Carrefour Business Report Writing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report examines the customers' satisfaction based on facility, customer services and layout of the store department at Carrefour in Seberang Perai and provides the most effective solutions that will help Carrefour to overcome their problem.

The data used in this report were gathered from interview the manager of the customer service department and from the questionnaires distributed to 50 respondents randomly selected from the customers in Carrefour Seberang Perai. Besides that, the data also used in this report are from the secondary references which are from the internet and articles.

The findings showed about 70% of the respondents felt more convenience and comfortable to shop at Carrefour compare to other hypermarket because of the facilities and a good environments that are providing by Carrefour. The survey also showed that all of the respondents were satisfied with the services at Carrefour.

Carrefour Seberang Perai has managed to:

1. Provide clean and well-arrange food court

2. Provide home delivery services

3. Provide professional staffs

4. Provide a proper demonstration of the product when required

5. Provide signboards for each of the store department

It is recommended that:

1. Carrefour in Seberang Perai should provide more parking lots during the festival seasons.

2. Carrefour in Seberang Perai should provide more security guard and CCTV.

3. Carrefour in Seberang Perai should provide a smoking area.

4. Carrefour in Seberang Perai should provide more parking spaces for handicap people.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Carrefour is the number one retailer in Europe and the second-largest retailer in the world. In Malaysia, Carrefour is a leading hypermarket chain selling a wide range of household grocery products ranging from frozen goods and fresh products to textiles, garments and shoes, as well as electrical goods such as home kitchen items and audio-visual appliances. Carrefour is widely recognised as a convenient one-stop shopping centre that caters to a mix of consumers from housewives to students and working professionals. Carrefour respect customers' freedom of choice through the variety of store formats and the diversity of the products and brands sold.

Carrefour further enhances this freedom by providing thorough objective information and give consumers the freedom to buy at prices consistent with their purchasing power. Carrefour provides the largest possible number of people with the opportunity to purchase consumer goods and empower their employees to take initiative and give them the freedom to act as entrepreneurs.

1.1 Purpose Statement

The main purpose of this report is to evaluate the customer satisfaction of Carrefour based on three aspects which are, facility provided, customer services and layout of Carrefour department. This evaluation will allow the consultant company to come up with the most effective solutions that will help Carrefour to overcome their problem at the current situation.

1.2 Problem Statement

In 2009, Tesco Extra was open 1.85km from Carrefour Seberang Perai and become the main competitor for Carrefour Seberang Perai. At the beginning opening of Tesco Extra, Carrefour sales have slightly dropped. Therefore, in order to compete with Tesco Extra, Carrefour Seberang Perai would like to reevaluate their customer satisfaction based on facility provided, customer service and the layout of the department store, so that Carrefour can improve better and maintain their reputation.

1.3 Scope

The evaluation of Carrefour Seberang Perai will be based on the three aspects as describe below:

1.3.1 Facility

1.3.1.1 Parking Space

The parking space in Carrefour will be evaluated in terms of the space and security guard. Carrefour Seberang Perai Penang provided 11,200 square meters (120,500 square foot) of parking space for the customer. This free parking lot includes 1200 covered spaces and some parking spaces are reserved as handicapped parking. Handicapped parking spaces are typically marked with the International Symbol of Access, easy for disabled people to find. However huge parking lots will cause customers to walk far from the Carrefour entrance. These cause difficulties for the customers who make a lot of purchasing. Besides that, security at the parking lots also an important aspect for an evaluation of customer satisfaction of Carrefour Seberang Perai. This is because roughly 80% of the criminal acts at shopping mall occur in the parking lot. Therefore it is organizational responsibilities to protect their employees and customers against criminal threats. Evaluations for security at the parking lots of Carrefour Seberang Perai are including sufficient lighting, surveillance and response.

1.3.1.2 Food Court

Food Court in Carrefour will be evaluated in terms of the Halal certificate and cleanliness. Halal Certification is recognition that the products are permissible under Islamic law. These products are thus edible, drinkable or usable by Muslims. Most of the food court owner says that their foods are Halal but they do not display the Halal certificate to prove it. This can cause uncertainty among the Muslim customer. The next aspect at food court is cleanliness. After hours of shopping, customers tend to recharge their energy by having something to eat and food court is the best place to hang around with families and friends. Customers are expecting that the places that they going to dine-in must be clean, comfortable and well arrange. Therefore the cleanliness of Carrefour Seberang Perai's food court will affect the customer satisfaction.

1.3.2 Customer Services

1.3.2.1 Carrefour's Staff

In Carrefour, staffs play an important role to make sure that the customers will be happy and satisfied with the services provided. Staffs should someone that is polite, friendly, and ready to help to make the customers feel close to the organization. So that they will feel be treated nicely. Staffs are the one that can attract the customers to come often to Carrefour by providing the good services to the customers.

1.3.2.2 Desk help

Desk help is a counter where customer services department helps Carrefour Seberang Perai customer. At the desk help also customers can receive a demonstration on the electrical product that required professional concerned.

1.3.3 Layout of Carrefour department

1.3.3.1 Department store

Carrefour Seberang Perai has brightness and wide variety choices of product and everything is