As customers today can purchase products from many different channels, service has become the key differentiator in the Customer Economy (CE). In today?s volatile economy, providing excellent customer service can be the critical factor in a company?s success. In providing customers with good experiences, it is important to manage customer relationships well.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a BUSINESS strategy to get, grow and retain the right customers to maximize long-term PROFITABILITY. It is a new approach to managing customers with combining various elements of technology, people, information resources and processes, in order to deliver the right products and services to the right customers, through the right channels, at the right time and the right cost.
As CRM integrates SALES and Marketing as well as Customer Service, these areas will also be discussed in this project. We have selected the company ?IKEA? as our focus of study.
Company Background
IKEA is a Swedish company founded in 1943. It is an international retail chain store with 160 stores located in 30 countries. IKEA?s business philosophy is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices that as many people as possible will be able to afford.
Most of the IKEA stores are operated by IKEA itself, however there are a number of stores operated under the franchise model. The IKEA store in Hong Kong is one of the franchise stores in the Asia Pacific region, having STARTED BUSINESS in 1975. In 1988, Jardine Pacific acquired the franchise and since then has expanded the business in many ways. This has included operating new stores and renovating existing stores, and has made IKEA the leader in the home furnishing industry.
IKEA Hong Kong operates 4 stores, located in Shatin, Causeway Bay, Mongkok and Tsuen Wan. There is also a warehouse in Sheung Shui that OFFERS a furniture pick up service for customers after they have made a purchase at