| Abstract | Customer service has become very important in the world wide competition and plays an
important role in the satisfaction of the customers of a company. In order to improve
Donamay’s performance and to move it to 'higher levels' in the garment industry,
Donamay considers customer satisfaction and retaining retain customers’ loyalty the key
factors to achieve the above objectives. Thus, the challenge of the Board of Directors of
Donamay has been and still is how to retain the loyalty of customers and to develop a new
customer service program. The author of this research – the Deputy Director of Donamay -
aims to understand how current customers evaluate the performance of Donamay and,
based on these findings, find suitable solutions.
This research asked customers for their opinions and comments by conducting a customer
satisfaction survey and carrying out in-depth interviews. The data collection covered
communication with Donamay, its production and products, problem handling, technical
assistance, delivery and customer’s service. There are some gaps between customer’s
expectation and actually performance of Donamay. These results were sent to the top
management of Donamay for discussion with the researcher. The main problems, which
this research revealed, are: Communication of Donamay is poor compared to customer
expectations; production and quality control of Donamay are far from customers'
standards.
After this gap analysis we used the well-known method - Porter Five Forces - to 'gauge'
Donamay's standing in the textile industry. The results show two main issues: (i) Donamay
is facing fierce competition from competitors who produce the same product for the same
target customers;(ii)the level of Donamay's performance is lower than that of its
competitors in terms of communication, prices, products, quality, responsibilities and
customer services.
Porter’s approach was combined into a SWOT analysis and based in these overall findings,
the following major recommendations are put forward to improve service provision and
retain customer loyalty: here is a need for a proper marketing strategy to gain better
competitive advantages. The customer service should focus by improving on
communication; coordination, technical skills and responsibilities in order to serve
customers better and enhance their loyalty. Working procedures have to be strengthened to
outperform internal work and customer service than is presently the case. |