Customer Relationship Building at a Grocery Retailer Essay

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Retailer Relationships, Consumers and InnovationStrategic Planning and Building RelationshipsKroger is one of the most successful large retailers when it comes to strategic planning and building relationships. For example, Kroger has always been willing to adapt to meet the needs of customers in a changing environment. Kroger Pickup—its online ordering service allows customers to shop virtually and then pick up items without ever having to leave their car to enter the store. Its Kroger Plus Card is one example of building relationships with customers: it allows loyal customers to earn fuel points on purchases and save on certain items. The strategic planning for online ordering was something that Kroger had to start developing years in advance because it requires so much work on the front end and back end of computer applications. Fortunately all that work and preparation paid off because in 2020 the coronavirus arrived and many frightened shoppers turned to Kroger’s online ordering platform to obtain shopping items without having to risk going into the store and potentially contracting COVID 19. Had Kroger been less strategic in its foresight it would not have had the platform designed, developed and ready to launch. But Kroger was forward thinking and able to plan ahead, seeing that online ordering was the way of the future and taking steps to make sure the company could give customers what they wanted. Its loyalty program has helped make customers happy about shopping there because they get to earn fuel points that they can redeem at Kroger gas stations. In these ways Kroger has built lasting relationships with customers and shown that it knows how to plan for the future.Three Actions That Would Enhance Relationships with CustomersKroger has taken steps to fight the spread of coronavirus, and while some people are happy to wear a mask in public, others chafe at mandatory mask policies. Kroger has now required all customers to wear masks when entering the store. This is a bad policy that will damage relationships with customers. Many people have written letters to Kroger’s corporate office denouncing this policy because they feel it violates their right to manage their own bodies and own health as they see fit. The argument for women’s reproductive rights is “my body, my choice,” and the same is being said of people who argue against being forced to wear a mask in public. Not everyone believes the hype over COVID 19, and yet many companies are implementing policies that feel very totalitarian to some consumers. Thus, one action to enhance relationships with customers in the coronavirus era would be to let customers decide for themselves whether they want to wear a mask. If they do not feel comfortable wearing a mask then they should not be harassed or hassled. The customer, after all, is always right, and that is a policy that Kroger has benefited from standing by for a long time. It should not abandon that policy now.Another step Kroger could take to enhance relationships with customers would be to provide delivery.

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Uber Eats and Shopify have entered this market and Kroger should have a similar service. This would allow people to shop without having to leave their homes. It is another convenience that people in the digital age are now expecting more and more and Kroger should begin rolling out this service to stay ahead of the curve in the coming years.A third way to enhance relationships with customers would be to keep building on its brand of organic food items that consumers like. Organic, locally grown foods are something that have become popular in recent years and…

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…customer check out with someone working a cash register and have bags packed by an employee? These are questions that will likely be answered by the number of goods the customers has purchased and whether the customer wants to scan the items himself. It is an important step for Kroger to determine because it will impact how many self-checkout lanes are needed in-store, how much data its online servers will need to be able to process and at what times online traffic will be greatest so that servers are not overwhelmed. It will need to know how many workers are needed to staff registers and how many baggers it should have on hand.Finally, post-purchase behavior is important because this is where the customer determines satisfaction. Was the customer satisfied with the experience? Were complaints received? This information cannot be obtained without acquiring feedback, and Kroger can obtain feedback from consumers by conducting surveys and asking customers to rate their shopping experiences. This helps the company to improve its approaches to business and improves the shopping experience for consumers as well if changes are required.ConclusionKroger has taken significant steps in addressing trends in the grocery retail market place through strategic planning and customer relationship building. It has been at the head of the curve in terms of offering online shopping and it has a great loyalty rewards system that benefits shoppers looking for savings or fuel points. Its current mask policy is polarizing and Kroger should consider abandoning this policy because some customers will shop elsewhere if they feel the company is violating their rights. The health scare caused by COVID 19 is not perceived the same way by everyone and it is a bit totalitarian of Kroger to assume that it knows the mind of all its consumers. Such tactics will….....

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