Peapod Service Quality: Gap Analysis and Recommendations Essay

One of the pioneers of online food product address routinefulness, Peapod LLC was founded in 1989 even forwards the dot com fellowship era by brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson to offer to people who wanted a much convenient way of obtain for groceries. (Peapod LLC, 2008) In its modest beginnings, Peapods founders were deeply voluminous in the barter, even employ their deliver cars to deliver priceumer orders. (Ibid) Peapod then partnered with bejewel Food Stores, Safeway, Stop & thieve, Giant, and The Kruger Company before it was fully acquired by Royal Ahold in 2001.Today, Peapod is touted as a leader in the online grocery store store talking to returns with everywhere 120,000 registered customers. (Lunce, Lunce, & Maniam, 2006, p. 60) Management and Consumer Expectations Clearly, the Peapods success in a mettlesomely competitive internet-based selling understructure be attri unlessed to a commission that is have a go at itledgeable near consumer expe ctations. (Ibid) There is a good fit between caution and consumer expectations. Undoubtedly, Peapod appeals to consumers because it changes them to to a greater extent efficiently screen alternatives so that they can focus on alternatives that stand for their preferences. (Andrews & Currim, 2004, p. 43)Online shopping is excessively associated with convenience, as it allows consumers to formulation for and order products al nigh instantaneously using electronic agents that use teaching approximately an individual consumers specific preferences and the alternatives available. (Ibid) At the same time, the internet platform allows Peapod to know more about consumer expectations and to use this information to improve operations and processes. Peapods fealty to Service tonePeapods avocation model itself speaks of the managements awareness about the sort and preferences of its target food market, and its commitment of quality swear out rescue an online grocery store that de livers grocery products right into high income, higher(prenominal) luck cost of time, and time-starved (Andrews & Currim, 2004, p. 43) households who conveniently order these online. Peapod has ensures that it main(prenominal)tains its captive consumer base by dint of advertising and merchandising strategies.The Peapod website, for instance, allows the company to communicate its main think of being more of a time-saving attend to and non merely a shopping service (Lunce, Lunce, & Maniam, 2006, p. 59) to consumers and to a fault depends heavily on word-of-mouth advertising. Actual Service Quality Delivery and Communications Lunce, Lunce, and Maniam (2006) observe that Peapod has maximized the use of the internet to change the shopping palpate altogether. (p. 0)This means that Peapod was able to fully alter customer service processes through its main website, including providing customers with the ability to compare product specifications, nurse a list of their preferred br ands and types of products for instant(prenominal) transactions. Likewise, Peapod clearly tries to maintain a scent out of quality through its employees, especially Peapod drivers twisting in the lurch of the orders who are at the frontline of Peapods operations and customer interaction. (p. 61)Unfortunately, Peapod is not free from weaknesses. This is evident in Peapods logistics system, particularly on its ability to hit timely deliveries, which could cook up the company remain firm from an erosion of customer confidence in their services. Holmstrom, Tanskanen, and Kamarainen (1999) struggle that the weakness in Peapods service is receiving of the products (p. 2) by the costumers, which is related to the companys difficulties in working with preposterous time windowpanes for delivery and receipt by the ordering household.For consumers, the concept of an online grocery also carries higher service quality expectations. For an online grocery delivery business, it is likely t hat the narrower the time window and the more prompt the delivery is, the higher the customer satisfaction is, which has a supreme influence upon the bear purchase. (Lunce, Lunce, & Maniam, 2006, p. 56) Based from the generators personal experience, it has become more difficult to history a delivery in Peapods system because of the change magnitude figure of consumers who order groceries from the company.The encounter with difficulties in scheduling for the delivery was unanticipated, as a customer expects Peapod service to be as good based from company progression and as attested by several(prenominal) of its customers. This reflects a gap in the Peapods actual service delivery vis-a-vis the concept of convenience that the company tries clayey to communicate, which affects the consumers perception of Peapods overall service quality and customer responsiveness. If left unaddressed, this could go forth to a decline in repeat purchase from customers.Analysis and Recommenda tion At the core of Peapods delivery problems is the take aim of integration in the companys operations from the online ordering process to delivery booking and scheduling. It should be noted that Peapod operates just in five key cities in the United States, using a cross dispersion system wherein Peapod utilizes its own warehouse and dispersion center in dough speckle exploiting the infrastructure of its brick-and-mortar supermarket partners Stop & Shop and Giant in other areas.Holmstrom, Tanskanen, and Kamarainen (1999) argue that while Peapods hybrid distribution network allows it to lower operating costs, Peapod free has to maximize this distribution network to make more prompt and efficient deliveries. (p. 3) Peapod soon offers two modes of delivery attended and unsupervised delivery wherein customers have the option of in person receiving their orders or having their orders delivered although they are not home. (Lunce, Lunce, & Maniam, 2006, p. 6)However, both mechan isms pose constraints in terms of cost faculty as attended delivery requires a certain density of customers to trail within the target market while unattended delivery requires a high initial investment cost but has a low utilization rate, and shadowy growth of demand. (Lunce, Lunce, & Maniam, 2006, p. 57) To address customer complaints about delivery difficulties, Peapod can intensify its animated delivery systems by increasing the number of its delivery personnel and transportation in order to better manage the change magnitude bulk of orders.The company can also evaluate its existing employee training chopine to address gaps in the companys human resources ability to carry through higher customer service quality expectations and demands. Likewise, Peapod can also upgrade its service features to enable automatic order replenishment by from the deliver-on-demand system. This would enable the company to integrate its business with the household economics of its target mark et and facilitate better delivery schedule planning. Holmstrom, Tanskanen, & Kamarainen, 1999, p. 2) The replenishment system, which is focused on grocery stock replenishment of Peapods truehearted customers, would reduce the stress put on the delivery system by ergodic orders and ensure that the company is able to meet consumer expectations. Clearly, the main gap in Peapods business is its inability to meet customer expectations on prompt delivery, which is caused by weaknesses in its distribution process.This affects the consumer perception of Peapods service quality, which in turn could have an indecent impact on company gross sales and profitability. Thus, the company needs to examine the efficiency of its existing distribution network and enhance its capacity to meet consumer expectations either through restructuring or improving the current distribution fleet, or develop a spic-and-span mechanism which lessens random delivery compress and enables the company to focus on its most loyal patrons.