INTRODUCTION TO SELLING FRESH VEGETABLES ONLINE Most of the students outside Dhaka reside in private hostels and apartments.

Like it or not, each and every day they have to go to the Kacha Bazaar to shop for vegetables as the students dont afford to buy a refrigerator. Other hand, most single families in Dhaka are now more or less engaged in jobs and have little time to go to the bazaar and shop for vegetables. The crowded and smelly environment makes it impossible for someone to roam and purchase. Thats how the business came into being- selling vegetables online. Most of the vegetables will be shipped from a warehouse close to the customers location and in fresh condition. So the customers dont have to worry about the quality of the vegetables and are free from hassles. This business is relatively new in perspective to Bangladesh but shows great opportunity to shine further as the people are becoming engaged in outside works. CUSTOMERS EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICE Think of a situation when you enter into a branded clothing store to buy a pair of jeans. The outside look of a store and that stores advertising provides an assumption about what would be the quality of the products, the salespeople behavior, and of course the service delivery of the clothing store. Keeping these things or some expectations in mind, a customer enters into a store (can be a website also). What is the Customers Expectations of Service? Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged. Because customers compare their perceptions of performance with these reference points when evaluating service quality, thorough knowledge about customer expectations is critical to services marketers. Knowing what the customer expects is the rst and possibly most critical step in delivering good quality service. Being wrong about what customers want can mean losing a

customers business when another company hits the target exactly. Being wrong can also mean expending money, time and other resources on things that do not count to the customer. Being wrong can even mean not surviving in a ercely competitive market. Among the aspects of expectations that need to be explored and understood for successful services marketing are the following: what types of expectation standards do customers hold about services? What factors most inuence the formation of these expectations? What role do these factors play in changing expectations? How can a service company meet or exceed customer expectations? Here is a picture of how a particular customer expects from a service provider: When you pay more you expect more Hotel Customer. These repair shop is the best in Dhaka and will provide the best service in repairing my car Auto repair customer. This hotel is expensive compared to other hotels in Coxs Bazaar, sure it provides pool service, best Chittagong cuisines, and friendly environment A vacationer in Coxs Bazaar.

Levels of Service Expectations and the position of the online vegetable companys service To say that expectations are reference points against which service delivery is compared is only a beginning. The level of expectation can vary widely depending on the reference point the customer holds. Although most everyone has an intuitive sense of what expectations are, service marketers need a far more thorough and clear denition of expectations in order to comprehend, measure and manage them.

Below is a figure representing the available levels of service:

Service expectation s of a customer who buys from an online store.

Service Level Expectations Service levels can be classified into two levels, 1) Desired Service, and 2) Expected Service.

Desired Service of the Online Vegetable Store The desired service level is the service the customer hopes to receive. In case of an online store a customer would expect the followings things are in order:

1. Reliability 2. Responsiveness 3. Assurance 4. Empathy 5. Low cost Reliability Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. In case of an online purchase, theres no physical interaction between the customer and the seller as it happens in a physical market. Thats why most of the customers are concerned about the authenticity of the company providing service. Reliability will be the most important desired service a customer would expect anyway. For example: a prospect will be a customer if our company will be able to make sure to provide fresh vegetables. Responsiveness or Promptness Responsiveness can be defined as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. One of the most important factors will be delivering customer service promptly. As the customers are mostly students and working households, the prompt delivery of vegetables is a real issue and the driver that will influence the customers to purchase further from our company. The basic POD (Point of Difference) of our company is actually the prompt service.

Assurance Assurance can be defined as the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Most of the employees working in

an online store have to move quickly, delivering orders in and out of the company store. They are also important success factors of a company. When a customer orders from our store, he/she will desire that the product will arrive in time and the person delivering the product will be generous enough to convey trust and friendliness while delivering. Empathy The caring, individualized attention provided to the customer. Customers are like the King and Queens of our service. Customers may want to receive a phone call from the company whether the product delivered was OK and is in a fresh condition. A two-minute phone call will delight a customer even more and will build a loyal customer base. Low Cost Most of the buyers of the online vegetable store are students (positioned this way). Most of the students dont have income sources, so the students would expect to receive low cost from the company.

Figure: The Zone of Tolerance, Desired and Adequate Service Expectations

Expected Service for the Online Vegetable Store Expected service is the level of the service a customer ready to accept or beyond this level of service means service failure. Most of the customer will behave in a same way for the online vegetable store. Each and every customer will expect the followings:
1. Reliability as described without being reliable the company wont be

able to do business for long. Fresh is included in the value proposition, so the vegetables have to fresh anyway to satisfy the customers.
2. Responsiveness- the second thing that will satisfy the customer is the

promptness of the service delivery. Delay in delivery would surely cost the company in the long run.

Ways to balance between the Desired and Adequate Service The company has to balance between the desired and adequate service levels to stay on business for long. Here are the ways the vegetable company can balance the services:

Figure: Balance between the desired and adequate service

Demonstrating Fair Play:

The company may be able to extend customers zones of tolerance by making special efforts to demonstrate fair play. Customers will be more tolerant if they believe the company is trying to be fair. Open, regular, two-way communication will pave the way for trust.

Being Reliable

Customers expectations for the service are likely to go up when the service is not performed as promised.

When service shortfalls occur, customers tolerance zones are likely to shrink, customers tolerance zones are likely to shrink and their adequate and desired service levels are likely to rise for both the outcome and process dimensions of the recovery service.

Managing Promises

A key approach to managing expectations is to manage the promises. Firms will have a better chance of meeting customer expectations when their promises reflect the service actually delivered rather than an idealized version of the service.

We do not recommend either underpromising or overpromising.

Leveraging the Process Dimensions

Service firms seek to exceed customer expectations in order to enhance their quality image should capitalize on the best opportunity for doing so: service delivery.

Leveraging the process dimensions is critical when service failure occur. Leveraging the process dimension involves a wide span of actions designed to enhance the willingness and ability of human beings to be effective services.

Building Relationships

Customers must have access to service when the need arises. Communications between company and customers should be companyinitiated as well as customer initiated. Service providers must have the means to efficiently tailor the service to customers specific requirements, to at least some degree. In addition to being able to tailor service to customers, service providers must also be willing to do so.

Reference:
1. Parasuraman A., (1991). Understanding Customers Expectations of

Service. Sloan Management Review. 32 (3), pp.39

2. Zeithaml Valarie A., (2007). Service Marketing. 4th ed. India: McGraw

Hill.

3. http://www.google.com/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAC &url=http%3A%2F%2Fuob-community.ballarat.edu.au%2F~jharman %2FBM404%2FBM404_lecture3.ppt&ei=qVtLUKfGJYinrAeQm4GgAw&usg =AFQjCNGPpgZeNLjeliwHTqzDIKAnO7jgw&sig2=FBHDL1ME6_0zE86jbPeREA. Visited on 21st August 2012