Selling and Customer Experience Marketing: Retail Store Analysis

This report presents an analysis of customer service experiences in two retail stores: a high-end furniture outlet (Calgary Best Buys Furniture) and a mid-range furniture store (Furniture Depot). The author details their experiences, including store appearance, staff helpfulness, layout, and parking. The report evaluates staff behavior, rapport building, and the determination of customer needs during the shopping experience. The author notes the presence or absence of elements such as handshakes, customer greetings, and attempts to make a sale. Furthermore, the report assesses follow-up services, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and other elements of good customer service. The author provides recommendations for improvement, including staff training and rapport building, and concludes with a personal philosophy of prioritizing customer needs. The report also includes references to relevant academic literature on customer service and retail management.

Running head: SELLING AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Selling and customer experience
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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1. Details of the stores visited
The two stores that were selected for the assignment were from a high budget and also a
mid budget sector respectively. The store selected from the high budget was the furniture outlet
called the Calgary best buys furniture (calgarybestbuyfurnitures.ca.2020). The other outlet that
was selected from the mid budget range was the fashion retail outlet that is Furniture depot.
Furniture depot is one of the affordable and well known outlets that try to produce a large
number of exclusive designs of beds beddings and also other furniture. They promise to sell their
products at a very low and also affordable price so that customers from all income groups are
able to afford the same (Gursoy, Cai & Anaya, 2017). The other store that was visited was the
well know furniture store that excels in the production of the best quality furniture starring from
bed, sofas, dining table and also many other such pieces of furniture at a premium price. I
wanted to shop for the kid’s bed from the Calgary furniture outlet and was looking for the same
from the other store that is the Furniture Depot (furnituredepot.ca. 2020).
Appearance of store
The appearance of the store was really n ice. It was locate at 4774 Westwinds Dr NE
#308, Calgary, AB T3J 0L7, Canada. However I did have some issues in finding out the location
of the store and had to call the store in order to get the location without any struggle.
After entering the Calgary store I realized that it was a very well decorated and highly
maintained store that had everything decked up at the suitable place and also one would be
assisted by their employees at every point of time.

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Appearance of staff
The staffs were very helpful in the Calgary store. However the staffs in the other st9re
that is the Furniture Depot was bit absent then when I went there. In other words there was a lack
in the total number of staffs available to attend all the customers
Layout of store
The Calgary and Furniture Depot both had their furniture decked up properly. However I
looked the Calgary store more because there were many more varieties of products so that it cold
suits the varying needs of the customers. The Calgary store had a good atmosphere with the
reviews being displayed that would help the customers in making purchase decision. The
placement of the materials was more organized in Calgary store and also the customers were
being helped with their user manual.
Parking
The parking space was available near the two places and it was really useful. Thos made
to easier for all the customers.
Does staff look happy and inviting?
The staffs in Calgary store look cheerful but the staffs in the other store were looking bit less
efficient. This was because they had the tendency of somehow finishing up their work.

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Were you greeted when you went in?
The warm welcome was available in both the stores but it seemed to me personally that the staffs
in Calgary were shaking hands and were involving customers in the whole communication
process (Qadir & Ali, 2017).
Transaction transpired
• did they shake hands?
Shaking hands is a good and respectful gesture that was shown by the staffs at the
Calgary store but was actually missing in the Furniture Depot. However the price of the products
at the Furniture Depot was less and there was also considerable discounts on the products.
However apart from this the other aspects of customer satisfaction were actually missing.
• was there any rapport building?
The rapport building was taking place well in the Calgary store. This is because of the
fact that the customers and the employees were being able to interact with each other in a proper
way. On the other hand this was totally missing in the other store that is Furniture depot because
the customers were not able to get their queries answered properly.
• did they determine your needs or what was important to you?
The Calgary store had a very wide range if kids bedding based on the purpose of each
customer. They made it a point to know if the customer looked for any bed for as single child or
for tins and other such specifications.

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• Behavior of staffs
Furniture Depot was not really concerned about knowing what the customers were
actually looking for but it seemed as if they were just trying to finish of their duties as soon as
possible by convincing the customers somehow.
• were they helpful and caring?
Staffs at the Calgary store were caring but the staffs at Furniture Depot were not really
interested in interacting with the guests (Lin & Lin, 2017).
• did they appear interested?
Staffs at Calgary store were trying to understand customer needs and help them out with
all the possible efforts. One good feature was to display all the customer reviews and the start
ratings that the customers have given after using the products and also after getting the services.
• did they attempt to make a sale?
It is natural for all the companies to make an attempt to sell their products in order tom
meet their sales target (Gursoy, Cai & Anaya, 2017). Both the stores tried to sell their products
by convincing the buyers. However this done better by the Calgary store. Even though the price
is premium and more than the price at Furniture Depot, but the behavior of the staffs is much
better at Calgary Furniture store than Furniture Depot.

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Follow up service
Staffs at the Calgary store offered their business card and also said that they will be
taking up the follow up on the products that are being purchased by the customers. A full time
help line number was provided.
• Verbal and nonverbal communication skills
Employees at Calgary store had a good verbal and non verbal skill. They were speaking
in a good and polite way and also displaying the written review notes. The Furniture Depot
however has to work on it (Nicholls & Mohsen, 2019).
4. List and describe other elements of good customer service that were present.
 Calgary store had well behaved and patient staffs
 They were also trying to give a helpline number and all other possible sup[port to their
customers
 The staffs at the Furniture Dept were rude and also impatient (Dimyati, 2018). They were
not making any attempts to listen to the actual customer need
5. Element that were missing in customer service
 A good communication system and patient nature was missing among the employees.
 Employees at the Furniture Depot did not introduce themselves and also were not very
patient in dealing with their customers.

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6. Overall impression of the store and salesperson
I would definitely recommend others to make their purchases from both the stores. This
is because he will be able to get some very good quality and durable products. However I would
recommend that the buyers must make sure that they are taking a good look at their income or at
their budget. The higher income group people will be going to the Calgary store and the ones
with medium income must be going to the Furniture Depot store (Kim et al., 2018).
Salesperson must use the positive body language like shaking of ands and also maintaining a
good eye contact with the customers while answering the queries.
7. Three Recommendations
 I would ask the store manager to conduct a training process for all the employees so that
they are able to manage the customers properly
 Flexible shift must be available so that employees are satisfied
 Rapport building a proper positive attitude must be developed so that the staffs and the
customers are able to talk with each other properly
8. Personal experience
Customer service is the key to attain a proper customer service. This is mainly because of
the fact that the customers will be able to develop a loyalty towards the firm when they are

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having a very memorable experience. This can be done when the customers are being served
well by the staffs.
My own personal philosophy is to keep customers first and serve them very efficiently
with all the available resources and also they must be given a 24*7 hour customer help. This is
essential because this will enable all the customers to get a memorable experience even if they
are not able to make their purchase.

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References
calgarybestbuyfurnitures.ca. (2020). calgarybestbuyfurnitures.ca.
https://calgarybestbuyfurnitures.ca/
Dimyati, M. (2018). A Theoritical Effect Test Of The Banking Service Quality Dimension On
Customer Satisfaction.
furnituredepot.ca. (2020). furnituredepot.ca. https://furnituredepot.ca/pages/about-us
Gursoy, D., Cai, R. R., & Anaya, G. J. (2017). Developing a typology of disruptive customer
behaviors. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kim, J., Kim, H. R., Lacey, R., & Suh, J. (2018). How CSR impact meaning of work and
dysfunctional customer behavior. Journal of Service Theory and Practice.
Lin, C. Y., & Lin, J. S. C. (2017). The influence of service employees’ nonverbal communication
on customer-employee rapport in the service encounter. Journal of Service Management.
Lockwood, J. (2017). An analysis of web-chat in an outsourced customer service account in the
Philippines. English for Specific Purposes, 47, 26-39.
Nicholls, R., & Mohsen, M. G. (2019). Managing customer-to-customer interaction (CCI)–
insights from the frontline. Journal of Services Marketing.
Qadir, I., & Ali, A. (2017). Importance of logistics processes for customer service and firm
performance: Evidence from furniture industry of Pakistan. Management: Journal of
Sustainable Business and Management Solutions in Emerging Economies, 22(3), 27-36.
Quirke, B. (2017). Making the connections: using internal communication to turn strategy into
action. Routledge.
Tanzim, K. K. (2019). Customer Satisfaction of The City Bank Limited.

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WA, N. A. (2018). The Impact of Interpersonal Communication toward Customer Satisfaction:
The Case of Customer Service of Sari Asih Hospital. In MATEC Web of Conferences
(Vol. 150, p. 05087). EDP Sciences.