Improving Time Efficiency and Customer Experience at Cut Short Salon

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This case study analyzes Cut Short Salon's operational challenges and solutions.

ITC563 IT Management issues
ASSESSMENT ITEM 2
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS & EVALUATION
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Ques.1
Introduction
Business operations are performed in an organisation such that the proper utilisation of
available resources can be done. The report is prepared by addressing the CEO of Cut
Short about the problem in the business operation. The following report is prepared for
the business operations that should be implemented in the salon of Cut short such that
the management can use the time efficiently as it is identified that they face wasting of
time by customers to settle down. This report will cover the recommendations that can
be implemented for making the business better for Cut short and can provide a better
quality of services to customers without keep them waiting for services they are
demanding.
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Business Operations in Cut short
The function of the Cut short saloon is to provide services regarding hair care like hair
cut, hairdressing, etc. There is need of business operations because it is found that the
customers who come to the salon are not able to decide the type of hairstyle they want
and because of this, the employees in a salon have to wait for ft their decision, which
take almost 15 minutes for every customer. The employees think that because of this
duration of taking a decision, they are not able to look more customers in a day. So they
want the management should prepare a plan which will help the employees and the
customers to effectively use their time without wasting it into settling in the salon. Here
are some recommendations for improving the time efficiency in the salon so that the
employees working in the salon can attend the customers which they have lost because
of wastage of time:
Connect the business with online booking method
Many of the businesses are using the option to connect with the customers so Cut short
can also implement it in their business style. This is also a trending option for spreading
business and reaching to a large number of customers. Some of the benefits of using
this option for Cut Salon business are:
The customer can book for their appointment and the services like the type of hair cut
decision, without going to the salon. It will save the time of customers and the
employees because, at the time of salon visit, the customers take time to decide the
type of service they want. Every customer wants to take a good hair cut so by the online
booking, the customers can go through the options available for the haircuts and can
decide calmly with any hustle of choosing a hairstyle. If the suggestions given by the
employees of salon don’t suit the customers than the customer will blame the service of
Cut Short, so it is good to let the customer decide everything they want from the salon
(Osborne & Doherty, 2016).
It will help the manager to take a look at all the bookings received from the customers at
the end of the month. It will become easy to maintain a record of the number of
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customers attended in a day to the total number of customer attended in a month. The
analysis of the customers will become easy with the help of online appointments. Also,
all the financial requirements can be determined by the help of keeping record through
this online system. Manager can also know about the type of services which are more
required and the time of more rush in the salon and can also connect with the social
media through this online booking system (Alalwan et al., 2017).
Through the online system, the customers will get the freedom of deciding the time and
the day of taking service from the salon. Also, because of this, the employees can do
preparation according to the demand for services on a particular day and can tell the
manager about the requirement of resources for those services. The customers will also
get the complete list of services which are offered in Cut short and can do the internet
for the things to understand better about their demands (Rrustemi & Jashari, 2018).
Online payment methods
The most of the companies and the service providers use this option to take as a
confirmation of the order or booking so it is good for the business of Cut short to take
the payment through the online system. This will work as an agreement between the
customer and the management of Cut Short and the policies made regarding the
payment should help to increase the trust for customers. The payment options provided
for the online appointment should have a list of varieties such that it can allow the
customer to pay for their services by using any online mode of payment they want
(Yang et al., 2015). By this, the customer will feel that the salon management thinks
about the difficulties that can be faced by the customer while payment. Also, after there
should be proper guidelines regarding the circumstance of the online payment and
booking. The customers should have to reach at the location of the salon on time so
both customer and management don't face difficulty. For the latecomers, there will be a
separate charge system because due to their late reporting, the management cannot
utilise that time which can be used on another customer. The management system
should use some extra methods so the customers wish to do the online payment while
booking for their service. The payment should be completed within the 24 hours before
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the schedule of appointment and if it seems that the payment is not received then that
booking will be canceled by the management. The management should offer a discount
of 10 to 12% for the customers who are doing payment through online. The options of
payment for online can be PayPal, credit cards, debit cards, etc. The discount on the
services will help in attracting the customers towards the online payment and it will also
encourage the customers to go to the same salon. By this online payment, the manager
can go through the budget of the salon, the financial statements, and the profit that is
earned through the online system (Liao, 2017).
Shopping facilities of Hair Products
If the system of Cut short is connected to the online system then it becomes easy to
expand the business because all you have to do is add something interesting to the
business by which the customers love to visit the salon. The next recommendation is to
add the option of shopping for the customers by which the customer can do the
shopping for all the essential products for their hair care along with the booking of
appointment. The customers can place the order through the website of the Cut short
and can pick their order from the salon. It will help in saving the time of customer for the
shopping for hair care products. It will help the management to create a bonding with a
large number of customers (Schäfer & Kummer, 2013). Even with the customers who
go to other salons can also get attracted through this business strategy. The resources
required for filling the demand of the customers, the resources required in the salon and
the products demanded by the customers while shopping, all this can be collected
through creating a network with the suppliers in the market. The budget of the salon will
increase and the products required in the salon can also be available at a low price
because of this connection. The customers can also pay for their shopping products
which will help the customer to take advantage of the discount for the booking and the
purchase of the product. Further, in future, there will be an opportunity for the business
of Cut short to expand it to the online product selling business and they can open a
separate store for the hair care products if the customers give a positive response to
this shopping system (Karray & Sigué, 2018). This online system can also help to do
advertisement for the salon and even for the products which are sold by Cut short. The
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product manufacturers can use the website and the store of Cut short as a platform for
promotion and Cut short can charge for it and make a profit from it.
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Conclusion
The above report was made to discuss with the CEO of Cut short about the problem
which is going in the salon of Cut short. It covered three suggestions to solve the
problem of wastage of time done by the customers when they settle in the salon
because of which the other customers also have to wait for a long time. The
suggestions included in this report are given with the belief that if these actions were
taken then it will help both the customers and the management of the Cut short to
create a better image in the mind of customers and also it will help in building a strong
bonding with the customer and Cut short. The use of the latest technology in the
planning of the new strategy will also result positively for Cut short to step along with the
trends going in the market and the society.
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Ques. 2
Suggestions for Cut Short
The competition between the firms is increasing continuously in every field of the market
even in the salons, so it will be good for the Cut short to aware about the situation and
introduce something unique in the market that will help in increasing the stability of the
salon in the market. There are various methods by which the business operations used
in Cut short can be improved by the support of the management and the employees
working in Cut short. Following are the two suggestions that will help in improving the
business of Cut salon and will add value to the business:
Membership Cards or Premium membership
Most of the websites and the retail stores use the method of membership cards so that
they can add regular customers to their stores. The management of Cut short can also
introduce this system because this is one of the best methods for a continuous and
stable income and also this will help in keeping the customers engaged to the business
(Ma & Lin, 2014). Cut short salon can attract the customers by the help of introducing
the membership or premium membership system. The customers who are having the
membership can get the customer special advantages like they can book for their
appointments in an emergency and they will always be preferred first as compared to
the normal customers. The separate discounts will be given to the premium members of
the Cut short saloon. This will remove the headache of losing customers and also the
customers will get free from changing their salons for the haircut, hairstyle and dressing
services. The management should also track the progress of their business easily by
the help of this membership system (Lee et al., 2018).
Feedback and Surveys
The other suggestion for the Cut short salon is introducing the system of feedback in
which the customers can tell about their experience they have felt with the services
provided by Cut short. The feedback system will help in making the customer as a
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priority and for the business of hair care salon customer will always remain as the
priority for the management of the salon. Every company and organisation asks for the
feedback from the customers because it will help them to know about the feelings and
satisfaction level of customers and they can do improvement in their services and
products according to it. Cut short can also use this system because there is always
something which needs to be improved in the service or the product of any business
and the customers are the one that helps in identifying that point of improvement. By
feedback, cut short can know about the suggestions given by the customers which can
help in building a great image in the society. If the feedbacks are positive then it can
also be used for the promotion of business. The management can also conduct
surveys to know about the performance of their various services provided in their salon.
It will help in improving the quality of services (Sarkany, & Deitte, 2017).
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References
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compete with manufacturers: Strategies and channel power. Industrial Marketing
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online shopping platform strategies on search, display, and membership
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Liao, T. H. (2017). Online shopping post-payment dissonance: Dissonance
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Ma, Y., & Lin, H. (2014). A multiple relevance feedback strategy with positive
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Osborne, D., & Doherty, C. (2016). The benefits of pre-booking. The
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Booking–Case Study Capital City of Kosovo. EuroEconomica, 37(1).
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Schäfer, K., & Kummer, T. F. (2013). Determining the performance of
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Yang, Q., Pang, C., Liu, L., Yen, D. C., & Tarn, J. M. (2015). Exploring
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