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Customer Window Quadrant as a Tool for Tracking Customer Satisfaction on the Furniture Market
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
Business Economics and Management 2015 Conference, BEM2015
Customer Window Quadrant as a Tool for Tracking Customer Satisfaction on the Furniture Market Ing. Ján Parobek, PhD. *a, Ing. Erika Loučanová, PhD.a, Ing. Martina Kalamárová, PhD.a, Dr.h.c. prof. Ing. Mikuláš Šupín, CSc.a, doc. Ing. Katarína Repková Štofková, PhD.b a Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology, T. G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia The University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Univerzitná 8215/1, 010 26 Žilina, Slovakia
b
Abstract Customer satisfaction is one the most important factor in a successful business. A continuously increasing customer satisfaction leads to increased competitiveness. Monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction is based on detailed information about customer. The article is focused on the application of the model Customer Window Quadrant (CWQ) as a method of measuring the customer satisfaction in the furniture company. The main goal is to make an objective investigation of the customer satisfaction in the selected company using a questionnaire survey. The analysis and model can demonstrate eventual inadequacy, as well as, customer dissatisfaction. Different relationship between the current status of the customer satisfaction and importance is described on the graphical model. The results confirmed customers preferences as quality and service compared to the price. The customers consider as a negative services like lack of information about the status of their orders, range, etc. Company should innovate towards the use of more sophisticated tools for ensuring the tracking of orders and stock. This would satisfy even the needs of the customers, where the price is not a decisive feature for the customers. The collected data offer advices, which should lead to the increase of the customer satisfaction. © This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © 2015 2016The TheAuthors. Authors.Published PublishedbybyElsevier ElsevierB.V. B.V. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015 Keywords: Customer Window Quadrant, Customer Satisfaction, Furniture Market
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ++421-45-5206-484. E-mail address: [email protected]
2212-5671 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015 doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01659-7
494
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
1. Introduction Nowadays, companies face a strong competition, what will be even more challenging in the future. The customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors for a successful business. Building a long-term partnership between the customer and the company guarantees not only the customer loyalty to the company but also indicate the quality of services and products. Constantly increasing customer satisfaction leads to increasing competitiveness of companies whereby the company convinces its market position. It is necessary to constantly detect customer satisfaction and subsequently take steps that will lead to increasing customer satisfaction and maintain their loyalty. The aim of the paper is to apply the methodology of Customer Window Quadrant (CWQ) for tracking customer satisfaction with provided products in the selected furniture company. Monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction is based on review of information about company customers. There are a lot of information sources about the customers and the company management must establish effective and efficient processes of the collection, analysis and the use them to improve the efficiency of the company. The management should identify the internal and external sources of customer information, whether in written or verbal form. Each company should use the sources of information about customer satisfaction and should cooperate with its customers in order to accept their future requirements. Using models of customer satisfaction the company can verify and check the quality perception of the product or service and identify the causes of unsatisfactory results in order to take initiatives to improve satisfaction and perceived quality by customers (Mateides et al., 2002). Customer satisfaction is characterized by the differential model as a result of the comparison of individual expectations experienced during use of the product. Contrariwise, Huefner et al. (2000) described model of possible customer reactions so called Hirschman model. This model assumes that not every positive or negative customer experience necessarily leads to a customer response. The customer has the opportunity to respond, whether react active or stay passive. Other model of five contributory factors of unsuccessful customer service - GAP Model of Service Quality analyzes which causes result in the difference between customer expectations and perceived differences. The diversity of customer requirements according to their relevance to the satisfaction by defining two dimensions – the degree of fulfillment of customer requirements and the degree of customer satisfaction follows the Kano model. The analysis is primarily focused on finding variables that customer considered mandatory and attractive for the product (Loučanová et al., 2014). In addition to customer satisfaction, companies must track the importance of individual parameters. Later, these parameters will be applied into the Customer Window Quadrant (Fig. 1) and represent a complete picture of customer requirements and satisfaction in four quadrants as: • Motivators (the customer wants it and does get it) • Declarative characters (the customer wants it and does not get it) • Saving opportunities (the customer does not want it and I does not get it) • Reinvested characters (the customer does not want it and gets it anyway) If some of the satisfaction features shows at the upper left quadrant several times, it means a call for immediate improvement. However, if any of the features is located at the lower right quadrant of the "customer does not want it and gets it anyway", responsible workers should ask themselves whether it might be advisable to reduce the cost of providing such features and functions that the customer doesn´t want (Šalgovičová, 2006). Identification of customer satisfaction is an essential way to satisfy the customer needs, without which we would not know what the customer really wants. After that companies can profit and be competitive. This concept defines the role of companies and describes how to understand customer. Subsequently, companies seek to develop and introduce new products that meet customer needs at a higher level than the competition, thus offering competitive products on the market (Tokarczyk, Hansen, 2006). For market-oriented companies is therefore necessary to use tools for identifying needs, wishes and customer satisfaction for the subsequent realization of innovation to meet the needs of customers by competitive products.
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
495
Fig. 1. CWQ Source: González, M., E. et al. (2004)
2. Material and Methods The research analyzed customer satisfaction by using the targeted research questionnaire in cooperation with a selected company. To describe results we applied the method of Customer Window Quadrant in real terms of trade. The questionnaire consists of two main parts. The first part of the questionnaire is devoted to basic demographic information about customers and in the second part of the questionnaire we analyze the customer satisfaction with the services of the company. Customer’s rate questions used the degree of satisfaction from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest evaluation rating and 10 the highest evaluation rating. Customers assign in addition to the rating also the weight (importance of the service characteristics in the range of 1 to 10). The data obtained from the questionnaire survey are processed into the database and evaluated through Customer Window assessing a customer relationship based on the level of importance and the level of satisfaction of the analyzed characteristic. Within the Customer Window Quadrant the arithmetic averages of the satisfaction and importance of the various features observed in the survey are compared with the arithmetic averages of the satisfaction and importance calculated over all the characteristics (Šalgovičová, 2006). The application of this method requires further monitoring of the other two parameters, namely the relative real significance (α) and the relative perceived significance (β). Relative real significance α is calculated using the formula (1): αi = xi - xv (1) where: xi the average rate of customer satisfaction with the monitored area, xv the overall rate of customer satisfaction with all monitored areas. Through the parameter relative real significance we find the real dependence between overall satisfaction and customer satisfaction with the analyzed individual areas of satisfaction, where if: α 0 area is of high significance and the customer satisfaction is above average, α ൏ 0 area has low real significance and the customer satisfaction is below average. Relative perceived significance of β can be calculated using the formula (2): βi = yi - ys (2) where: average level of all customer importance with the area in the satisfaction questionnaire, yi ys overall level of all customer importance with all monitored areas.
496
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
By the relative perceived importance we find the dependence of the overall significance and importance of the various areas of customer satisfaction where if: β 0 the higher perceived importance of customer, β൏0 the lower perceived importance of customer. The obtained results can create a chart Customer Window Quadrant. We assign symbols of a quadrant to every area of satisfaction questionnaire according to Table 1. Table 1. The division of the features into groups. Quadrants of the CWQ
Ratio between αi and βi
Customer satisfaction
I - Motivators
αi>0 simultaneously βi>0
Customer wants it and gets it
II - Declarative Characters
αi<0 simultaneously βi>0
Customer wants it and does not get it
III - Saving Opportunities
αi<0 simultaneously βi<0
Customer does not want it and does not get it
IV - Invested Features
αi>0 simultaneously βi<0
Customer does not want it and gets it anyway
3. Results We applied the methodology of CWQ for tracking customer satisfaction with provided products in selected company with furniture and accessories. (Table 2) The questionnaire survey of customer satisfaction with furniture and accessories lasted 30 days, during which we queried together 93 customers. It was 53 women and 40 men of the total number of customers. Respondents were represented by 30 customers in the age from 18 to 30 years, 33 customers in the age from 31to 40 years, 16 customers in the age from 41 to 50 years, and 14 customers from 51 years and above. 32 customers from the total number of surveyed respondents were university graduates, 60 customers have completed secondary education and one customer has completed primary education. Table 2. Relative real significance α and relative perceived significance β. Area of the research
The average rate of the importance
The average rate of satisfaction
α
β
Q *
Range of products
8,398
8,151
-0,0534
0,4666
II
Company Presentation on the Web
7,312
3,667
-4,5374
-0,6194
III
Availability of Information about Goods
8,204
8,097
-0,1074
0,2726
II
Availability of Information about Services
8,043
8,656
0,4516
0,1116
I
Proposals of Design
7,462
9,118
0,9136
-0,4694
IV
Price of Proposed Kitchens
7,495
8,398
0,1936
-0,4364
IV
Transport Prices
6,882
8,29
0,0856
-1,0494
IV
Prices of Assembly and Installation services
6,591
8,097
-0,1074
-1,3404
III
The Approach of Staff to Customers
8,935
9,022
0,8176
1,0036
I
Professional Approach of Staff
8,785
8,667
0,4626
0,8536
I
Knowledge about Technical parameters
8,634
8,645
0,4406
0,7026
I
Speed of Management Orders
8,075
6,054
-2,1504
0,1436
II
Supporting Documents
7,806
9,495
1,2906
-0,1254
IV
Packaging
8,204
8,935
0,7306
0,2726
I
Terms Sales Service
8,054
9,473
1,2686
0,1226
I
Supply Product Services
8,022
8,505
0,3006
0,0906
I
Average values
7,931
8,204
Q* quadrant in the CWQ
497
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
To investigate the relationship between the rate of importance and rate of satisfaction with the characteristic of products to the company's customers, we applied the method of CWQ according to the above mentioned methodology. In Table 2 average rates of importance and customer satisfaction in each area are presented. The overall rate of importance and customer satisfaction as well as relative real significance α and relative perceived significance β were calculated from them through the arithmetic average. According to the value of α and β the position in the CWQ has been identified. The results created CWQ, see figure 2, based on the calculated rates of relative real importance and the relative perceived importance. In the upper right quadrant it is "motivators" (customer wants and gets it). Areas of satisfaction questionnaire contained in this quadrant are most important for customers and the customers are satisfied with them above average. For the company it is very important to seek to keep the satisfaction of these areas at the current level. These areas include: helpful staff, professional staff access, guidance for setting the technical parameters, packaging products, after guarantee service conditions, availability of services information, supply services.
IMPORTANCE
1,5 1
0,5 0 -5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
-0,5 -1 -1,5
SATISFACTION Range of products Availability of Information about Goods Proposals of Design Transport Prices The Approach of Staff to Customers Knowledge about Technical parameters Supporting Documents Terms Sales Service
Company Presentation on the Web Availability of Information about Services Price of Proposed Kitchens Prices of Assembly and Installation services Professional Approach of Staff Speed of Management Orders Packaging Supply Product Services
Fig. 2. CWQ for furniture company
The upper left quadrant is considered as declarative characters (the customer wants it and does not get it). The CWQ shows that availability of information is important for customers, but their satisfaction with them is below average. Since these areas are important for customers, it is necessary to increase their satisfaction within them, so as to move to the right upper quadrant "motivators" which would lead to a higher overall satisfaction. The areas in this quadrant include speed of orders, availability of product information and range of products. Customers are undersatisfied and it can be seen in the lower left quadrant "opportunities for savings". These areas include presentation of the company on the web, the prices of montage and installation services. It is obviously from the figure CWQ that in the lower right quadrant "invested features" are satisfaction questionnaire areas, which customers of the company although do not want. It means that they assigned a belowaverage importance to them, but on the other hand they are satisfied with them above average. Satisfaction questionnaire areas in this quadrant are contracts supporting documents, prices of kitchens design concepts, prices for transportation services and proposals of design.
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Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
4. Discussion Considering the results, we can conclude that the chosen company providing furniture, furnishings and associated services highly meets the needs of the customers. The largest gap is in the area of managing the assortment in terms and informing the customers. The customers would like to have greater insight into the availability of range and implementation of the orders. The price is already not so important for customers, because the characters associated with the price are located in quadrant III and IV indicating that customers do not need to be informed about the prices of products. CWQ for furniture and accessories, thus confirms the customers focus on the quality of products provided in conjunction with qualified submitted information about those products and services where price is not the decisive element. This fact found previous research as Rametsteiner et al. (2007), Paluš et al. (2012), Triznová (2014) and Parobek et al. (2014). They report similar customers attitudes towards listed categories of wood products and describe the differences in preferred characteristics such as quality, whether in terms of material or services provided when purchasing the product. 5. Conclusion As reported by Nenadal (2004) results of the satisfaction measurement should be the focus of continuous attention. The company must put great emphasis on these data use and responsibly implement this step, as well as other steps in the process of measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction. Customers in the furniture market and accessories require a particular quality of the products or services. In the case of the real failure to meet the requirements the customers are dissatisfied. The customers feel the largest gaps, especially in the field of information about the status of their orders, range, etc. It should lead to innovations towards the use of more sophisticated tools for ensuring the tracking of orders and stock as well as improving information systems in the company. This would satisfy even the needs of the customers, where the price is not a decisive feature for them. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the support of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic, and the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Grant No. 1/0387/13, “A comprehensive model of wood chain comparative advantages.” and Grant No. 1/0385/13, “Modelling substitution changes in timber market under the increasing demand for renewable energy sources”. References González, M. E., Quesada, G,. Picado, F., Eckelman, C. A., 2004. Customer satisfaction using QFD: an ebanking case, Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 14, 4, 317 – 330. Huefner. J. C., Hunt, H. K, 2000. Consumer Relation as a Response to Dissatisfaction. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior 13, 61-82. Loučanová, E., Kalamárová, M., Parobek, J., 2015. Konkurencieschopnosť produktov dreva z pohľadu použitého materiálu. Acta Facultatis xylológiae 57, 2, 155-163. Loučanová, E., Parobek, J., Paluš, H., 2014. Identifikácia požiadaviek slovenských zákazníkov na úložný nábytok na základe modelu KANO. Acta Facultatis Xylologiae 56, 1, 109-117. Mateides, A., Ďaďo, J. 2002. Služby. Vydal Ing. Miroslav Mračko, Bratislava, pp. 750. Nenadál, J. 2004. Měření v systémech managementu jakosti. Management Press, Praha, pp. 335. Paluš, H., Maťová, H., Kaputa, V. 2012. Consumer preferences for joinery products and furniture in Slovakia and Poland. Acta facultatis xylologiae 54, 2, 123-132. Parobek, J., Paluš, H., Kaputa, V., Šupín, M. 2014. Analysis of wood flows in Slovakia, BioResources, 9, 4, 6453-6462. Rametsteiner, E., Oberwimmer, R., Gschwandtl, I. 2007. Europeans and wood: What do Europeans think about wood and its uses? A review of consumer and business surveys in Europe. [online]. Warsaw: Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, Liaison Unit Warsaw, 2007. 70 p. [cit. 2015-12-08.] Available from:
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
Tokarczyk J., Hansen E. 2006. Creating Intangible Competitive Advantages in the Forest Products Industry. Forest Products Journal, 56, 7/8, 413. Triznová, M. 2014. Manažment vzťahov so zákazníkom. Technická univerzita vo Zvolene, Zvolen, pp. 86.
499
ScienceDirect Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
Business Economics and Management 2015 Conference, BEM2015
Customer Window Quadrant as a Tool for Tracking Customer Satisfaction on the Furniture Market Ing. Ján Parobek, PhD. *a, Ing. Erika Loučanová, PhD.a, Ing. Martina Kalamárová, PhD.a, Dr.h.c. prof. Ing. Mikuláš Šupín, CSc.a, doc. Ing. Katarína Repková Štofková, PhD.b a Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Wood Sciences and Technology, T. G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia The University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Univerzitná 8215/1, 010 26 Žilina, Slovakia
b
Abstract Customer satisfaction is one the most important factor in a successful business. A continuously increasing customer satisfaction leads to increased competitiveness. Monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction is based on detailed information about customer. The article is focused on the application of the model Customer Window Quadrant (CWQ) as a method of measuring the customer satisfaction in the furniture company. The main goal is to make an objective investigation of the customer satisfaction in the selected company using a questionnaire survey. The analysis and model can demonstrate eventual inadequacy, as well as, customer dissatisfaction. Different relationship between the current status of the customer satisfaction and importance is described on the graphical model. The results confirmed customers preferences as quality and service compared to the price. The customers consider as a negative services like lack of information about the status of their orders, range, etc. Company should innovate towards the use of more sophisticated tools for ensuring the tracking of orders and stock. This would satisfy even the needs of the customers, where the price is not a decisive feature for the customers. The collected data offer advices, which should lead to the increase of the customer satisfaction. © This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © 2015 2016The TheAuthors. Authors.Published PublishedbybyElsevier ElsevierB.V. B.V. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015 Keywords: Customer Window Quadrant, Customer Satisfaction, Furniture Market
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ++421-45-5206-484. E-mail address: [email protected]
2212-5671 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of BEM2015 doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01659-7
494
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
1. Introduction Nowadays, companies face a strong competition, what will be even more challenging in the future. The customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors for a successful business. Building a long-term partnership between the customer and the company guarantees not only the customer loyalty to the company but also indicate the quality of services and products. Constantly increasing customer satisfaction leads to increasing competitiveness of companies whereby the company convinces its market position. It is necessary to constantly detect customer satisfaction and subsequently take steps that will lead to increasing customer satisfaction and maintain their loyalty. The aim of the paper is to apply the methodology of Customer Window Quadrant (CWQ) for tracking customer satisfaction with provided products in the selected furniture company. Monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction is based on review of information about company customers. There are a lot of information sources about the customers and the company management must establish effective and efficient processes of the collection, analysis and the use them to improve the efficiency of the company. The management should identify the internal and external sources of customer information, whether in written or verbal form. Each company should use the sources of information about customer satisfaction and should cooperate with its customers in order to accept their future requirements. Using models of customer satisfaction the company can verify and check the quality perception of the product or service and identify the causes of unsatisfactory results in order to take initiatives to improve satisfaction and perceived quality by customers (Mateides et al., 2002). Customer satisfaction is characterized by the differential model as a result of the comparison of individual expectations experienced during use of the product. Contrariwise, Huefner et al. (2000) described model of possible customer reactions so called Hirschman model. This model assumes that not every positive or negative customer experience necessarily leads to a customer response. The customer has the opportunity to respond, whether react active or stay passive. Other model of five contributory factors of unsuccessful customer service - GAP Model of Service Quality analyzes which causes result in the difference between customer expectations and perceived differences. The diversity of customer requirements according to their relevance to the satisfaction by defining two dimensions – the degree of fulfillment of customer requirements and the degree of customer satisfaction follows the Kano model. The analysis is primarily focused on finding variables that customer considered mandatory and attractive for the product (Loučanová et al., 2014). In addition to customer satisfaction, companies must track the importance of individual parameters. Later, these parameters will be applied into the Customer Window Quadrant (Fig. 1) and represent a complete picture of customer requirements and satisfaction in four quadrants as: • Motivators (the customer wants it and does get it) • Declarative characters (the customer wants it and does not get it) • Saving opportunities (the customer does not want it and I does not get it) • Reinvested characters (the customer does not want it and gets it anyway) If some of the satisfaction features shows at the upper left quadrant several times, it means a call for immediate improvement. However, if any of the features is located at the lower right quadrant of the "customer does not want it and gets it anyway", responsible workers should ask themselves whether it might be advisable to reduce the cost of providing such features and functions that the customer doesn´t want (Šalgovičová, 2006). Identification of customer satisfaction is an essential way to satisfy the customer needs, without which we would not know what the customer really wants. After that companies can profit and be competitive. This concept defines the role of companies and describes how to understand customer. Subsequently, companies seek to develop and introduce new products that meet customer needs at a higher level than the competition, thus offering competitive products on the market (Tokarczyk, Hansen, 2006). For market-oriented companies is therefore necessary to use tools for identifying needs, wishes and customer satisfaction for the subsequent realization of innovation to meet the needs of customers by competitive products.
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
495
Fig. 1. CWQ Source: González, M., E. et al. (2004)
2. Material and Methods The research analyzed customer satisfaction by using the targeted research questionnaire in cooperation with a selected company. To describe results we applied the method of Customer Window Quadrant in real terms of trade. The questionnaire consists of two main parts. The first part of the questionnaire is devoted to basic demographic information about customers and in the second part of the questionnaire we analyze the customer satisfaction with the services of the company. Customer’s rate questions used the degree of satisfaction from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest evaluation rating and 10 the highest evaluation rating. Customers assign in addition to the rating also the weight (importance of the service characteristics in the range of 1 to 10). The data obtained from the questionnaire survey are processed into the database and evaluated through Customer Window assessing a customer relationship based on the level of importance and the level of satisfaction of the analyzed characteristic. Within the Customer Window Quadrant the arithmetic averages of the satisfaction and importance of the various features observed in the survey are compared with the arithmetic averages of the satisfaction and importance calculated over all the characteristics (Šalgovičová, 2006). The application of this method requires further monitoring of the other two parameters, namely the relative real significance (α) and the relative perceived significance (β). Relative real significance α is calculated using the formula (1): αi = xi - xv (1) where: xi the average rate of customer satisfaction with the monitored area, xv the overall rate of customer satisfaction with all monitored areas. Through the parameter relative real significance we find the real dependence between overall satisfaction and customer satisfaction with the analyzed individual areas of satisfaction, where if: α 0 area is of high significance and the customer satisfaction is above average, α ൏ 0 area has low real significance and the customer satisfaction is below average. Relative perceived significance of β can be calculated using the formula (2): βi = yi - ys (2) where: average level of all customer importance with the area in the satisfaction questionnaire, yi ys overall level of all customer importance with all monitored areas.
496
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
By the relative perceived importance we find the dependence of the overall significance and importance of the various areas of customer satisfaction where if: β 0 the higher perceived importance of customer, β൏0 the lower perceived importance of customer. The obtained results can create a chart Customer Window Quadrant. We assign symbols of a quadrant to every area of satisfaction questionnaire according to Table 1. Table 1. The division of the features into groups. Quadrants of the CWQ
Ratio between αi and βi
Customer satisfaction
I - Motivators
αi>0 simultaneously βi>0
Customer wants it and gets it
II - Declarative Characters
αi<0 simultaneously βi>0
Customer wants it and does not get it
III - Saving Opportunities
αi<0 simultaneously βi<0
Customer does not want it and does not get it
IV - Invested Features
αi>0 simultaneously βi<0
Customer does not want it and gets it anyway
3. Results We applied the methodology of CWQ for tracking customer satisfaction with provided products in selected company with furniture and accessories. (Table 2) The questionnaire survey of customer satisfaction with furniture and accessories lasted 30 days, during which we queried together 93 customers. It was 53 women and 40 men of the total number of customers. Respondents were represented by 30 customers in the age from 18 to 30 years, 33 customers in the age from 31to 40 years, 16 customers in the age from 41 to 50 years, and 14 customers from 51 years and above. 32 customers from the total number of surveyed respondents were university graduates, 60 customers have completed secondary education and one customer has completed primary education. Table 2. Relative real significance α and relative perceived significance β. Area of the research
The average rate of the importance
The average rate of satisfaction
α
β
Q *
Range of products
8,398
8,151
-0,0534
0,4666
II
Company Presentation on the Web
7,312
3,667
-4,5374
-0,6194
III
Availability of Information about Goods
8,204
8,097
-0,1074
0,2726
II
Availability of Information about Services
8,043
8,656
0,4516
0,1116
I
Proposals of Design
7,462
9,118
0,9136
-0,4694
IV
Price of Proposed Kitchens
7,495
8,398
0,1936
-0,4364
IV
Transport Prices
6,882
8,29
0,0856
-1,0494
IV
Prices of Assembly and Installation services
6,591
8,097
-0,1074
-1,3404
III
The Approach of Staff to Customers
8,935
9,022
0,8176
1,0036
I
Professional Approach of Staff
8,785
8,667
0,4626
0,8536
I
Knowledge about Technical parameters
8,634
8,645
0,4406
0,7026
I
Speed of Management Orders
8,075
6,054
-2,1504
0,1436
II
Supporting Documents
7,806
9,495
1,2906
-0,1254
IV
Packaging
8,204
8,935
0,7306
0,2726
I
Terms Sales Service
8,054
9,473
1,2686
0,1226
I
Supply Product Services
8,022
8,505
0,3006
0,0906
I
Average values
7,931
8,204
Q* quadrant in the CWQ
497
Ján Parobek et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015) 493 – 499
To investigate the relationship between the rate of importance and rate of satisfaction with the characteristic of products to the company's customers, we applied the method of CWQ according to the above mentioned methodology. In Table 2 average rates of importance and customer satisfaction in each area are presented. The overall rate of importance and customer satisfaction as well as relative real significance α and relative perceived significance β were calculated from them through the arithmetic average. According to the value of α and β the position in the CWQ has been identified. The results created CWQ, see figure 2, based on the calculated rates of relative real importance and the relative perceived importance. In the upper right quadrant it is "motivators" (customer wants and gets it). Areas of satisfaction questionnaire contained in this quadrant are most important for customers and the customers are satisfied with them above average. For the company it is very important to seek to keep the satisfaction of these areas at the current level. These areas include: helpful staff, professional staff access, guidance for setting the technical parameters, packaging products, after guarantee service conditions, availability of services information, supply services.
IMPORTANCE
1,5 1
0,5 0 -5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
-0,5 -1 -1,5
SATISFACTION Range of products Availability of Information about Goods Proposals of Design Transport Prices The Approach of Staff to Customers Knowledge about Technical parameters Supporting Documents Terms Sales Service
Company Presentation on the Web Availability of Information about Services Price of Proposed Kitchens Prices of Assembly and Installation services Professional Approach of Staff Speed of Management Orders Packaging Supply Product Services
Fig. 2. CWQ for furniture company
The upper left quadrant is considered as declarative characters (the customer wants it and does not get it). The CWQ shows that availability of information is important for customers, but their satisfaction with them is below average. Since these areas are important for customers, it is necessary to increase their satisfaction within them, so as to move to the right upper quadrant "motivators" which would lead to a higher overall satisfaction. The areas in this quadrant include speed of orders, availability of product information and range of products. Customers are undersatisfied and it can be seen in the lower left quadrant "opportunities for savings". These areas include presentation of the company on the web, the prices of montage and installation services. It is obviously from the figure CWQ that in the lower right quadrant "invested features" are satisfaction questionnaire areas, which customers of the company although do not want. It means that they assigned a belowaverage importance to them, but on the other hand they are satisfied with them above average. Satisfaction questionnaire areas in this quadrant are contracts supporting documents, prices of kitchens design concepts, prices for transportation services and proposals of design.
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4. Discussion Considering the results, we can conclude that the chosen company providing furniture, furnishings and associated services highly meets the needs of the customers. The largest gap is in the area of managing the assortment in terms and informing the customers. The customers would like to have greater insight into the availability of range and implementation of the orders. The price is already not so important for customers, because the characters associated with the price are located in quadrant III and IV indicating that customers do not need to be informed about the prices of products. CWQ for furniture and accessories, thus confirms the customers focus on the quality of products provided in conjunction with qualified submitted information about those products and services where price is not the decisive element. This fact found previous research as Rametsteiner et al. (2007), Paluš et al. (2012), Triznová (2014) and Parobek et al. (2014). They report similar customers attitudes towards listed categories of wood products and describe the differences in preferred characteristics such as quality, whether in terms of material or services provided when purchasing the product. 5. Conclusion As reported by Nenadal (2004) results of the satisfaction measurement should be the focus of continuous attention. The company must put great emphasis on these data use and responsibly implement this step, as well as other steps in the process of measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction. Customers in the furniture market and accessories require a particular quality of the products or services. In the case of the real failure to meet the requirements the customers are dissatisfied. The customers feel the largest gaps, especially in the field of information about the status of their orders, range, etc. It should lead to innovations towards the use of more sophisticated tools for ensuring the tracking of orders and stock as well as improving information systems in the company. This would satisfy even the needs of the customers, where the price is not a decisive feature for them. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the support of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sport of the Slovak Republic, and the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Grant No. 1/0387/13, “A comprehensive model of wood chain comparative advantages.” and Grant No. 1/0385/13, “Modelling substitution changes in timber market under the increasing demand for renewable energy sources”. References González, M. E., Quesada, G,. Picado, F., Eckelman, C. A., 2004. Customer satisfaction using QFD: an ebanking case, Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 14, 4, 317 – 330. Huefner. J. C., Hunt, H. K, 2000. Consumer Relation as a Response to Dissatisfaction. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior 13, 61-82. Loučanová, E., Kalamárová, M., Parobek, J., 2015. Konkurencieschopnosť produktov dreva z pohľadu použitého materiálu. Acta Facultatis xylológiae 57, 2, 155-163. Loučanová, E., Parobek, J., Paluš, H., 2014. Identifikácia požiadaviek slovenských zákazníkov na úložný nábytok na základe modelu KANO. Acta Facultatis Xylologiae 56, 1, 109-117. Mateides, A., Ďaďo, J. 2002. Služby. Vydal Ing. Miroslav Mračko, Bratislava, pp. 750. Nenadál, J. 2004. Měření v systémech managementu jakosti. Management Press, Praha, pp. 335. Paluš, H., Maťová, H., Kaputa, V. 2012. Consumer preferences for joinery products and furniture in Slovakia and Poland. Acta facultatis xylologiae 54, 2, 123-132. Parobek, J., Paluš, H., Kaputa, V., Šupín, M. 2014. Analysis of wood flows in Slovakia, BioResources, 9, 4, 6453-6462. Rametsteiner, E., Oberwimmer, R., Gschwandtl, I. 2007. Europeans and wood: What do Europeans think about wood and its uses? A review of consumer and business surveys in Europe. [online]. Warsaw: Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, Liaison Unit Warsaw, 2007. 70 p. [cit. 2015-12-08.] Available from:
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