Introduction
Customer satisfaction is one of the factors that must be prioritized in order to become successful in the market industry. By giving importance to this part, customers will surely stay connected and will make use of the store’s services for a longer period of time. Continuously providing their needs, both in customer relation and service, will also make the customers promote the store by referring other people to take a look at the store suggested to them. As such, it is necessary to take into consideration the recommendation of the customers in terms of products and service. Nordstrom is one of the retail stores who prioritized customer satisfaction. The staff’s patience and sense of professionalism has enabled the store to become prosperous, and eventually becomes a successful retail industry despite the harsh competition (Nankervis, Compton, Baird & Coffey, 2010).
Nordstrom has followed the customer satisfaction theory significantly in their industry. Their customers are always the priority and all their needed service are constantly being given at high quality of service. This paper will analyze the customer satisfaction theory, and how Nordstrom adapted to this kind of approach.
Body
First of all, the definition of the word ‘satisfaction’ in business terms refers to the relationship between two involved parties, the employee and the customers. Depending on the relationship that had been formed through transactions and business, satisfaction will affect the psychological aspects of the customers: the rational, emotional, and behavioral aspects (Qualtrics, n.d). With satisfaction, there comes a word which is often associated with the customer service quality, and that is called expectation. Customers more likely expect about things that will made them satisfied at all times. In Nordstrom, it had been previously stated that customer service is the main priority of the store, and that warranties are given to all times. In general, the measurement of satisfaction can be divided into four parts (Qualtrics, n.d): (1) Importance. The products that are being sold in the retail stores are rated based on how they are beneficial in the everyday lives of the customer. (2) Expected Benefits. Customers have their own set of standards that they follow when buying products. If majority of the standards were met, then there is a higher that the customer will trust the retail store. (3) Meeting the Expectations. As said before, not only the product itself must be present in the retail store, the preferences of the customers should be taken into consideration. Customers have the tendency to reject the product even if they needed to buy it because of the design and other details which do not comply with the customer’s preferences. (4) Expected Usage. Finally, after the product has been bough, the owners will make sure that the product is functional and will still be functional after sufficient time had passed. If the product fails to function, the owner is credited to return the product before a specific time, or warranty time, is reached and the product can be exchanged with the functional but same product. By meeting these four criteria, customers will surely be satisfied to the service and offers provided to them. Furthermore, Nordstrom has been able to follow all these criteria and as a result, they become successful more than ever.
There are ways in which satisfaction will be tested and measured in terms of the underlying theories previously presented. The application of equity theory in Nordstrom seemed to be quite significant for the customer’s satisfaction. Equity theory is defined as the equality between input and output being the basis of satisfaction (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2008) . This means that the input of the customers in getting the product that they wanted will determine the level of satisfaction that they might receive. In other words, the value of the products is the main basis for satisfaction obtained (“Theories of Customer Satisfaction,” n.d). The price that the customers are willing to spend will determine the amount of satisfaction that they can get, but of course, the four criteria must be met beforehand. It can be a sufficient way to measure the satisfaction of the customers, because they are willing to spend money for the product. However, this will not be true in all cases, especially when considering the socioeconomic status. Wealthy consumers can easily buy products regardless of price while the less fortunate found it difficult to buy the same product. So, if this is the case, there will be bias in evaluating the overall satisfaction rating.
Conclusion
As for the proposal of an online store, there are guidelines that must be followed before proceeding. Fortunately, the essence of retail business is still usable in an online store setting. However, one must be careful in what products will be sold online because not every kind of products produce profits and gains (Shearman, 2014).
Apparently, retail stores, as a whole, began to slow down in terms of progress and sales rate (Loeb, 2014). Even though Nordstrom is still not affected with this finding, the time will surely come that Nordstrom will slow down in sales. As a response to this, the proposed online store should be started as soon as possible and make the stores more reachable in distant lands. People will surely easily notice the website especially nowadays that the internet is more like a commodity than wants. But no matter how things turn in, it is important to remember that customers are the ones that should be given with highest priority in the retail business
References
Customer Satisfaction Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.qualtrics.com/university/researchsuite/research-resources/survey- types/market- surveys/customer-satisfaction-theory/
Loeb, W. (2014). A New Retail Concept Designed to Combat the Online Shopping Trend. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2014/03/31/a- new-retail-concept-designed-to-combat-the-online-shopping-trend/#48a64da468f7.
Nankervis, A. Compton, R., Baird, M., & Coffey, J. (2010). Human Resource Management: Strategy and Practice. Cengage Learning.
Shearman, S. (2014). Rethinking retail: Why brands are embracing the rise of the concept store. Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media- network-blog/2014/jul/09/retail-brands-concept-store-shopping
Theories of Customer Satisfaction. (n.d.). Retrieved 2016, from http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/4835/13/13_chapter 4.pdf
Yuksel, A., & Yuksel, F. (2008). Customer Satisfaction: Conceptual Issues Consumer Satisfaction Theories: A Critical Review. Research Gate.
