STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY MALLS TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE

STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY MALLS TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE

BINGI NITHIN BABU, DEEKSHEETH NAIDU, AMAN TIWARI, TULASI VENKATA SIDDESWAR

IFIM College, Bangalore

Dr.LAKSHMI.P

Assistant Professor, IFIM College, Bangalore

Abstract

Customer service is the delivery of assistance to clients prior to, during, and following a transaction. Because of this, it plays a crucial role in the clients' value chain. Customer service standards vary by industry, but ultimately the goal of a well-performed service is to boost profits. Branding is the process of instilling a strong, favorable image of a business, its goods or services in the minds of the public by fusing features such a logo, design, mission statement, and a recurring theme throughout all marketing materials. Companies can stand out from the crowd and develop a following of devoted customers by using effective branding strategies. The marketing strategy adopted by shopping mall: Use coupons and promotional offers to increase sales, Use activities to amuse and engage shoppers as part of your mall marketing strategy, Compile contact information using a registration form and a freebie, Select your preferred promotions to use in your mall's marketing plan,Encourage loyalty and confidence through client-only promotions. Customers can choose a mall based on a variety of factors, including cost, quality, accessibility, atmosphere, mall image, information on consumer buying behaviour, convenience, offers, retail businesses in malls, etc. The presence of the most well-known brands among customers in that specific area, elevators, lifts, wheelchairs, shopping trolleys, and parking spots are just a few of the needs of the customers that malls must satisfy for a quick and easy shopping experience. A mall needs to have places to buy food and drink, a range of entertaining games, a cosy theatre, and other amenities for amusement and relaxation. The retail businesses in malls meet the needs of their customers, including those related to quality assurance and human interactions.

Key words: customer satisfaction, marketing strategies, branding, shopping malls, promotions.

Introduction

Customer service refers to attending to a customer's demands and resolving their issues. Giving clients what they want in the best way possible is the core of good customer service. Understanding client needs and establishing and communicating clear service standards are key to enhancing or improving customer service, which helps you keep customers and get more value from them.

Active listening, empathy, and problem-solving are just a few of the numerous abilities needed for customer service. The four p's are essential for showing customers attention and for being able to communicate effectively with them. The most important aspect of providing excellent customer service is being nice. Always be considerate and friendly, and try to greet everyone with a smile.

Be proactive by anticipating the client's needs and offering help or guidance before they arise. Outstanding customer service includes establishing a local connection with clients, remembering and thanking regular clients, and making use of your product expertise. An important quality in a customer service position is patience. Developing trusting relationships with customers and giving them prompt, courteous service are both crucial elements of good customer service. A customer service plan is an all-inclusive method of handling client relations. Better client experiences lead to a more loyal customer base.

Customer service at malls is important thing starting from parking and going into the mall we can see different things like way to go and allocated floor of the shopping malls and different things like movies section and food section and many more things. Customers need compulsory customer service at every aspect in malls and providing offers by the malls and shipping availability and ambience in the mall and as of now the present generation people are moving towards malls and malls are also increasing in India day by day and the malls are trying to provide customer service with prior concern the retail stores in the malls are very important and the store owners has to be friendly with the customers and more number of retail stores are there together in malls customer is having more options in the malls as many malls are increasing in the country malls are trying to capture the customers and aims to provide good customer service .

Objective

1. To understand about the marketing staretgies adopted by shopping malls
2. To understand about the customer satisfaction

Literature Review

According to Hisam et al., (2016) retail stores should concentrate on the features which are visually appealing to the customers in his study he mainly focused on SERVQUAL a research instrument which is designed to capture consumer expectations and perceptions of a service along five dimensions that are believed to represent service quality he used this instrument to measure the customer satisfaction at different levels and to provide better customer services. According to seyed Ali Alavi, sajad Rezaei, Naser valaei, wan khairuzzaman wan ismail consumer decision making shows an impact on level of satisfaction and purchase intention of the consumers and brand styles which are there in the mall will show the impact and some people don’t care about any kind of things when they purchase anything in the shopping mall and careless people don’t care about it and we can say that there is a some kind of relationship between the customer satisfaction and purchase method. There are different CDM styles which shows the higher impact on the customer satisfaction. Customer decision making also relates to the levels of satisfaction and shopping malls or retail stores must try to bring more kind of varieties in the mall especially in the fashion then the changes in the customer decision making also take place. The shopping malls must try to adopt various kind of strategies which enhance the levels of satisfaction of the customer.

According to Amin M, K cobanoglu, C Rezaei, s & wulan M M shopping mall attributes like convenience, Mall’s environment, Tenant presence, service quality, and marketing focus has significant effect towards customer satisfaction of tourists and questionnaire is also very important to get responses from the people. Shopping malls must focus on the strategies to increase the

shopping mall attributes and to safeguard the tourists purchase intention. Retail can grow by the kind of strategies adopting by them in the shopping malls. Malls must have to focus on future to retention of the tourists.

Customer satisfaction

(2008) (Kristensen, Jacob, Kai, & Eskildsen); Due to the market's slow expansion and fierce rivalry, consumer satisfaction and loyalty are becoming more and more crucial components in modern commerce. The researcher has stated in this letter that European retail sales are changing quickly and that developers have been concentrating on boosting shop size and ownership. Manana (2009) proposed that consumers rate malls based on the merchandise and several mall attributes, such as location, staff, and mood. Since mall location is a crucial component of retail business, retail organisations invest in acquiring and maintaining locations suitable for their products and customers. Price, quality, accessibility, environment, mall image, about consumer buying behaviour, convenience, offers, retail shops in malls, etc. are some of the aspects that aid customers in making their choice of mall. The needs of the customers that malls have to meet for the quick and simple shopping experience include the presence of the most popular brands among the customers in that particular location, elevators, lifts, wheelchairs, shopping trolleys, and parking spaces. For enjoyment and relaxation, a mall must provide food and beverage outlets, a variety of fun games, a cosy theatre, etc. The retail establishments in malls provide for the needs of their patrons, such as quality control and interpersonal relationships. Bromley Rosemary D. F. & Matthews David L. conducted a specific study in several shopping malls and supermarkets for those wheelchair customers who were unable to report their shopping experiences earlier (2007).

Customer connection management techniques aid shopping centers in updating their plans and strategies to better serve their patrons and cultivate strong bonds with them. CRM offers the testing, preferences, and buying behavior, among other things. One of the key elements of contemporary strategy in shopping malls to obtain ideal results in facts and figures is CRM tools and procedures. Analytical, operational, collaborative, and strategic tools are some of the CRM tools.

Marketing strategies adopted by shopping mall

1. Use coupons and promotional offers to increase sales

Customers are always looking for a good offer, thus coupon campaigns are always in style. In fact, we've already written about the effectiveness of coupons in retail digital marketing. Even if you give a discount, the increased sales will result in a significant return on your investment. With coupons or discount codes, there are many different ways to set up a promotion. Start by considering the various brands you work with as well as your ultimate marketing objectives. Do you wish to display goods from a premium brand? promote holiday shopping? reward clients who subscribe to a newsletter? A unique back-to-school deal was offered by Harbor Mall Commercial Center. They were curious to find out more about the opinions and shopping experiences of their customers. As a result, they requested survey responses from customers in exchange for an invitation to obtain discounts from them. But what happens when a mall seeks to advertise a range of shops in order to draw in more customers? What can marketing teams do to increase revenue while also growing their email list?

1. Use activities to amuse and engage shoppers as part of your mall marketing strategy

People use social media to find original stuff. Therefore, your material needs to be of the highest

,if you want to stay at the top of clients' minds and raise brand awareness. Fortunately, since technology has advanced, there are now a variety of ways to introduce dynamic and interesting promotions that internet customers don't mind viewing. Remember that consumers no longer desire to see aggressive sales tactics. Everybody prefers marketing initiatives that provide us with a benefit. Personalized games are one type of such marketing strategies. Create a mini-game using the colors and graphics of your retail center to promote brand awareness while engaging visitors with a fun interactive challenge. Here is an example of a Memory game that a fashion company might release to advertise their newest line. Or by a mall to draw more customers to a brand-new store. Take note of how the app displays the brand's logo and items; wouldn't that work well for any mall? Users participate in the game and then register their contact information for a chance to win, growing your mall's database in the process.

1. Compile contact information using a registration form and a freebie.

The key to effective retail digital marketing is straightforward. In order to establish a relationship with your customers and keep them coming back, you need make use of web technology. Using an email marketing list is one of the best methods to remain in touch. But first, how do you gather that contact information?.An entry form giveaway is a sure thing. Customers can participate with ease. They simply complete an online registration form and wait to learn whether they have won a prize. Offering modest discounts to all participants in addition to the ultimate grand prize can serve as an additional incentive. Look at the aforementioned illustration to see how your shopping mall may advertise a brand-new coffee shop inside your establishment. Given that free coffee is the best prize, this cafe's five $20 gift cards were an adequate offering. For their mailing list, all they needed from customers was their name and an email address. Make sure to share the giveaway link on your social media networks if you decide to run a similar promotion; it's a terrific method to turn followers into qualified sales leads. Additionally, if they take part in a contest to win a free coffee shop gift card, you may target them with upcoming sales and discounts from the same company. Use your email marketing list to boost additional promotions once you've built one up. Send your email subscribers newsletters, product debuts, and special offers. increase anticipation for major shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Christmas shopping.

1. Select your preferred promotions to use in your mall's marketing plan.

Promotions for voting apps are a fun approach to learn what your consumers think and to let them know that you appreciate what they have to say. Ask your customers to choose their favorite from a public gallery of images, videos, or text. This is also a fantastic choice if you want to launch an easy-to-participate in promotion.

1. Encourage loyalty and confidence through client-only promotions

So far, we've talked about sales-inducing promotions like discount coupons and giveaways. However, you can also honor already-completed sales. Increase customer loyalty and trust by using the Validate Receipts app to provide special benefits with paying consumers. These two frequently result in recurring sales and enduring client relationships. In this instance, participation by customers was fairly simple. They were encouraged to snap a photo of their receipt and send it to the web app each time they made an in-store transaction. The promotion's administrators next

conducted a random prize drawing and personally verified whether the winner had uploaded a legitimate ticket.

The importance of shopping center’s brand

In a shopping center's brand can be thought of as its identity, or how patrons view the establishment. This perception is based on factual facts such as the tenant mix, size, leisure offerings, and emotional feelings or "vibes" that customers have toward the center—such as classy, trendy, fun, romantic, etc. A shopping centre must choose the brand image it wants, develop a marketing plan to support it, and guarantee that it is consistent across all platforms and that all staff members are aware of and adhere to the brand's core principles. A brand helps a plan stand out from competing locations and gives customers a reason to choose one location over another. Consumers no longer simply travel to shopping malls to shop; they also go there to meet up with friends, eat supper, and engage in leisure activities. Whether they choose to do this at a mall or somewhere else depends on the brand.

Building a brand is greatly aided by the tenant mix. The mix of F&B and leisure tenants will provide a sense of luxury, distinctiveness, family friendliness, or romance. Each tenant will have their own identity, whether it be fashion or value led. The center's reputation will also influence whether stores and other tenants desire to rent space from the centre, which would ultimately effect the asset's overall worth. Positive customer service and experiences are becoming more and more significant to consumers, which can be harmful to a business. It is believed that complaints about poor customer service are heard more than twice as often as compliments about pleasant encounters, and that it takes 12 happy experiences to make up for one negative one. A satisfying experience increases customer loyalty, turning casual customers into devoted members of a programme.

To ensure that the brand image is monitored and not damaged in any manner, social media and all other platforms need to be maintained properly. It must be taken into consideration, it is essential to be there so that customers may connect with a centre, and it is essential to be consistent across all channels. Social media is a terrific tool to spread awareness of a business, promote events and CSR initiatives, interact with customers, address customer complaints, and increase foot traffic. A retail center is recognized for all the right reasons when it has a great brand. Every interaction with a customer presents a chance to provide a satisfying experience, foster customer loyalty, and raise the asset value.

Research methodology

Research conducted using in depth study on secondary sources of data.

Discussion

As our topic is related to retail stores in india which includes shopping malls like Forum mall, Meenakshi mall, Phoenix mall, D mart etc. We are going to discuss major inconveniences encountered by customers in these retail stores particularly and as a part of retail stores especially

in shopping malls like forum mall, Koramangala and Meenakshi mall and D Mart and many other malls which are located in Bangalore and strategies adapted by malls to enhance customer service and we will be figuring out all the inconveniences like when we take Forum mall, Koramangala parking space is not sufficient and correct route map to a customer, No proper guide and we have to search what and where it is located and in D Mart like as many people come in a day the shortage of baskets and trays occurring and more lifts has to be allocated.

Retail stores must concentrate on customer service and many retail stores have adapted many strategies to come out this problem and to improve customer service but still the customers are facing inconveniences and in Bangalore malls are trying to reframe the strategies according to the customer flexibility and as it is a major concern retail stores has to focus and not most of the strategies which are adopted by malls are providing proper route map while entering into the mall and providing a guide to the visitors who are coming for the very first time and providing the proper timings to the people regarding the mall timings and taking feedback from the customers after their visit and making them comfortable while purchasing in the stores and proper arrangement of products and items to attract the customers.

Conclusion

As a part of research, we have conducted the research on strategies adopted by shopping malls to enhance customer service. After that we have done research and discussion on the topic. For this we have focused on the Bangalore shopping malls, and we have pointed out many things where the customer service and satisfaction and lacking behind. We have done the literature review based on the past experiences and we have taken many inputs from the literature review. We have pointed out many problems from the literature review by the authors which are very crucial for our study, and we have taken many inputs from the outsiders while conducting the research and we have focused on many solutions for our research problem and Based on our research problem still shopping malls which are there in the retail industry should have to focus on the customer service and customer satisfaction and shopping malls must focus on the customer inconveniences and must focus on the main problems which customers are facing in the current situation and shopping malls must come up with the alternatives and they have to focus on the marketing decisions and they have to focus on the consumer decision making and shopping malls must consider the problem where customers are facing and they have to point out every problem. Especially when talking about the shopping malls which are there in the Bangalore city customers are still facing a lot of inconveniences and problems which shopping malls must come up with the alternatives for the problems which are facing by them to improve or enhance the customer service and satisfaction. The solution is new strategies must be adopted by shopping malls to increase the level of satisfaction of customers and retail industry has to focus on all these types of problems which are encountered by customers and must try to focus on the problems and strategies must be good enough to sort out all these kinds of issues.

References

1. Alavi, S. A., Rezaei, S., Valaei, N., & Wan Ismail, W. K. (2016). Examining shopping mall consumer decision-making styles, satisfaction and purchase intention. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 26(3), 272-303.
2. Amin, M., Ryu, K., Cobanoglu, C., Rezaei, S., & Wulan, M. M. (2021). Examining the effect of shopping mall attributes in predicting tourist shopping satisfaction and behavioral intentions: Variation across generation X and Y. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 22(3), 367-394.
3. Blanco-Rotea, R., Mañana-Borrazás, P., Mato-Fresán, C., & Rodríguez-Costas, A. (2009). La Basílica de la Ascensión y Os Fornos (Allariz, Ourense).
4. Bromley, R. D., Matthews, D. L., & Thomas, C. J. (2007). City centre accessibility for wheelchair users: The consumer perspective and the planning implications. Cities, 24(3), 229-241.
5. Eskildsen, J., & Kristensen, K. (2008). Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as predictors of future business potential. Total Quality Management, 19(7-8), 843-853.
6. Hisam, M. W., Sanyal, S., & Ahmad, M. (2016). The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction: A study on selected retail stores in India. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(4), 851-856.