arch project on

mer Satisfaction of TESCO PL

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Project outline specification..................................................................................3
1.2 Factors contributing the selection of research topic.............................................3
1.3 Literature review.................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Research process specification.............................................................................5
1.5 Plan and procedures for agreed research specification........................................5
2.1 Meeting research specification with resources.....................................................6
Aim of the study...................................................................................................... 6
Theoretical framework............................................................................................ 7
Scope of the study.................................................................................................. 8
Research methodology............................................................................................ 8
Data source............................................................................................................. 8
Primary data......................................................................................................... 8
Secondary data.................................................................................................... 8
Limitations of the study........................................................................................... 9
2.2 Research investigation with proposed research specification...............................9
2.3 Collection and collate the data............................................................................. 9
3.1 Evaluation of collected data...............................................................................10
3.2 Data interpretation............................................................................................. 12
3.3 Finding of the study and recommendation.........................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 14
References................................................................................................................ 16
Appendix:................................................................................................................. 17
Sample questionnaire............................................................................................ 17

Introduction
Customer satisfaction is a measurement tool for an organization performance
comparing to other rivals. Customer satisfaction is an intangible asset for an
organization to asses current market position and to gain competitive
advantages in the marketplace. Nowadays in the competitive marketplace
where too much substitutes are available for the customers, making its own
identity or brand image is too much essential for the organization. Satisfied
customer results in increased revenue for the organization which is the
primary goal for any business. So it is beyond mentioning the importance for
satisfied customer for the organization. Its a wide area for research for the
organization to understand the customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction
indicates existing position as well as near future position in the industry. It
also makes the management to take decisions on setting up corporate
strategy.

1.1 Project outline specification

Customer satisfaction is wide area of research for business student as they
mean a lot for the organization. Among various topics available for my
research project I choose Customer satisfaction of TESCOPLC for my
research. TESCOPLC is the third biggest retail store in the United Kingdoms
which deals with both grocery and merchandizing. It has its operational
activity in 14 countries across Asia, North America and Europe. The store go
on operation first on Middlesex of UK but, with diversified business strategy
,its go for globalization and introduced outlets in other part of UK as well
outside of it. The main objectives for doing the research are to:

To understand the customer satisfaction level of the organization with

existing customer.
Reasons and level of customer dissatisfaction of the organization.
Key components for achieving customer satisfaction.
Operational efficiency to keep up the existing customer level satisfaction.
Investigating the capability to meet the end customer demand or not.
Understanding the customer satisfaction criteria.

(Allen, D., 2004)

1.2 Factors contributing the selection of research topic

Customer satisfaction is an important consideration for any service
organization. As TESCOPLC is a retail shop, customer satisfaction is so much
important to sustain in the competitive market and to attain competitive
advantages. The main aim of research is to critically analyze to find out the
customer satisfaction level of existing customer of TESCOPLC on UK. The
main research questions are:

What is the reason for customer satisfaction of TESCOPLC?

How corporate strategy affects the customer satisfaction performance of
the organization?
What are the expectations of consumers from TESCOPLC?
What are the reasons for customer dissatisfaction?
What are the initiatives to increase the operational efficiency and
excellence to meet the customer demand?
To meet the research objectives those questions are going to be answered
in the research paper. The main consideration in this research is to
address the reasons for unsatisfied customers. Customer dissatisfaction is
a growing concern in this retail shops. So the research is mainly focused
on the dissatisfaction of customer towards the service they expected by
TESCO PLC.

(Evans et al, 2009)

1.3 Literature review

Customer are physical entity who buy merchandise or service from provider in
exchange of money or other economically measureable medium.
Customer satisfaction is an experience of consumption. Customer satisfaction
indicates how customers are being satisfied with consumption of the product.
Shopping satisfaction depends on pre-shopping experience, shopping experience
and customer service- in three steps process. Retails business largely depends

upon the satisfaction level of customer. As a service providing organization,

customer satisfaction is one of the key components for the organization to
sustain in the competitive market. Customer care should be taken seriously
in any retail business. (Oliver, 2007)
Customer satisfaction must have to be ensured with help of various formats
like post shopping support, facility of returning product, relax shopping
environment etc. long term investment have to make to implement various

strategys to satisfy customers. Long term investment in customer support

helps to build the brand image in the customers mind results in customer
satisfaction. (Lee, 2003)
Customer dissatisfaction is a growing concern for every retail business. There
are various reasons why customer dissatisfied ranging from product variety,
quality to sales person or organization policy. All small things may cause a
bad and large impact on the customer dissatisfaction process. Research
shows thats, the poor performance of organization may cost in large number
of customer loss which may contain many potential threats for the future.
Although, there are not enough research done to state the main reasons to
identify the cause of loss, small number of research has shows that, a large
retail organization like TESCO PLC lost its market share from 31.8% to 30.4%
in last 12 months. So I tried doing a descriptive research on the loss of
existed market loss because of customer satisfaction. (Kerzner, H., 2001)

1.4 Research process specification

Research process is a process flowed by a sequential steps. Research process
generally a very complex process. Both type of research- qualitative and
quantitative followed the sequential steps to draw a conclusion on the
research. Research process consists of several steps listed below:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

problems identification
literature review
Clarify the problem
Clearly define terms and concepts
Define the population
Develop the instrumental plan
Collect data
Analyze data
Recommendation and conclusion

Problems identification defines the concern for the potential problem or

stated problems of an organization. Next, literature review parts analyze the
previously done research, articles, book references, publications regarding
the detected problems and their view towards the stated problems. After
literature review, the research needs to define clearly the problems and
related terms and condition and concepts for further working. On next step,
the research needed a clearly defined population and the instrumental plan
where the research states what types of data are going to be collected from
the population. After that, research will collect data using one of the data

collection methods within given time period and analyzing those data with
various statistical tools. After analyzing data, recommendation and
conclusion will be made as finding of the study. After all those step being
completed, research work is going to be stored for further use as references.
(Lewis, R. and Dart, M., 2010)

1.5 Plan and procedures for agreed research specification

Research is a complex process. Sequential steps are needed to be followed in
an effective research project. A detailed chart is given below to complete
the research:
Problem identification is the initial step to start a research. Here, customer
dissatisfaction is sated as a problem for the business growth of TESCOPLC.
A literature review is already done to relate with the problems. It shows the
trend and cause of losing market share because of customer dissatisfaction.
Losing market share is the problem for TESCOPLC. The problem caused
because increased customer dissatisfaction. The problem is clearly stated
here.
In this section the terms and concept are being introduced. I am going to
consider the research for academic purpose. Data nondisclosures are going
to be applied in overall research. Privacy, access of data is going to be
restricted. Liberty to not participant in research, participants right is going to
be followed.
Then the population is going to be defined. The population will be around
200 from various class, social status and age to get a greater clear view of
the stated problem in the research proposal.
On the data collection methods I am going to use survey method. I am about
to visit Middlesex downtown to collect the data. I will also take data from
other parts of the city but downtown is going to be main focus of data
collection.
After completing the survey, I am going to use statistical data analysis
procedures to convert the data into information. I will use several charts to
interpret the data for the readers of research.

After completing the analyzing part, I will make a descriptive report for
finding of the study which wills facilitates at a glance criteria of the research.
I will also add recommendation and conclusions part in this section.
(Marcoulides, G., 1998)

2.1 Meeting research specification with resources

The research is regarding losing of market share due to customer
dissatisfaction.

Aim of the study

To measure the customer satisfaction is the main aim of the research. With
the measurement of activity of customer towards buying approach of TESCO,
operation excellence and market trends are also going to be analyzed to get
a clear view of customer pattern of buying retail product. This paper is going
to count the influential factors to measure the customer satisfaction factor as
well as the reasons for customer dissatisfaction. As customer satisfaction
factors are one of key consideration of any retail business, understanding the
problems of customer is going to help to develop corporate strategy and gain
competitive advantages in the market place.

Theoretical framework
Theoretical framework describes relationships between various parties
related to the industry. The variation of customers can have a large impact
on the study. Diversified customer range makes it complicated to understand
the trends and pattern in the survey study. Various research identifies the
characteristics of customer has influence on customer satisfaction analysis of
an organization. The main factors regarding in this research is customer
characteristics, industry characteristics and business operation of the
organization
Customer characteristics focus on understanding the customers pattern of
thinking in choosing store. Previous research shows that the customer
characteristics of TESCO plc are:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Middle class and upper middle class people generally visit the stores.
Buying decisions largely depends on head of the family
Product and service quality of the retail business organization
Availability of the store nearby.

Those things are important in determining the population for get a clear view
of the research. It will help to understand the trends and patterns in
customer buying habit.
Industry characteristics are another important factor in determining the
customer satisfaction. From various research works we can find factors like
HHI (Hirschmann Herfindahl Index), industry demand growth, demand
variety, purchasing cycle etc. (Fornell,1992) those has a large impact on
determining the research outcome. Demand variety may result dissatisfied
customer. Long term and short time purchasing cycle may cost the
organization to loss the customer. Buying behavior of customer of an
industry is a considerable factor.
Business operation is important in determining the customer satisfaction on
an organization. Previous research shows, effectiveness and efficient service
results in good and loyal customer satisfaction. Considerable factors on
understanding the operations are like product variety, R&D activity,
advertising activity, workforce, and organization size etc. product variety
influence the decision behavior of a customer. R&D activity helps to satisfy
people with innovative and wide range of product. Advertising policy has a
great impact on drawing customer attention in retail business. Efficient
workforce make the customer satisfied as they meet the customer demand
easily and efficiently. Organization size also determines the efficient business
operation.
In summary, we can say that, the existing research put a lot of factors that
affect the customer dissatisfaction of retail business. Here, we make a
attempt to get a quick glance on reasons of customer satisfaction.
(Solomon, M., 2006)

Scope of the study

The main purpose of the research is to understand the reasons for
dissatisfaction for customer. The scope of the study is limited to understand
the reason in retail business. The study is limited to the downtown of
Middlesex for data collection. The variation in customer class is limited

Research methodology
This is a descriptive research for understanding customer satisfaction
reasons of TESCOplc. A questionnaire has been designed for respondent of

survey. The questionnaire helps to meet the objectives of the research. After
collecting data from sampling, statistical tools are applied to analyze the
data. Charts and tables are being presented to interpret the collected data.
This will help to understand the research. (Toelle, S., 2006)

Data source
As it is a descriptive research, data source is important factor in completing
research. There are two types of data:
1) Primary data
2) Secondary data
Primary data

Primary data is important in the collected data in a research as they are

directly connected with subjects that are main concern in a research. The
research finding largely depends on the collection of primary data. It is also
known as primary research in some context. There are three popular types of
primary data collection methods which are survey, experiment and
observation.
Secondary data

Secondary data is the data in a research that reflects various publication,

criticism, journals or other electronic and print media. Secondary data is very
important in research as it relates practical scenario with academic context.
Because of low cost, availability and many others cause those data are used
in research project. As it is easily accessible, it is popular in research
projects. (Wright, R., 2006)

Limitations of the study

There are some limitations on the study. The basic limitations of the study
are stated below:
1) Because of sampling method, it may not reflect every ones opinion in
the research
2) Limited resource availability may impact the finding of the study.
3) Limited time frame makes it impossible to collect all of data needed for
research project.
4) One specific area is chosen for collecting data which ignores choices of
other regional areas peoples opinion.

2.2 Research investigation with proposed research

specification
Research investigation is process of meeting the criteria required in research.
In research investigation we generally investigate what is the main
information required in research. In research investigation we are going to
consider the following thing:
1) The changing times effect over customer buying behavior.
2) With both long and short time frame, the buying experience of
customers.
3) The impact of partners in making buying decisions during purchasing
time.
4) The way of expressing frustration of dissatisfied customers towards the
organization.
5) Populations view towards the research. Are they interested in
participating in research project or not?
6) Justification of quantitative data for a qualitative decision making.
7) The organizations corporate strategy for the customer satisfaction
improvements.
In research investigation process, proposed research specification must have
to be reflected. It put the lights to an academic concept with real life
experience. In this section, we must have to undertake the survey and make
critical analysis in the report section.

2.3 Collection and collate the data

Data collection is an important part in research project. A broad survey with
sample population is done to collect data. The process of survey is face to
face interview with the customer of TESCO plc. Participants are requested to
answer the question as mentioned in questionnaire of survey. Participants
are provided space to put recommendation at the end of the questionnaire.
The survey produced the following results in collection of data:

criteria

Category or details

Sample population
Age range

No. of
respondent
200

20-35 yrs

Types of customer

Variation of
social class

customer

Regular shoppers

130

Window shoppers

70

according High class

Level of customer satisfaction

25

Middle High

65

Middle

110

Highly satisfied

40

Satisfied

110

Low satisfied

50

Table 2.1: presentation of collected data from sample population

3.1 Evaluation of collected data

Survey shows a wide range of customer is do shopping in TESCO retail
outlets. In data evaluation several statistical tools are used to relate them
with others. Various criteria are being set up to evaluate the data. The
evaluation of data is being showed in different charts and tables.
Purchasing frequency of items from Tesco: purchasing frequency of its item
from TESCO shows that which percentages of total population are regular
customers or windows customers. Windows customer is an important factor
as they may make casual judgment about the service of organization. Figure
2.1 shows that about 65% is regular customer of TESCO and other 35% are
window shoppers.
Types of items purchased by customers: the TESCO offers a large range of
product in several categories. Survey shows out of 200 respondents, 75 do
groceries shopping, 20 go fo electronic shopping, 70 visit for buying
cosmetics and rest 35 for apparels buying. A pie chart is drown below

Apparels; 18%

Grocery; 38%

Cosmetics; 33%
Electronics; 10%

Fig3.1. types of items purchased by customers

Reasons for choosing Tesco: In determining customer satisfaction, it is an
important factor why to shop with organization. Several factors are comes
into light to identify the reasons of satisfaction. A chart below shows the
main reasons for visiting TESCO buy customers:

Customer satisfaction factors

35
30

30

25
20
15
10

30

25

25

25

20
15

15

15

5
0

Figur
e 3.2 Reasons for customer satisfaction
Reasons for customer dissatisfactions: survey shows that there are some
reasons for customer dissatisfaction. There is a list of numbers which shows
respondents dissatisfaction level on various factors. The respondent
identified several problems while doing their shopping. Some shows that
those may cause in loss of existing customer as well as potential customers.

Factors
causing
customer
dissatisfaction
Poor marketing strategy
Poor business operation
Lack of availability of store
Poor customer support policy
High price comparatively to
rivals
Lack of guide in shopping time
Table 3.1 factor causing customer

# of the respondents
20
25
60
25
30
40
dissatisfaction

3.2 Data interpretation

This research paper main focus is to understand the customer satisfaction
level and to identify the causes of customer dissatisfaction. The collected
data shows a wide range of reasons for customer dissatisfaction.
There are a wide variety of customers for buying in the TESCO outlets. As
TESCO is third large company in the retail business, they have several types
of customer that they have to deal with everyday. Chart 1.1 shows that
there are people, who generally prefers to do shopping if the items are
available under one roofs. The diversity of buying habit of people makes it
more complex to identify the hot selling product from the product variety.
There are a wide number of people who visited TESCO outlets regularly.
Although, there are some window shoppers in the Tesco, the regular
customers consideration is most important in the organization. Survey
shows among, 2oo respondent, 130, which means 65% is regular shoppers.
It shows that number of regular customer is 20% more than the window
shoppers. So it should introduce more comfortable shopping experience with
window shopper to turn them into regular shoppers.
There are a lot of reasons for people to do buying with TESCO plc. Figure 3.2
shows those 10 identical reasons for customer satisfaction. The main reasons
of customer satisfaction are both shopping environment and pricing strategy.
About 30% people do shopping with TESCO for those two reasons. It must
have to consider importantly sustaining the customer satisfaction. Then
customer satisfaction caused by factors like product variety, business
operation and advertising strategy. 12.5% people do shopping for those
reasons with TESCO plc. Then factors of billing counter satisfaction make
10% people happy. A problem with billing counter is one of the features that
should consider importantly in retail business. Then the factors like location
ease to locate product and brand image make7.5% customer happy
respectively.
The data form survey shows some factors that cause shopping experience
dissatisfaction. Most of the customer found availability of store as main
problems with TESCO plc. 30% customer is unhappy because of this reason.
Among 30%, 10% states that, they have to do shopping with other retail
store. 20% customers identify interior designing and arrangement of product
in store as a problem. Window shoppers have generally problems with
locating a product in the store. 15% customer identifies pricing strategy as a
problem with TESCO store. They claim that, the price is sometimes too high

in context with other retail store. Then business operation and customer
support cause customer dissatisfaction. 12.5% found those as main problem
respectively. Poor marketing strategy identified as a problem by 10% of total
population sample. They claim that, it should implement more attractive
marketing strategy to identify potential customers and satisfy existing
customers.

3.3 Finding of the study and recommendation

The study identifies a numerous reasons for customer dissatisfaction. Those
cause most of the customer dissatisfaction which results in loss of customer.
After analyzing the collected data from sample population, following
recommendations are done.
1) TESCO plc should establish more stores in their business operation
area. More store or outlet should be open to satisfy the existing
customer and to capture potential customer to increase the market
share in the industry.
2) More products should be included in the product variety of the
organization. As people prefer to shop more under single roof,
availability of many products will result in boost in sales. It will result in
increased revenue and total revenue profit.
3) TESCO should consider the environment of store as it is an important
factor in retail business. Healthy shopping environment is preferred by
every person shows the research.
4) Business process should be more efficient and effective to gain
customer satisfaction. Effective business process results in quick
customer response, higher level of satisfaction and increased revenue.
5) Effective customer service should be provided to ensure the
satisfaction of customers. Increased and friendly customer service
increases the satisfaction among customers.
6) Pricing strategy should be reviewed by higher management and timely
and changing pricing policy should be implemented to meet the
requirement of the customers.
7) Proper marketing strategy should be implemented to make the
organization marketing strategy more competitive and gain
competitive advantages.
8) Friendly shopping experience should be provided to enjoy smooth
shopping experiment while shopping time in store.
9) Trained human resource should be hired to attain customer satisfaction
via providing service.

10)
Should give more concentration on customer satisfaction
evaluation process.
11)
Innovative and new product must have to introduce to meet the
expectation of customer because of changing taste.
12)
Training must have to provide to give more efficient customer to
satisfy the customer.

Conclusion
Customer satisfaction is one of the main concerns of retail business as it has
a large impact on sustainability of organization of the industry. As a giant in
retail industry, TESCO has to put a considerable space to satisfy the
customer. To maintain the sustainability and expanding market share,
recommended steps must have to put for consideration. To overcome the
existing problems, initiatives must have to introduced and solve it to gain
customer satisfaction. After all, we can conclude that, to introduce new
satisfaction factors with existing factors will result in competitive advantages
and high market share.

References
Allen, D. (2004). Customer satisfaction research management. Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press.
Evans, M., Jamal, A. and Foxall, G. (2009). Consumer behaviour. Chichester, England: Wiley.
Kerzner, H. (2001). Project management. New York: John Wiley.
Lewis, R. and Dart, M. (2010). The new rules of retail. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Marcoulides, G. (1998). Modern methods for business research. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Solomon, M. (2006). Consumer behaviour. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Steckstor, D. and Von Wangenheim, F. (n.d.). The effects of cause-related marketing on
customers' attitudes and buying behavior.
Toelle, S. (2006). The linkages among service quality attributes, customer value, customer
satisfaction, and customer loyalty in Indonesian retail banking settings.
Wright, R. (2006). Consumer behaviour. Australia: Thomson Learning.

Appendix:

Sample questionnaire
1) Name:

.
2) Age:..
3) Sex: .
4) Types of shoppers:
Regular customer
Window customer
5) Preferred types of product:
Grocery
Electronic
Cosmetics
Apparels
6) Satisfaction level
Highly Satisfied
Satisfied
Low satisfied
7) Reasons for satisfaction
Locations
Product variety
Shopping environment
Billing counters
Ease to locate product
Business operation
Pricing strategy
Advertising strategy
Brand image
8) Reasons for dissatisfaction

Poor marketing strategy

Poor business operation
Lack of availability of store
Poor customer support policy
High price comparatively to rivals
Lack of guide in shopping time
9) recommendations (If any) :

..