Strategic Recommendations for Cut Short Salon: A Case Study Approach

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This case study analyzes Cut Short Salon's operations and suggests improvements.

ITC563 ASS. 2 CASE STUDY ANALYSIS &
EVALUATION
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Question 1........................................................................................................................................4
Recommendations for Cut short..................................................................................................4
Introduce a Pre-booking system...............................................................................................4
Introduce more Payment options and offers.............................................................................5
Provide option for shopping.....................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Question 2........................................................................................................................................8
Suggestions for improving Business Operations/Services...........................................................8
Suggestion 1.............................................................................................................................8
Suggestion 2.............................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Cut short is a basic salon which offers services like haircut, hairdressing, and many others which
are offered to customers in other salons too. This report is written to the CEO of Cut short
because it is observed that the customers consume so much time settling on the seats and
deciding the type of hairstyle they want. Because of it, the hairstylists are not able to look for
more customers and it will lead to a loss of customers for the salon. To overcome this situation,
this report will discuss the three recommendations that will help in saving the time of both the
customers and the hairstylists. By this, the customers don't have to take the time of hairstylists
for settling and deciding hairstyle, and also hairstylists don't have to waste their time in
discussing with the customer about their demand before the starting of the hairstyle process.
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Question 1
Recommendations for Cut short
The problem which is currently faced by Cut short salon is related to the improper balancing of
time for both the customers and the hairstylist. The hairstylists have to give their time for
customers so that they can settle down and decide about what type of hairstyles they want. It is
very clear that if one customer takes 15-minute time for settling then it will increase the time of
waiting for the other customers and at the end of the day, the hairstylist can also see fewer
customers because of extra time given to every customer. Following are the recommendations
that should be followed by Cut short saloon to use the time efficiently and to provide services to
more and more customers:
Introduce a Pre-booking system
This method is very popular these days because almost all the service providers are using this
method to save time and rush at the office or venue of service. The Cut short salon can also use
this service as this can solve the problem of wasting the time of both the customer and the salon.
This method of pre-booking can be started by the use of websites and the mobile application.
From this strategy, the business of Cut short can also be expanded and can cover more area than
the present. Also, the customers can now connect with the salon and can choose the date and
time for their hairdressing or other operations. The customers can choose the type of service they
want from the salon which can save the time of discussion with the hairstylist working in the
salon. It will also allow the customers to explore the other services which are offered in the
salon. The customers don't have to wait for their turn in the salon and they can directly visit and
salon for taking the service for which they have done booking without wasting time. From this
pre-booking system, the value of the business will increase the customer will find it easy to take
services from the salon and they feel free for booking their appointment according to their free
time. Pre-booking system will also allow the salon workers to get prepared for the customers
they are going to face on that day and they will also get the idea about the type of services they
have to offer on that particular day. It will give the management a confirmation about the
customers and according to which they can arrange the required resources (Lien et al.,2017). So
it will be beneficial for Cut short if the management starts this system and make the business of
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salon connected to the latest technology so the customers also don’t find it old fashioned while
visiting the salon.
Introduce more Payment options and offers
Once the Cut short implemented the online booking system for the appointment of customers so
that they can take services offered in the salon, now it is time to offer the payment options to
customer for completing payment of their booking. Providing options for the payment will also
help in increasing more booking for the salon because there are varieties of options available in
the market by which the customers can make payment. It can be said that if the salon website has
more options for the payment, the customers will find it easy to make payment and do the
booking. Some of the popular options which are currently trending in the market are payment by
Visa cards, payment by MasterCard, payment through the PayPal account, etc (Yang et al.,
2015). Along with this so many booking options, the management has to introduce some offers
for the customers so that they do appointment and make the payment for getting eligible for the
offers. The offers can be on the appointment booking and the mode of payment. The
management should provide the discount offers for the customers like a 10% discount by the use
of credit cards and a 12% discount on by the payment through PayPal account. This advance
payment option will help the Cut short to take control of the customers. Now along with giving
discounts, the management has to introduce policies regarding the appointment. The customers
who are not paying in the 24 hours before the time of appointment then their appointment will
get cancelled. Also, the customers who are not arriving at the time of appointment or arriving at
the time of appointment of other customers should be charged because of the delay (Wu et al.,
2018). It will help in making a balance between the working of the salon management and
customer management. This type of option will also save the time of workers in the salon for
making bills and discussing with the customer about the price of the different type of services
provided by Cut short. Also, the main work of the employees will only provide the service for
which the customer has done the booking and leave without wasting the time of the customer and
the management.
Provide an option for shopping
As the business of cut short is now dealing online with the customers, so the management of Cut
short should think about expanding the business by not limiting the business only to providing
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the services of hairdressing or other salon services. The management can now introduce the
option of shopping to their website and the store. The customers are booking their appointments
online through websites so the management can introduce the business of selling the hair
products through the website. The customers can go shopping for the hair products from the
website of the Cut short. With the help of the website of Cut short, along with getting the
services for hair, the customers can now also place the order for the hair products they may wish
to buy for their hairs. The orders can be placed through the website and at the time of
appointment, the customers can also pick up their order they have placed online during at the
time of booking. Introducing this option is helpful for both the customers and the business of Cut
short (Karray & Sigué, 2018). It will save the time of customers for shopping for the hair
products because at the same time they can buy the product and also get the service from the
saloon. From this option, the salon can connect with many customers either from the way of
proving the salon services or from the option of purchasing the hair care products. For selling the
products, the salon can also interact with the manufacturer and the retailers of the hair products
which will help in making the Cut short more popular in the market. Now the business of Cut
short can be done by the contribution of the other hair product manufactures. The interaction
between the management and the customers is decreased because of introducing most of the
process through online but by selling hair products, the interaction will remain balanced and the
relationship will remain same as before with the customers (Schäfer & Kummer, 2013). As Cut
short is a salon which provides the services in a proper budget, the customers will also get the
hair products from the saloon at the proper pricing. This step will add so much business value to
the Cut short.
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Conclusion
The importance of time can be seen in every industry and every business is seeking from the
problem of time waste so does the Cut short. But the recommendations mentioned in the above
report will help in making proper use of the time of the customers and the workers of the salon.
This report covered the methods implication of which will help in adding the business value to
the Cut short. Recommendations like introducing the online booking system and the
management of payment were discussed in the report. The other recommendation was given for
the intention of expanding the business by not limiting it to the salon but also increase it by
giving the option of purchasing hair care products to the customers. It is believed that all the
recommendations suggested with result positively for the business of salon of Cut short.
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Question 2
Suggestions for improving Business Operations/Services
The business of any organisation or company is not always good or perfect, it all can be done by
the strong efforts of the employees and the management to keep changing and accept the
challenges which are faced in the market (Aydiner et al., 2019). Following are some of the
suggestions that can be followed by the Cut short to improve the business services of the salon:
Suggestion 1
The first suggestion for the salon of Cut short is that the management should focus on creating a
better network of customers because the business of hairdressing and the related services is fully
dependent on the customers (Ana et al., 2019). If the Cut short focuses on building a better
customer network then it may help in growing business to a wide region. Also, if the customer
base is large then the chances of growing business of selling the hair care product online may
also expand. It can be clearly said that if a business has a large number of customer then the
progress of that business will also increase. The customers are the main source to the
management of Cut short should focus on the feedback and the demand of the customers. A good
customer base can be formed only by the help of treating the customers properly and knowing
their views regarding the services offered by the salon. Cut short should always try to give a
better experience for the customers by giving them a variety of options and also have to do so
extra investment so that the customers get attracted to the services provided by cut short. The
management can use the process of online and offline surveys to know about the thinking of the
customers and for the improvement in the quality of services offered by the salon to the
customers (Awasthi, 2016).
Suggestion 2
The next suggestion for the better business services is to look after the competitors in the market.
It is one of the important parts of the business to always aware of the opponent from which the
company has to compete. The business of salon is also a very popular one and the chances of
getting competitors are also high in it because the investment in this business is not that high. So
the management has to prepare a strategy for improving the position in the market. It can be done
by reducing the price of services and by having a variety of services which are unique in the
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market. The price can be reduced by creating a connection with the suppliers of the products
which are used in the salon at a low price. Cut short can also use the method of advertisement to
get the attention of more customers. There are various methods of advertisement like through
newspaper, social media, website, etc (Misirlis & Vlachopoulou, 2018). Cut short should always
play safe by avoiding the chances of risks that can be faced in the business especially the risks
which arise due to the competitors (Veltri et al., 2013).
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References
 Ana, G. R., Alli, A. S., Uhiara, D. C., & Shendell, D. G. (2019). Indoor air quality and
reported health symptoms among hair dressers in salons in Ibadan, Nigeria. Journal of
Chemical Health and Safety, 26(1), 23-30.
 Awasthi, A. (2016). Evaluating new business operation models for small and medium-
sized logistics operators within low emission zones. Transportation Research
Procedia, 12, 707-717.
 Aydiner, A. S., Tatoglu, E., Bayraktar, E., Zaim, S., & Delen, D. (2019). Business
analytics and firm performance: The mediating role of business process
performance. Journal of Business Research, 96, 228-237.
 Karray, S., & Sigué, S. P. (2018). Offline retailers expanding online to compete with
manufacturers: Strategies and channel power. Industrial Marketing Management, 71,
203-214.
 Lien, C. H., Wu, J. J., Chien, S. H., & Lee, C. Y. (2017). Anxious attachment, relational
embeddedness, trust, co-production, and performance: An empirical study in online
business-to-business relationships. Telematics and Informatics, 34(8), 1514-1523.
 Misirlis, N., & Vlachopoulou, M. (2018). Social media metrics and analytics in
marketing–S3M: A mapping literature review. International Journal of Information
Management, 38(1), 270-276.
 Schäfer, K., & Kummer, T. F. (2013). Determining the performance of website-based
relationship marketing. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(18), 7571-7578.
 Veltri, A., Pagell, M., Johnston, D., Tompa, E., Robson, L., Amick III, B. C., ... &
Macdonald, S. (2013). Understanding safety in the context of business operations: An
exploratory study using case studies. Safety science, 55, 119-134.
 Wu, M., Teunter, R. H., & Zhu, S. X. (2018). Online marketing: When to offer a refund
for advanced sales. International Journal of Research in Marketing.
 Yang, Q., Pang, C., Liu, L., Yen, D. C., & Tarn, J. M. (2015). Exploring consumer
perceived risk and trust for online payments: An empirical study in China’s younger
generation. Computers in Human Behavior, 50, 9-24.
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