Customer Satisfaction Evaluation: sgCarMart.com Mini-Project Report

This report presents a quantitative analysis of customer satisfaction at sgCarMart.com, a prominent online marketing site in Singapore. The study investigates various aspects of customer service, including car auction, vehicle classifieds, and loan services. The research employs a literature review to establish a framework and utilizes a survey methodology to collect data from customers. The findings reveal that customers are generally satisfied with the affordability and convenience of services but express concerns regarding inspection times, incomplete information, and interest rates. The report concludes by discussing the results, identifying key factors influencing customer satisfaction, and offering recommendations for improving customer service management to enhance brand reputation and customer loyalty.

sgCarMart.com
Mini project on sgCarMart.com
Mini-project
Name
Submitted to
Date
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sgCarMart.com
1. Abstract
A marketplace does not only aim to attract new customers but it also concentrates on retaining
their existing customers by implementing various procedures and policies for customer
satisfaction and loyalty. In the automobile sector, customer satisfaction is associated with service
and its quality. In order to improve customer loyalty and to enhance the brand reputation of the
organization, a management approach focused primarily on customer satisfaction is required.
This study aims to perform a quantitative analysis of sgCarMart.com in order to evaluate the
overall customer satisfaction rate. The study concludes by discussing the result and proposing
improvement in the customer satisfaction management for the company.
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sgCarMart.com
Table of Contents
1. Abstract........................................................................................................................................2
2. Introduction..................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Background history................................................................................................................4
2.2 Purpose of the Study..............................................................................................................4
2.3 Objectives..............................................................................................................................4
2.4 Research Questions................................................................................................................5
3. Literature Review........................................................................................................................5
4. Methodology................................................................................................................................8
5. Analysis.....................................................................................................................................10
6. Discussions................................................................................................................................13
7. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................14
8. References..................................................................................................................................16
9. Appendices................................................................................................................................17
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sgCarMart.com
2. Introduction
2.1 Background history
sgCarMart.com is Singapore’s leading online marketing site which operates in a variety of
businesses related to car auction, vehicle classified, car insurance, loans and settlement services.
This company was founded in 2004 originally as a car classified services with three-person team.
In 2007, it managed to break even and since then it has grown to a large team having more than
60 staff members. As per some reports, the leading online marketing site has earned annual
revenue of US$4.04 million with over 10,000 listings on its site (Singapore Press Holdings
acquires sgCarMart.com for US$48M in cash, 2016). For upgrading their network,
sgCarMart.com was seen to tap into IDA's IPv6 Transition Programme in March 2012. In order
to retain its success in the cut-throat environments, the company is aiming towards fulfilling all
the needs and wants of the customers and using customer satisfaction as their key element for
business strategy.
2.2 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to recognize the customer service level of the sgCarMart.com. The
study will initially address the literature related to the customer service for constructing the
study.
2.3 Objectives
 To assess the customer satisfacton in online marketing site
 To study various factors required for customer service implementation
 To identify the principal causes for dissatisfaction and satisfaction among customers
 Collect various figures and facts of sgCarMart.com
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sgCarMart.com
2.4 Research Questions
The primary question aimed for this study is “What is the importance of customer satisfaction in
development of the online marketing site?”Keeping this in mind, the questions framed for this
study are:
 What is the perception of the customers regarding sgCarMart.com in terms of the services
being provided?
 Does sgCarMart.com have an efficient customer service management?
 What are the factors for implementing a successful customer service?
3. Literature Review
Customer satisfaction has been generating immense interest and is considered as a tool for
evaluating the quality of the service or the product. Positive response from the customers is
considered as the best indicator of future profit of any organization. Kotler & Philip (2009) have
characterized satisfaction as the evaluation of the quality of the product or service post-
purchasing as compared to the expectations from the pre-purchasing. Customer services are
highly personal assessment which are directly related to the expectations of the customers. Han,
Mack and Karp, Peter (1989) defined a satisfied customers present in public as well as public
sector as the one who receives significant added value to their bottom line. The marketing
managers are bound to be influenced by the expectations of the customers in this competitive
business environment and look out for meeting the demands of their customers. Nick Wreden
(2004), stated that in order to avoid any issues and problems arising from the complex between
customer differences and expectations, company should concentrate on customer equity and
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sgCarMart.com
should encourage their marketing managers to determine various factors on how the customers
hold them accountable.
Berry and Parasuraman (1991, p.204) define customer satisfaction as, “the consumer’s response
to the evaluation of the perceived discrepancy between prior expectations (or some other norm of
performance) and the actual performance of the product/service as perceived after its
consumption”. Since the satisfaction is influenced by the customer services and their availability,
the major concern for all the organization and business is the provision of quality customer
services. Similarly customer satisfaction has been defined as the emotional response of the
customer after using the product or the service (Oliver, 1997).
In online mode of customer behavior it is seen that the features of the website, characteristics of
the products, perceptions regarding control over web environment, consumer skills and attitude
towards online purchasing are considered. According to Jarvenpaa and Todd (1996-97), the
factors which influence the purchase decision of the online customers are:
1) Understanding of the product or the Product Perception: Price, Product variety and Product
Quality,
2) Customer Experience: Convenience, Attributes of time, Enjoyment of shopping process,
Effort and Product availability and Lifestyle Compatibility.
3) Customer service: Assurance, Vendor responsiveness, and Reliability.
4) Consumer Risk: Performance, Economic, Social, Security, Personal and Privacy risk.
Hsuehen (2006) investigated the relationship between customer, customer value and website
quality and concluded that the web-customer satisfaction is classified into two integral attributes
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sgCarMart.com
namely, Web Information Quality which is the perception of the customers regarding the quality
of information being provided in the website and Web System Quality referring to the perception
of the customers regarding the retrieval and delivery of the information. And cost-based value,
quality and performance outcomes are mentioned from the customer value side (Oliver, 1999).
The satisfaction level and the satisfaction state has been judged as a reaction for the Customer
satisfaction (Kim et al., 2004). In further studies by Selnes, F. (2013), the satisfied customers
who are loyal with the brand and do not chose other brands help in establishing an optimistic
relationship in the brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. The customers satisfaction is seen to
be directly proportional to the brand loyalty and the companies have a focal point on
implementing the comprehensive approach for relationship marketing involving the customer
satisfaction and the outcomes would be towards retainment of their customers and to create an
optimistic word of mouth (Bowen, J. T., & Chen McCain, S. L., 2015).
With the customer satisfaction, the customers are seen to form a long-term profitable relationship
with the brand as it provides brand value and extends the mouth marketing in order to build a
good brand reputation (Hanif, 2010). Customer satisfaction and the brand loyalty are seen to
have a constructive relationship with each other, suggesting that consumer perception is
dependent on the profitability of the company and its market share helping the company to
improve themselves continuously (Wu, C. L., 2013).
Further the customer loyalty is increased by the trust, customer satisfaction and the brand of the
company. The customer satisfaction is also increased when a quality product is obtained at an
affordable price which in turns helps in building customer loyalty and enhancing the brand
reputation of the company (Zaman et al., 2012). Customer loyalty can be explained by the fact
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sgCarMart.com
that the preference of the company would be able to pull out the desired brand over the others.
(Chirico and Presti; 2008). According to Ponirin et al. (2009), the customer loyalty is
experiential with the customer satisfaction.
4. Methodology
The research paper used customer satisfaction as the dependent variable whereas trust, supplier
image, affordability, company image and security of customers are taken as independent factors
that could affect customer satisfaction.
Figure 1. Dependent and independent variables.
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Customer
Satisfaction
Customer
loyalty
Trust
Company
image
Affordability

sgCarMart.com
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Purpose of
the study
Exploration
Description
Hypothesis
Testing
Types of
Investigation
Establishing-
relationships
Group
differences
Research
interference
Extent
Studying
events when
they occur
Study
Settings
-Contrived
-Non-
contrived
Measurements
and measures
Measures
Scaling
Coding
Organizing
Unit of
Analysis
Group
organizations,
Machines etc.
Sampling
Design
Sample Size,
Probability
Non-
probability
Time
Horizon
Longitudinal
Cross-
sectional
Data-
Collection
Method
Interview
Questionnaire
Observation
Data
Analysis
-Data
importance
-Data quality
-Testing of
Hypotheses

sgCarMart.com
After the findings from literature, the investigation performed in the paper was quantitative and
exploratory in nature. The population majorly comprised of all the customers who used the
services of sgCarMart.com. The identity of customers was kept private and was not disclosed.
This was followed by the probability sampling approach along with application of the
convenience sampling technique. The whole data was gathered over a period of four-week
period. During this time, the customers who were visiting the website and matched the sampling
framework were also asked to participate. Further a structured questionnaire was also used for
gathering the data. Various items were developed using the findings from literature review which
focused on trust, supplier image, affordability, company image and security of customers. In
order to measure the reliability, the internal consistency reliability test was performed. The
content of the questionnaire was aligned with the research objectives in order to ensure the
validity. SPSS was used for analyzing the data and results. Further a multiple and descriptive
regression analysis approach was performed for analyzing the results. Survey was conducted
using a questionnaire and the same has been attached in the Appendices.
5. Analysis
50 questionnaires were collected for finding out the various factors responsible for successful
implementation of the customer service. The satisfaction is represented by the bar chart’s axis.
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sgCarMart.com
The different questions of the survey were presented in the bar chart horizontal.
Q1. Inspection Time Q2. Quality Q3. Complete Information Q4. Cost
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Satisfaction
Series 1
Figure 1 depicts the service satisfaction of the customers and from the response it was seen that
the customers had problems with the inspection times provided to them while car auction and
incomplete information but agreed to have enjoyed high quality services at an affordable price.
The customers had problem with inspection time (3.8) and incomplete information provided
online (4) which created a wide gap between the customers’ expectations and customers’
satisfaction. However, it was seen that the customers were satisfied with the quality of service
being provided at an affordable price while car auction.
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sgCarMart.com
Interest Rate Easier process Down Payment Customer service
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Satisfaction
Questions
Figure 2 depicts the loan and insurance services and from the response it was seen that the
customers were not happy with the interest rate charged by the company and were not in
agreement with the down payment paid for the car. However, the customers agreed that the
company had a comparative easier process and the customer services were commendable. The
customers had issues with the high prices of interest rate (2.5) and down payment (3.5) but relied
on the easier process (4.2) and customer service (4.2) provided by the company.
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