
customer experience management strategy based on the survey reports of assessment 2 to
leverage the company’s future operations.

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Discussion
Identification and differentiation of the two customer segments
A better way to classify the customers is by segmenting them according to their
geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral traits. It enables the company to
identify them based on their different choices and tailor the products and services accordingly
(Peppers & Rogers, 2016).
As per the research conducted for assessment 2, thee Coles supermarket has been found
to segment the customers based on their demographic and psychographic characteristics. In the
research of assessment 2, 20 people were selected from these two segments. In order to gather
information, there were in total four types of methods used in the surveys. First of all, face to
face interviews have been conducted, telephonic conversation, online surveys and lastly the
focus group method. The demographic segmentation is generally considered to be one of the best
methods that classifies the customers according to their age, race, gender, religion, ethnicity,
family size, income and education.
The surveys were conducted by preparing a questionnaire for the demographic
segmentation that includes:
 what is your age group?
 Which part of the country is your home? (African, Australian, Alaskan, Asia,
American or others)
 Can you inform us your gender? (male female or other)
 Are you single, married, divorced or widowed?

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 Can you please tell about your last qualification? (bachelors, post –graduate, high
school or other)
 What is your income status per annum?
 What is your current employment condition? (employed, semi-employed, not
employed)
The questions which were asked to know he psychographic statement included:
 What do you do apart from study or job? (a variety of answers were received)
 What do you prefer to do when you are on a holiday? (go for marketing or lay at
home)
 Can you please share us your views on child labor and women harassment?
 Which is the most attractive Coles product that you regularly use at home?
It has been assessed and evaluated from the received answers that people between the age group
of 20-30 ate the maximum buyers from the Coles supermarket. More than 76% of the
respondents were from Australia and preferred Coles supermarket because they get everything
they want over here. More than 50% among those 20 people were women belonging from upper
middle class to sophisticated families. Most of them were holders of bachelor degree. 72% of the
respondents were highly satisfied with the products and services of the Coles supermarket but
there were few people too who were a little disappointed with the service of the staffs. 90% of
them voiced against women harassment and child labor which is a good point for the Coles
supermarket to heighten their CSR values and activities.

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Formation of Customer Experience Strategy
The customer feedbacks when analyzed properly by the help of the surveys conducted, it
is recommended that the Coles Supermarkets must design and develop a suitable customer
experience strategy to increase the level of customer satisfaction. There are so many CEM
strategies among which the most effective strategies are the IDIC (identify, differentiate, interact
and customize) model and the DIRFT (Do it Right the First Time) model. According to the first
model, the first task is to identify the customers and then differentiate them on by one to know
their tastes individually. The next step is to interact with them personally to get better insight into
their likes and dislikes and the last step asks to act on the customer responses positively. The
next mode that is the DIRFT model also suggest the same in an indirect manner. It asks a
company to deliver exactly what it has promised to deliver (McColl-Kennedy et al.,2015). The
management of a company has to associate themselves with the customers culturally in get idea
of their expectations. As the survey revealed there is a percentage of customers who are
disappointed with the staff services, the Coles Supermarket have to arrange a staff training
program and conduct it after every two months.

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Image 1: IDIC Model
Source: Researchgate.net (2018)
Association of business value proposition and customer experience
The Coles supermarket needs to commit customer experience mapping for the
demographic and psychographic segments. The customer experience mapping is a visual
representation of how long the customer has been associated with the company, how their
experience was with the company and how long in the future they would like to stay with the
firm. It helps a company to evaluate how their future years will be like (Benzarti & Mili, 2017).
It is strongly recommended to the Coles Supermarket company that they must engage in a
regular basis interaction program with the customers via blogs, websites, social media, emails
and many other ways. When the communication is transparent between the buyers and the
sellers, problems can be easily known and resolved.

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Image 2 : Customer experience map
Source: Sinur, J. (2018)
The value proposition of the Coles Supermarkets company explains how they are
exceptional from other similar companies and why people must opt for this company. The value
proposition will be strengthened by the customer experience mapping since after knowing the
drawbacks and gaps, the company would tailor their services according to the customer
requirements (Coles.com, 2018). The aim of the company to become one of the most favored
brand of people can be supported by the CEM strategies. It will help the company to meet the
customer expectations and stand out as the most preferred brand across Australia and abroad.

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image 3: Coles value proposition
Source: Coles.com. (2018)
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the customer experience
consists of the perception the customers have for the company that determines how the company
has served them and how long they would be engaged in a relationship with them. Regular
customer interactions are highly necessary to enhanced the levels of customer loyalty and
satisfaction. The assessment 2 surveys have been highly useful to determine the customer
segmentation based on which also how to tailor the services and satisfy them.

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Reference
Benzarti, I., & Mili, H. (2017, November). A Development Framework for Customer Experience
Management Applications: Principles and Case Study. In e-Business Engineering
(ICEBE), 2017 IEEE 14th International Conference on (pp. 118-125). IEEE. Retrieved
from- -
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Imen_Benzarti2/publication/321260271_A_Develop
ment_Framework_for_Customer_Experience_Management_Applications_Principles_and
_Case_Study/links/5a1c3590a6fdcced952b479b/A-Development-Framework-for-
Customer-Experience-Management-Applications-Principles-and-Case-Study.pdf
Coles.com. (2018). Coles Supermarkets. Retrieved from https://www.coles.com.au/
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96. DOI: 10.1509/jm.15.0420
McColl-Kennedy, J. R., Gustafsson, A., Jaakkola, E., Klaus, P., Radnor, Z. J., Perks, H., &
Friman, M. (2015). Fresh perspectives on customer experience. Journal of Services
Marketing, 29(6/7), 430-435.Retrieved from -
https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/19348/3/McColl-Kennedy.pdf
Peppers, D., & Rogers, M. (2016). Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN-978-1-119-23982-6
Researchgate.net (2018). ResearchGate | Share and discover research. [online] ResearchGate.
Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2018].

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Sinur, J. (2018). Journey/Experience Mapping Isn't Just for Customers : Commentary : Business
Rules Community / Business Rules Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.brcommunity.com/articles.php?id=b878