Service Marketing Report: Analyzing Service Encounters at Woolworths

This report provides an in-depth analysis of service marketing principles, focusing on the case of Woolworths Limited. It examines the critical role of customer experience in the service industry, emphasizing the significance of service encounters or 'moments of truth' in shaping customer perceptions and purchase decisions. The report explores how Woolworths manages customer touchpoints, both backstage and front stage, to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. It includes a flow chart illustrating customer processes and analyzes the impact of various factors such as customer inquiries, waiting times, and perceived control on the overall service experience. Furthermore, the report discusses managerial implications, highlighting the importance of understanding customer psychology, improving service interactions, and leveraging service encounters to build brand loyalty and drive business growth. The analysis draws upon relevant research and provides insights into how Woolworths can optimize its service strategies to achieve a competitive advantage.

SERVICE MARKETING 1
Service Marketing-Woolworths Limited
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Course
Professor
Date

SERVICE MARKETING 2
Introduction
In any service industry, the customer experience on a particular brand plays a major role
in deciding whether he or she will purchase the same service in future. The customer offers his or
her judgment on the service based on the service encounters or the moment of truth that he or she
experiences while interacting with the service provider (Bradley et al. 2013, p. 512). Therefore,
in the case of any service based organizations, the company should focus on improving the
customer touch points which are the key areas where there is an existing interaction with the
customer. This is the ideal opportunity for the companies to ensure that they leave a positive
impact on the customers.
In this paper, the author will be looking at the impact that service encounters in the
scenario of Woolworths Limited. The paper uses the real life situation of what happens in this
company and how its service encounters affect the business management of the customers. There
are several moments of truth in the case of the customer, and it is not possible here to analyze all
of them. Therefore, this paper finds it suitable to address services encounters among the
Woolworth Company customers based on both backstage and front stage operations.
Before engaging in further discussion, it is important to determine the meaning of service
encounters. Service encounters involve the mix of emotions where the customers judge the
quality of service offered to them in an economic sense concerning the various experiences that
they have. There are so many factors that if managed properly can lead to a better customer
satisfaction and can increase the business considerably.

SERVICE MARKETING 3
Flow Chart Showing Service Marketing of Woolworths Limited
YES
YES
NO NO
YES NO
NO
Custome
r in the
System?
Customer leaves
Make order Waiting Room
Sales person
available?
Take notes of
customers’ demand
(product features)
Waiting Room
Customer Care
available?
Customer needs to
complete paper work
Customer Arrives

SERVICE MARKETING 4
Significance of Service Encounter
In the flow chart, it shows various processes that a customer goes through after coming to
the company. Some of this encounter directly involve the customer making several inquiries on
product features. However, some customers to engage in products inquiry. This helps the
company to allow time for each customer according to his or her needs. The company has to
manage the two types of customers effectively to ensure that their service experience is enhanced
(Gazzoli, Hancer, & Kim, 2013, p. 384). Therefore, Woolworth Limited has designed these
service experiences in such a way that they can convert neutral or negative emotional
experiences of the customers while entering the premises to a positive one.
The emotional underpinnings of the service encounters hold utmost importance and have
to be managed properly to make the service experience good for the customer. For example in
this case, even though the sale person is not available to attend to the customer, they have to be
kept engaged with the things that they like so that they don't develop negative feelings about the
environment.
Many organizations do this by having various entertainment options for their customers
like various Frequently Asked Questions pamphlets and having a match running on a T.V near
the waiting area. This can be done only if the service providers can understand various touch
points that the customer would interact with and the various scenarios that are likely to occur
(Giesbrecht, Schwabe, & Schenk, 2016, p. 172). Duration effects also have to be taken into
consideration where the organization management will have to ensure that the customer is made
aware when there is a significant progress in their total operations and at the same time they will
have to ensure that there are not many discrete steps in which the same is being divided into

SERVICE MARKETING 5
(Lings, Beatson, & Gudergan, 2008, p. 1435). Likewise, the Woolworth Limited applied all the
above mention approaches when keeping the customers at bay before they are served.
Another major factor that is likely to affect the customer satisfaction is that the perceived
control that the customer has in the proceedings. In this case, Woolworth Limited instead of
making the customer wait for a long time they can give him or her the option of booking the slot
based on the availability of the sale person. The more the perceived control that the customer has
on the system, more likely he is to be satisfied with the service provision (Lings, Beatson, &
Gudergan, 2008, p. 1443). However, this may not be possible in all the cases where there are
several internal systems which the customer has little control on; in such cases, the company
must ensure that there is fairness in proceedings so that the customers do not feel that they are
being taken for granted. Therefore, managing the perceived control is also one of the major
factors that affect the business in a big manner.
Every service interaction is an opportunity for the company to portray their satisfaction
on the brand. Therefore, it may be argued that each positive experience that the customer has to
be reinforced to his or her favorite brand. The Woolworth Limited make maximum use of these
service encounters in interacting with the customers and understand their needs and wants and
design the service offerings accordingly. This is an ideal platform for the company in getting the
feedback from the customers and thus can make the necessary improvisations as and when
required (Botschen, 2012, p. 16).

SERVICE MARKETING 6
Managerial Implications
As mentioned above the company should make use of these service encounters in getting
the customers to their fold. Therefore, unlike other disciplines in the service stable, service
encounters cannot be judged merely based on any mathematical equations; there are a lot of
qualitative factors influencing the same.
The managerial implications that these encounters can have may directly affect return on
investment and the market share as it directly influences the customer’s choice of a brand
("Framework for energy market communications," 2012., p. 30). Therefore, this sounds good
especially in the case of a company's brand where trust matters the most and most of the
marketing methods are based on word of mouth in the market. Regarding facilities, most of the
present day companies may be the same; it is just the way the service is being offered that
matters.
There is not enough focus on the service psychology part of the business that can help
Woolworth to improve the service encounters in the organization (Johns, 2012, p. 101-115).
Therefore, the company has to identify various service interactions that the customers will have
during a transaction and identify what all can negatively affect the customers.
Improvements have to be made to make sure that the customers are made aware of the
completeness of the process, the duration and various steps before hand to avoid any ambiguity
(Young 2016, p. 178). This approach will help them in reducing the cost and effort as the number
of reworks when there is no ambiguity is far less, and this would also improve the customer

SERVICE MARKETING 7
satisfaction. These encounters also may be used by the company to sell up various services that
they offer.
There has been enough and more systems and checks developed by the business to
manage the demand and the supply needs of the organization, but very little effort has been put
into making them effective. Therefore, adding the psychological dimension to the same would
increase the brand loyalty and the customers who are satisfied with the service will, in turn, refer
them to more and more customers that can help them in building the base (Lloyd & Luke, 2011,
p. 178).
Even the internal transactions where the customers are not directly involved but forming
an essential part of the whole service process has to be taken into consideration so that the
overall service experience is pleasant and streamlined (Zhang, Kosaka, & Yabutani, 2011, p. 26).
Companies these days have been spending a huge budget of promoting their brand through
various mediums. If Woolworth Limited manages to get their service piece right can get to the
top of the mind of the customers with minimal costs and maintain the same for a significant time.

SERVICE MARKETING 8
References
Botschen, G. (2012). Internationalization of Encounter-Based Relationship Strategies.
Relationship Marketing, 279-295. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-09745-8_16
Bradley, G. L., Sparks, B. A., Zapf, D., McColl-Kennedy, J. R., & Jimmieson, N. L. (2013).
Task-Relationship-Self: A Framework for Understanding Service Encounter Behaviors.
Psychology & Marketing, 30(6), 512-528. doi:10.1002/mar.20624
Framework for energy market communications. (2014.). Doi: 10.3403/30277854
Gazzoli, G., Hancer, M., & Kim, B. (. (2013). Explaining why employee‐customer
Orientation influences customers' perceptions of the service encounter. Journal of Service
Management, 24(4), 382-400. Doi: 10.1108/josm-09-2012-0192
Giesbrecht, T., Schwabe, G., & Schenk, B. (2016). Service encounter think lets: how to
Empower service agents to put value co-creation into practice. Information Systems Journal,
27(2), 171-196. doi:10.1111/isj.12099
Johns, R. (2012). Relationship Marketing in a Self-Service Context: No Longer Applicable?
Journal of Relationship Marketing, 11(2), 91-115. doi:10.1080/15332667.2012.682331
Kim, Young Mi, (2016). Influences of Employee's Excessive Honorific Usage
During Service Encounter on Customers' Perceived Service Quality. Journal of Korea Service
Management Society, 17(1), 175-201. doi:10.15706/jksms.2016.17.1.009
Lings, I., Beatson, A., & Gudergan, S. (2008). The impact of implicit and explicit
Communications on frontline service delivery staff. The Service Industries Journal, 28(10),
1431-1443. Doi: 10.1080/02642060802250245
Lloyd, A. E., & Luk, S. T. (2011). Interaction behaviors leading to comfort in the service
Encounter. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(3), 176-189. Doi: 10.1108/08876041111129164
Zhang, Q., Kosaka, M., & Yabutani, T. (2011). A model of service value co-creation based on a
A new concept of service fields in service systems. ICSSSM11.
doi:10.1109/icsssm.2011.5959460

SERVICE MARKETING 9