Page 377 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

Design and Improvement of Service Processes—Process Management 337

When customers arrive in a retail shop, they often get a cart and use that cart
as a carrier throughout the purchasing process. Customers may need
assistance from customer service representatives during the shopping
process. Once the customer has obtained the merchandise, then he or she
must get in line for the checkout process. For large items such as furniture
or appliances, the customer may have to order and pay for the merchandise
first. The delivery of the product may take place later.

Examples of Retail Service Store Process

Department stores, grocery stores, hardware stores, and convenience
stores

Retail Service Store Process Performance Metrics
Time Waiting for Assistance
This time refers to the average time that a customer might wait to get assistance
in helping to locate merchandise, have questions on product features answered,
and so on.

Average Queue Length in Checkout Lines
A long queue length could be caused by fluctuations in customer arrival
rates and work force management. Queue length is proportional to the
average waiting time for checkout.

Number of Checkout Errors
Checkout errors are quite common in the retailing business, and customers
do care about these errors. Checkout errors can be caused by labeling errors
or data entry errors.

Customer Service Quality
The customer service quality in this case has two components: one is the
quality of the service, and the other is the quality of customer–service
provider interaction. In retailing service stores, the quality of service includes
the promptness and the correctness of the merchandise information provided.
The quality of customer–service provider interaction is mostly based on how
happy the customer feels about the service. It includes the politeness of and
the facial expressions (e.g., a smiling face) of the service provider, and even
the tone of conversation. The total experience and feeling of the customers
during operator-customer interaction is a very important part of process
quality and customer satisfaction.