Business analysis

Introduction

The children’s place is an exclusive apparel retail shop that deals with clothes for newly born babies up to children of the age fourteen years. It offers clothing, accessories and footwear for children within the age group mentioned earlier. From the onset of the organization, it has grown rapidly clocking large profits every fiscal year. The policy of the company ensures that they supply fashionable, high quality, value priced merchandise (Lee & Sai 2000). The extensive growth of the retail shop to offer even international products compels the company to improve its productions and services. Just like any other organization it aims to provide a convenient and friendly shopping surrounding that is satisfactory to all the customers. However, records show that there are cases of poor quality goods sold as well as reduced customer related services in the organization. The paper reviews children’s place customer service in detail. The paper identifies problems related to the customer service and searches for a possible fix to these problems.

Strengths of Children Place customer service

The children place retail stores inc. Specializes in the retail of children’s commodities for children ranging from zero to fourteen years. It is a fact that by spending a lot of time on a particular task one becomes very efficient in that function. Likewise, the children place specializes in providing commodities for children of a particular age which makes them more effective in the provision of these services. The company built over time a high level of customer experience from dealing with the supply of the same good over an extended period of time (Children Place, 2010). It allows the company to serve the customers appropriately in the market which subsequently builds competitive advantage over other retail shops. Through specialization of the type of produce children, place breaks down complex processes into simple processes that help serve more customers effectively. The specialization of children place allows the company to provide high quality, cost appropriate products. It also allows the company to produce trending and fashionable products (Children Place, 2010). Though the headquarters of the company is situated in New Jersey in U.S, it has very many branches across the country that increases the accessibility of the company. Accessibility improves the satisfaction of the customers especially those with strict time frames. It allows the company to penetrate untouched markets for their products. These aspects ensure that customers experience sound sourcing and procurement that contributes to the unique shopping experience at the children place retailers Inc.

Weakness and Challenges of Children Place customer service

Although children Place is a large retailing company with many shops and franchises and has dominating experience in the supply of it products, the company has customer relation problems. There are many complaints about the provision of poor services by the company. In relation to its size, it is crucial that the company develops stringent measures during the transactions done. These regulations are creating disputes with the companies clients, for example, the coupon policy that compels a customer to carry the receipt in which the coupon was awarded (Children Place, 2010). The rules allocated by the retail shop are preventing the effective provision of services which creates customer dissatisfaction leading to loss of clients. The retail shop’s online sales option has very many policies that cause disputes with the customers. For example, the online shop does not allow the change of orders which is disadvantageous to the clients (Children Place, 2010). Children place policy ensures that the retail shop provides high-quality goods and services however the retail shop does not achieve this because of poor employee qualities.

Another disturbing problem that is causing provision of poor customer services is the lack of empowerment of employees that deters the provision of the correct solutions to customers. Customers complain about how the manager is the employees are quick to blame the policies of the company for problems related to customer services. Poor management practices destroy the public reputation of a company. The customer care of children place has poor public relation abilities as they do not offer satisfactory solutions to the problems of the clients (Children Place, 2010). Due to poor public relations in the company the clients provide poor referrals to their friends and any other associates. The word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool that can work on both ends in either the growth or the destruction of the company. Customers who are dissatisfied with the services or treatment at children place end up discouraging potential buyers from shopping at the shops which deter the growth of the company.

Opportunities for improvement in Children Place customer service

Children’s place produces high-quality goods for children and has high exposure in the market which creates an opportunity for the growth of the company. The best way to tackle poor customer services is by providing effective management for the shops. The satisfaction of the employees has a direct influence on the satisfaction of the clients and the other way round. As such it is important to manage both fields properly appropriately. In most cases, the retail shops barely pay attention to the qualifications of the employees they appoint. It results in the provision of poor services. The best way to mend such a problem is to allocate resources for training and strengthening of the employees. The employees will gain comprehensive knowledge of the company’s goals and targets as well as the products it supplies. However, the training program should focus on the essence of listening and respond to the customers complaints appropriately (Lee & Sai 2000). The application of training is costly, but the benefits of its training the employees outweigh the costs. The best method of fixing problems related to the provision of improper solutions is to provide the employees with the authority, power, as well as technology and mandate to solve problems. It prevents situations, where the employees cannot attend to the clients, demands either because they have no knowledge of the products or they do not have permission to attend to the issue. Another method of remedying poor customer services at children place is to focus the selection and evaluation process of employees to identifying personalities that are not fit for the job. It allows the organization to make rearrangements that ensure the removal of under qualified staff (Lee & Sai 2000).

Conclusion

The Children Place Corporation produces high-quality goods that are relatively fashionable. It is a strong and fast growing organization in the retail market for children merchandise; however it also has challenges that it needs to address especially with regard to customer service. Even though at the moment it is enjoying high profits the poor customer services recorded may cause endemic dissatisfaction that can spread leading to increased costs, reduced profits and consequently corporate decline. The organization should not ignore minor issues affecting the company because the industry is large and the clients may turn to competitors for alternatives.

References

Children Place, (2010).The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (PLCE) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review

Lee, S. F., & Sai On Ko, A. (2000). Building balanced scorecard with SWOT analysis, and implementing "Sun Tzu's The Art of Business Management Strategies" on QFD methodology. Managerial Auditing Journal, 15(1/2), 68-76.

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