introduction
In today's highly competitive business environment, the core competitiveness of enterprises has shifted from a simple price war to a service level competition. Many companies are looking to improve the quality of their services in order to gain a competitive advantage.
The exploration of a Chinese supermarket in this field is particularly eye-catching, and it has successfully provided services that surpass those of well-known Japanese supermarkets by improving service processes and staff training, which shows that Chinese enterprises are fully capable of innovating in the service field, which has important reference significance.
The way of supermarket service in Japan
In the case of Japanese supermarkets, the quality of service has always been at the leading level in the industry. Japanese supermarkets pay attention to every detail, from staff selection and training to service process design, to ensure that customers get the best shopping experience.
For example, Japanese supermarkets require cashiers to memorize hundreds or thousands of product codes and complete the checkout within a fixed amount of time. Employees also need to receive various etiquette training to embody the service concept of "customer first".
In addition, Japanese supermarkets also pay attention to the use of information technology to improve service processes, such as the introduction of automatic checkout machines to improve efficiency, the establishment of a membership point system to strengthen customer stickiness, etc.
All these measures have created a first-class service image of Japanese supermarkets, which has gained a good reputation around the world, and many foreign supermarkets also regard Japanese supermarkets as Xi objects of learning and hope to learn from their service experience.
It can be said that the service philosophy of Japanese supermarkets embodies the essence of Japanese culture of "excellence", and it is also an important foundation for its continuous leadership.
Chinese supermarkets are facing difficulties
Compared with the service concept of Japanese supermarkets, there seems to be a certain gap in the concept of Chinese supermarkets. Most Chinese supermarkets do not invest enough in staff training and service processes, resulting in uneven service quality.
For example, Chinese supermarket employees do not have a comprehensive understanding of the product and are unable to make sufficient product knowledge recommendations to customers. Mistakes are also common at checkout, and the attitude when dealing with returns and exchanges is not enthusiastic.
In the early days of some supermarkets, the service was acceptable, but the decline in service quality over time is more common. This has led many customers to express dissatisfaction with the service of Chinese supermarkets, believing that there is a certain gap compared with mature supermarkets abroad.
It can be seen that how to improve service quality is the key to the sustainable and healthy development of China's supermarket industry. If this pain point is not solved, it will always be difficult for Chinese supermarkets to stand out in the fierce market competition.
A Chinese supermarket practices change
In response to the uneven service level of Chinese supermarkets, a Chinese supermarket is determined to become a pioneer in driving change. The management of the supermarket is deeply aware that in order to enhance the core competitiveness of the enterprise, it is necessary to fundamentally solve the problem of service shortcomings.
To this end, they comprehensively learned from the successful experience of Japanese supermarkets, and made key improvements in staff training, service processes, incentive mechanisms, etc. Specifically, the supermarket first optimized its staff recruitment standards to ensure that new employees had a level of hospitality and etiquette.
After onboarding, each employee is required to undergo a comprehensive one-month training on product knowledge, checkout operations, customer communication, and more. Supermarkets have also established an appraisal mechanism, and if employees' service evaluations are at a low level for a long time, they will face the risk of dismissal.
In terms of service process, the supermarket has also been optimized and reconstructed to ensure that customers can receive thoughtful service at every step of the shopping process. Finally, the supermarket has also adjusted the employee performance appraisal system, and the weight of "soft indicators" such as service attitude and customer evaluation in the appraisal has been greatly increased, and it is linked to the salary and benefits of employees.
Through the joint implementation of these improvement measures, the supermarket's service quality has improved significantly and has begun to win praise from customers.
The quality of service counterattacks
By continuously promoting service reform, the Chinese supermarket has gradually achieved a qualitative leap in service quality and customer satisfaction. More and more customers are starting to praise the supermarket's services on social media.
Some customers even bluntly said that the Chinese supermarket's services have surpassed that of many foreign supermarket brands entering the Chinese market, such as Walmart and Carrefour.
This marks a counterattack in the service level of the Chinese supermarket.
The reason for this backlash is that the Chinese supermarket has not only provided services that meet the basic requirements, but in many ways even exceed customer expectations, showing what can be called "warm" and enthusiastic.
For example, the supermarket's staff can take the initiative to give product suggestions when customers have difficulty making choices. When queuing at the checkout, we will take the initiative to carry shopping bags for customers to take a break; In case of special circumstances such as returns and exchanges, it can be flexibly disposed of to meet customer needs to the greatest extent.
These "humanized" service measures make customers feel "at home".
It can be seen that this Chinese supermarket has successfully improved service quality and customer perception through management reform and innovation, and has achieved remarkable results in enhancing customer stickiness.
It proves with practical actions that Chinese enterprises are fully capable of achieving new breakthroughs in their core competitiveness through their own efforts.
Specific service highlights
The Chinese supermarket has made beneficial innovations and optimizations in many aspects of the service process, forming a series of service highlights worth learning from.
The first is the flexibility of the return policy. This supermarket has realized the "one-ticket service" for returns and exchanges, and customers can return them unconditionally within seven days of purchase. You don't need to provide a reason when you return the product, just show the receipt.
This convenient and efficient return and exchange process greatly enhances the ease of shopping.
The second is the resilience of employees. When a customer encounters a special problem, the staff of this supermarket can take the initiative to help solve it, rather than simply "promising feedback".
Once, when a customer purchased a product with a wrong label, the employee immediately reported it to correct it, and took the initiative to contact the customer to apologize, which was well received.
The third is the delegation of authority to employees. The supermarket empowers front-line staff to be flexible under certain conditions, such as refunds when conditions are reasonable, which speeds up the resolution of problems.
Finally, the supermarket also pays attention to data analysis and continuously optimizes service pain points. For example, using customer evaluation data, we can find out the mistakes that often occur in checkout, and carry out focused training and correction.
These initiatives reflect the supermarket's philosophy of designing processes from the customer's point of view, and are an important reason why its services are recognized.
Fruitful results
Through the continuous promotion of service innovation, the Chinese supermarket has achieved gratifying results in terms of word-of-mouth and sales. With the continuous improvement of service quality, the supermarket's customer flow and repurchase rate have increased significantly, and its sales have achieved double-digit growth rates year after year, and it has jumped to one of the top positions in the region.
This good business performance has formed a positive cycle. Thanks to the expansion of sales scale, supermarkets can invest more resources to further improve the service system, such as introducing more advanced technologies to improve service efficiency and expanding the scale of staff training.
Employees also gain a greater sense of achievement and honor in the process, and their enthusiasm for service is further stimulated.
It can be said that a good service experience not only benefits customers, but also enables the enterprise itself to gain greater momentum for development. This is the key to the success of this Chinese supermarket's service innovation.
Lessons learned
The service innovation of this Chinese supermarket has important implications for our other businesses:
First, service is the core competitiveness. Good service can bring stronger survival and development momentum for enterprises. Service innovation should become an important part of the enterprise development strategy.
Second, improving services requires systems thinking. Employees, processes, incentives and other links should form a closed loop to jointly improve service quality. It is difficult to achieve significant results from a single initiative.
Third, employees are a key asset. An excellent team of employees is the cornerstone of service innovation, and we should pay attention to the healthy flow of the team.
Fourth, customer-centric. Every initiative should consider the customer experience and look at the process through the eyes of the customer.
Fifth, insist on continuous improvement. Service innovation needs to be continuously promoted and keep pace with the times.
This Chinese supermarket has proved with practical actions that Chinese companies can achieve new breakthroughs in core competitiveness through independent innovation. This spirit is worth learning from and Xi and inheriting.
Conclusion
Service competition has become the key to today's business. This Chinese supermarket has beaten Japanese and other foreign brand supermarkets with excellent service quality, proving that Chinese companies can achieve new breakthroughs and competitive advantages in the field of service through self-transformation and innovation.
We should learn from the valuable experience and spirit behind it, and continue to climb new heights on the road of enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises.