Research Proposal

On

Customer satisfaction

In

Apple retail store

In

The United Kingdom

Contents

1. Introduction. 3

1.1 Aim.. 3

1.2 Objectives. 3

1.3 Rational 4

1.4 Ethical liability. 4

1.5 Research Question. 4

2. Research Methodology. 5

2.1 Explain the topic of research. 5

2.2 Research Design. 5

3. Literature review.. 6

4. Data. 7

4.1 Data Collection. 7

4.2 Data analysis. 8

4.3 Research Findings. 9

5. Conclusion. 10

References: 11

1. Introduction

The principle agenda of this research paper is to illustrate the importance of customer satisfaction in the retail industry. The retail industry being the highly competitive field that it is, being able to fulfill customer expectations and demands becomes the most essential element in order to get sustainable growth and profit margin (Bateson, 1991). This research paper will try to study and analyze the measures taken up by the Apple stores in U.K to satisfy the needs of its customers. It would also establish the role customer satisfaction plays in the success of Apple stores. Though previously a lot of research has been conducted in this field this research would increase the knowledge about the importance of customer satisfaction in the growth of the industry. Apple is one of the leading multinational companies in the world, with its base located in United States the company boosts of 364 retail stores all over the world, and its huge customer base is the prime force behind its success.

1.1 Aim

The aim of this project is to establish the importance and significance of customer satisfaction for the sustainable growth and profit of a company, thus in order to establish that this research would study the different customer satisfaction policies of the Apple stores of U.K. The research also aims to establish how the inability to provide the desired customer satisfaction can take a severe toll on the customer base of a company.

1.2 Objectives

The objectives behind carrying out this research are as follows

• To assess the role of customer satisfaction in retail industry
• Identification of the principle causes of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
• To analyze the customer satisfaction policies and services that has been taken up by the Apple stores in U.K.
• To collect various facts and figures of the Apple stores in U.K.
• To study the business model implemented by the Apple stores in United Kingdom over the years.

1.3 Rational

Customers are the backbone of any company or organization they are the people who make a business successful, so customer satisfaction becomes an essential part of all the industry just like the retail industry (Fornell, 1994). If the customers get pleased with the services and products of the company they become loyal to the firm and also praise them resulting in the word of mouth publicity for the organization, thereby contributing in its growth and profit as well. Thus to identify the importance of customer satisfaction this research would study the policies and growth of Apple stores in United Kingdom and collect various data and statistics that traces the growth of their business with respect to the customer satisfaction. Apple being as successful as it is proves to be a perfect specimen for the case study in order to illustrate the importance of customer satisfaction in the growth of a business.

1.4 Ethical liability

Apple is one of the biggest multinational companies on this day so before the conduction of this case study and research prior permissions will be secured from the respective authority of the said concern (Hubbert, 1994).

1.5 Research Question

The main question that is to be answered by this research is ‘What is the importance of customer satisfaction in the growth and development of a business?’ But keeping in mind the case study the questions would be

• At what rate has the business of Apple stores grown in the last few years?
• What are the policies that have been adapted by Apple for marketing of their products?
• What are the policies adapted by the Apple stores in U.K. for their operations?

2. Research Methodology

The research methodology discusses the different methods that will be used to conduct this research. The research will be so conducted so as to obtain the best result from it and be fruitful in enhancing the knowledge about the importance of customer satisfaction in the growth of the business and profit of the company. The process of classification of the data into primary and secondary data and all the ethical rights that should be acquired for the conduction of the research will all be discussed here.

2.1 Explain the topic of research

The first and foremost thing required in the process of the research is providing the correct reason behind conducting the desired research, and the benefit it has. In this case although a lot has been researched about the impact customer satisfaction has on the sustainable growth and increment of profit of an organization before also but a close insight in the policies and business growth of a multinational company as big as Apple would enhance our knowledge about the entire concept (Chiou, 1996). Apart from that it will also enable us to point out the things which can lead up to dissatisfaction of the customers thereby hampering the development of the company. So this research along with the case study of Apple retail stores in United Kingdom will be instrumental in improving the knowledge about the significance of customer satisfaction on the profit and growth of a business. If a company becomes able to satisfy its customer with all its services and products the customer develops a loyalty towards the organization alongside speaking good words about the company among his own circle, this enhances the customer base of the company thus increasing the sales of the company increasing its popularity and profits in the retail industry.

2.2 Research Design

Research design is perhaps the most vital part of this research it includes the entire planning of the research to be carried out any mistake here, can singlehandedly make the research useless and meaningless. So the entire research design should be crafted with utmost skill and specification to make the work process, easy and worthy of being carried out. The research designing segment will deal with the formulation of the entire framework which includes

• Drafting of first thoughts: The initial thoughts that will come for the execution of the case study and research should be drafted as their improvisation will result in the ultimate research design that will be followed.
• Sampling:  Here refers to the selection of the staffs and customers of the Apple stores in U.K. who will be interviewed on the previously formulated questions to get idea about the customer-company relationship of the Apple. This group of people forms the focus group or research population.
• Sampling technique selection: There are some predefined techniques behind the selection of the research population, the selection of the proper technique with the correct reason is always essential, and the outcome of the research would depend on it to some extent (Wagner, 2001). As for example in the probability sampling technique the research population is selected randomly be it the staff or the customers all will be selected in a random manner.
• Interview: To collect the primary data from various sources the interview to be conducted amidst the research population should be perfectly drafted.
• Observation: The success of the research will depend on the things that we will observe during the course of research
• Documentary Evidence: Various documentary evidences should be recorded in support of the research while it is being conducted.
• Action research: An action research policy will be followed that works on the line that the occurrence of any problem while conduction of research should be solved immediately.

3. Literature review

In the first phase of the research the secondary data will be collected after an elaborate research and study about the Apple retail stores in United Kingdom and these secondary data will provide the conceptual framework of the entire research and case study. The entire study to collect secondary data will be instrumental in a huge way in the framing of various surveys and questions that will help in acquiring the primary data of the research, necessary to fulfill all the aims of the research. The literature to be reviewed for the execution of research and the case study of the Apple retail stores mainly inculcate

• The expectations and demands of the customers of the Apple retail stores.
• The research and developments that the company carries out in order to formulate marketing and service policy that will be able to meet the demands of the customers.
• The policies that they actually implement in order to gain customer satisfaction.
• The efficiency of the implemented policy in attaining the desired customer satisfaction.
• The conscious effort of the company to avoid each and everything that can cause dissatisfaction for the customers.

4. Data

Data is the principle element of the research; the outcome will solely be based on the study and collection and analysis of the data during the course of research (Taylor, 2003).

4.1 Data Collection

The secondary data being collected by reviewing the literature, this research tends to follow a systematic approach to obtain primary data. The primary data deals with

• Case study: To collect the data for this research we depend on our case study, the case being of the Apple retail stores in United Kingdom. Being as successful as they are banking on their highly satisfied customers they prove to be the perfect specimen for our study.
• Surveys and sampling: After the research population gets selected by sampling procedure, the interviews that have been already framed are conducted among them, to collect the primary data required to answer the research questions and establish the prime agenda of this research.
• Ethnography: The ethnography of the customers of the Apple store should also be observed and collected as data as on minute analysis we will be able to see how this ethnography of the customers play a significant role in the planning of business models and marketing strategy of the Apple retail stores (Babbie, 2009).
• Experiments: Some experiment relevant to the agenda of the research would also be conducted in order to get more accurate and specific data which would help in the cause of our research
• Phenomenology: Phenomenological studies would be conducted in order to observe how experience, feedback, research and development have molded the business policies and structure of the Apple retail stores in United Kingdom over the years.
• Grounded theory: Any grounded theory if traced will also be added up in the collected data for the study and execution of the research.

The entire primary data thus collected will be further classified into

• Qualitative Data: The data collected by interviewing the staffs of the Apple retail stores in U.K. about the importance of customer satisfaction and policies for customer satisfaction.
• Quantitative Data: The data collected by conducting surveys among the customers to know how satisfied they are from the services offered by the Apple stores in U.K.

4.2 Data analysis

• Aims of analysis: The main aim behind the analysis of data will be to obtain answer to all the research questions that will help us to establish the aim of the research in the long run.
• Quantitative data analysis technique: The quantitative data that will be acquired will be analyzed in order to know how the customer policies of the Apple stores in U.K. have satisfied the customers thereby scripting its tale of success in the way it has done over the years.

This analysis can be done by several techniques, like

• Mean, median, mode: Basic statistical concepts like mean median mode can be implemented for analysis of the collected data.
• Graphs and charts: Various graphs and charts can be constructed with the acquired data for a detailed study.

But whatever be the technique used preservation of the data validity is the most important thing

• Qualitative data analysis technique: The qualitative data collected should be approached in different ways
  • Narrative analysis: This approach analyzes the data on basis of its philosophy and relevance to the objective though easy to implement the theoretical quotient is not high enough.
  • Discoursed Analysis: The discourse analysis opt to analyze the quantitative data on several parameters it helps in providing a very sophisticated explanation for the data (Creswell, 2008).
  • Content analysis: This approach solely concentrate on the content that has been acquired thereby it has no influence on checking whether the research is generalized or not.
  • Recording source and findings analysis: In this approach the sources of data acquisition and the findings of the research are analyzed thus it checks whether the data is generalized and valid as well.

4.3 Research Findings

The findings of this research include the results of the data analysis of the data obtained while carrying out surveys and interviews of the staffs and customers of the apple store in U.K. The result of the analysis will help ultimately to answer all the research questions thereby making the research successful.

The success of any research, including our research on the Customer satisfaction of Apple stores in U.K. depends on three things as we know

• The findings of the research should be generalized
• The findings should be reliable
• Validity of the findings

As the research will be conducted only for the Apple stores that also only in the limited territory of the United Kingdom, the research findings cannot be claimed to be as generalized as per the desired expectation level.

The reliability of the findings will also come under test as the random sampling technique will be chosen while chalking out the research design owing to academic nature of the research and limited available budget.

The findings will be valid only as data will be collected from various available sources for the Customer satisfaction for Apple Stores in United Kingdom.

5. Conclusion

This is just a frame work of a proposed research and not any kind of research itself. So if this proposal is found to be suitable enough then this research will be carried out as per this framework to successfully complete the research thereby also attaining the aims with which we have decided to take up such a research. This proposed research would efficiently establish the importance of customer satisfaction in the sustainable growth, development and increment in the profit of a company. Apple having already scripted the marvelous tale of success that it has already banking on its fully satisfied customer base will prove to be the perfect specimen for our case study (Lincoln, 2000). So this research would study the retail policies of the Apple stores located in the United Kingdom and collect data about their services and how those services becomes able to satisfy their customers to the fullest thereby increasing their customer count resulting in an expansion of their business and growth. The entire research will be conducted

In a systematic and organized manner with every aspect of the research been properly planned, the selection of the correct choices and a smooth execution would enable us to establish that customer satisfaction is the back bone of growth and development in various companies. Though the research will not be as generalized at it is desired to be, but as we are collecting data from all four apple stores in U.K. it will make the conclusions a bit generalized.

References:

Fornell, C. (1994). “A Customer Satisfaction Research Prospectus.” In R.T. Rust & R.L. Oliver (eds.), Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Bateson, J. (1991). “Understanding Services Consumer Behavior.” New York: American Management Association.

Hubbert, A. (1994). “Encounter Satisfaction Versus Overall Satisfaction Versus Quality.” California: Sage.

Chiou, J. (1996). “The Reliability of Difference Scores: A Re-Examination.” Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior.

Wagner, J. (2001). “A Model of Customer Satisfaction with Service Encounters Involving Failure and Recovery.” Journal of Marketing Research.

Taylor, S. (2003). “Consumer Satisfaction with Marketing Education: Extending Services Theory to Academic Practice.”, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior.

Babbie, E. (2009). “The Practice of Social Research. 12th edition”. UK: Wadsworth Publishing.

Creswell, J. (2008). “Educational Research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research.” Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Lincoln, Y. (2000). “Handbook of qualitative research”. CA: Thousand Oaks.

Gauch, G. (2003). “Scientific method in practice”. UK: Cambridge University.