Walmart
Walmart is an international organization that deals in a wide variety of merchandise with outlets in many countries. The company started from a very humble beginning and managed to expand by increasing the networks of outlets. The company has already captured the American market and has now been expanded in order to be able to sell its products to customers who reside in other parts of the world.
Walmart has a culture of establishing good working relationships with its employees and customers. This is a key process in managing quality of its products. Total Quality Management (TQM) is seen through hospitality and cost efficient products. Walmart employees are motivated by the appreciation they get from the company such as the health care services that are paid for by the organization.
This incentive and many others in make the employees to be bonded with this company and hence they work as if they own the company. Kenneth (2005) argues that this is very important because you cannot expect employees to work diligently towards customer satisfaction when their individual needs have not been met. There are various strategies that are used by this company to build confidence and trust in its customers.
Walmart has a return policy that states that customers can return items that are not fitting accordingly, such as fabrics and other items. But the customer must not use an item if he/she feels that the item does not meet his/her needs. However, there are items such as funeral items and medicine that cannot be returned.
The items that were bought virtually can be taken back to the outlets but the ones that were bought from the market place should be handed over to the retailers. The return policy states that the items can only be accepted within ninety days from the day the purchase took place (Mujtaba & Maxwell, 2007).
Incase an error occurs during the process of dispatching an item whose shipment fee has already been paid for the customer will be paid the full amount of shipment fee. When customers place an order virtually they are able to know the progress that is being made in delivering their shipments. This is done through follow up calls and email notifications that are sent to the customer to let him/her know that the shipment has already been dispatched and the duration it might take for it to be delivered.
Walmart has a customer rewarding system that awards points to customers who purchase from both the Internet portal and as well as the physical outlets. In this program the customers are issued with credit cards that store the points they earn while shopping. When customers who shop online refer their friends they earn monetary points for the purchases made by their referrals.
The customers can then check the monetary value of their points and thus make purchases that are equivalent of those points. In the reward system the more a customer shops the more points she/he gains. This approach aims at enhancing customer loyalty to these stores, hence quality assurance (Walmart, 2011).
The company is very concerned about its client’s safety and this means that the contact details availed to them by customers remain confidential. This means that the company employees can only contact a particular customer when it is necessary, such as when making enquiries about a delivery. The company can never share the details of customers with any other party.
The company has recorded great improvements by using the feedback that is provided by the customers through the suggestion box and also through its website (walmart.com). Through these mediums the organization has managed to improve its performance by attending to issues raised by customers.
Target
Target is a renowned shopping store that is similar to Walmart in so many ways. This company boasts of many outlets that are distributed in all American states. Besides that, the company has a virtual shop on the Internet that is used to reach overseas markets (Targert 2011). The company deals with many varieties of merchandise that range from furniture to clothes and many other items.
The company has not been left behind in satisfying its customers. McCollum (2004) explains that the need to attend to customer needs emerged due to stiff competition from other companies that are in the same sector. When customers shop from these stores they are assured of their security due to the kind of confidentiality that is exercised on customer details, thus quality management.
Moreover, the company has fitted surveillance cameras that record what is going on within its stores and the adjacent compounds. This means that customers can feel relieved when they are shopping from the stores because someone somewhere is watching over them and if something happened it would be easily tracked.
Target stores allow its customers to take back the items they have purchased within ninety days if they are not satisfactory, as long as they are intact.
But then there are some items that cannot be returned. In addition, the company plays a major role in protecting its customers from harmful products. This is done by analyzing the items that are already on the shelves and incase some are found to be faulty or below the expected standards the customers are requested to bring back those items. This has made its customers to be very confident while shopping there.
The referral system ensures that the customers are able to earn points by referring other people to buy from these stores. This is why the company has managed to penetrate through international markets. This has been fostered by their customers ability to track their shipments and as well as canceling their shipment requests where necessary.
Another difference of this company from Walmart is that it assists old military officers as opposed to Walmart that provides relief foods to disaster stricken areas. This act of giving back to the society has made these companies to earn recognition both locally and internationally. In essence, both companies command good quality management because their focus is mainly on customer satisfaction through quality products.
References
Kenneth, Rose. (2005). Project Quality Management: Why, What and How. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: J. Ross Publishing.
McCollum, W. (2004). Process improvement in quality management systems: A case study of Carnegie Mellon’s capability maturity model, Victoria: Trafford Publishing.
Mujtaba, G. & Maxwell, S. (2007). Wal-Mart in the Global Retail Market: Its Growth and Challenges. Journal of Business Case Studies. 3(3): 1-10.
Target. (2011). Furniture, Patio, Baby, Toys, Electronics, Video Games. Web.
Walmart. (2011). Save Money. Live Better. Web.