Service Process Design

Our company, JC Penney’s is a well-known large retail department store throughout the United States. JC Penney’s has over 1,000 stores in existence today after being founded by James Cash Penney in 1902. The company serves their many customers well, and they treat their employees exceptional too. To identify with the explicit service of the Service Product Bundle, Penney’s offers one-stop shopping and other intangible services. These services include: their salon services, the optical department, custom decorating, watch repair, wedding and baby shower gift registry and a supply chain that moves about 2 billion items a year to satisfy the customer’s perception of fast delivery with great service. Customer service is a top priority for the company. An example of the Implicit Service Product Bundle would be for instance, someone who had their hair done at the salon felt really good and pleased about how they were treated, or the customer was really please with the designs of their custom decorating and the service they received from the representative or pleased with how the well they were treated in the optical department. Pleased with the hairdo the customer received or the new pair of glasses that looked good on the customer are examples of the Facilitating Goods Service Product Bundle. The cell they would operate in on the service matrix would be selling of goods, whether by a customer service representative or online, co-routed through a supply chain and then the purchased product would be the provider routed service.

Some of the service contact that customers may encounter would be interacting with a front office customer service representative when making a purchase, or speaking to a manager when there is a problem with a product or service. The customer may encounter contact with a back office customer service representative with speaking to them over the phone in some instances. They may also come in contact with technology such as checking the price of an item or using self service machines to pay on their credit card bills. Technology plays an important role in our company. Inventory can be managed through technology. For instance, if a customer is looking for a particular item in a particular size, one store can contact another store who has it in inventory. Also, for employees, time clocks are utilized to indicate whether the employee started and ended work on time. Technology is also a plus when it comes to online ordering. JC Penney’s offers all services via the internet for convenience, which is great customer service without speaking face-to-face with a representative.

JC Penney’s stands behind their products and service and if for some reason, a customer is not happy, they will give them a full refund. On some occasions, the company may offer additional discounts on future purchases.

Consumer Article

The article talks about the power of the social web in revealing stories of both poor and good customer service. To meet today's consumer vigilantes, more and more customers are arming themselves with video cameras, computer keyboards, and mobile devices to launch their own personal forms of insurrection. Technology helps the uprising, empowering consumers to do much more to make themselves heard, for instance, online video. Consumers frustrated by the regular fix-it channels are increasingly employing vigilante tactics. Whether they’re making YouTube videos or posting account numbers on blogs filled with digital rants, more and more consumers are getting companies to respond on their terms. They are no longer just shouting out, they also can gather spots for sharing call-center secrets and trouble-shooting tips. For companies that don’t tend to their customers, the consequences can be dire. And the biggest challenge for companies is dealing with consumers who are hard to mollify, because some of them have really bad customer service experience. However, most consumers just want an apology when they are not satisfy with the company's service. And I think the main reason to cause a service insurgency is that companies can't sent out an apology immediately.

Process selection

1) What type of product flow do they use?

JCPenney use batch flow, because they have large and different type of product.

2) What type of customer order do they process?

JCPenney use make-to-stock (mts) process. Which is specifies by the manufacturer. Make-to-stock (mts) also provides faster customer services. They even keep updating their inventory for customer demand. And they also use make-to-order to. They give customer choice to make special order on almost all the items

3) Which cell do they fall into in the process characteristics matrix?

Jcpenney falls under batch flow.

4) What are some of the factors influencing their process selection?

If store is out of stock we order items from online or we get item from other jcpenney for customers.

5) Can they adopt any of the mass customization methods discussed?

I believe the company already has great customer services by organizing product on right department and in right location so it’s make it easy for customer. And they have store all over in United States so customer has choice to shops and they have choice to order their items online too.

Process selection

1) What type of product flow do they use?

JCPenney use batch flow, because they have large and different type of product.

2) What type of customer order do they process?

JCPenney use make-to-stock (mts) process. Which is specifies by the manufacturer. Make-to-stock (mts) also provides faster customer services. They even keep updating their inventory for customer demand. And they also use make-to-order to. They give customer choice to make special order on almost all the items

3) Which cell do they fall into in the process characteristics matrix?

Jcpenney falls under batch flow.

4) What are some of the factors influencing their process selection?

If store is out of stock we order items from online or we get item from other jcpenney for customers.

5) Can they adopt any of the mass customization methods discussed?

I believe the company already has great customer services by organizing product on right department and in right location so it’s make it easy for customer. And they have store all over in United States so customer has choice to shops and they have choice to order their items online too.