Finding out what customers expect is the first step in closing all the gaps in an organization to provide service excellence. In Chapter 5 we will talk about many ways that companies determine customer perceptions, including customer surveys and complaints, but understanding what customers expect can often be more challenging. Putting customers in the wish mode is an innovative approach to closing gap 1 that proved successful for IKEA, the worlds largest furniture retailer, when it opened its Chicago retail outlet. In this approach, nine groups of a dozen customers each were asked to dream up their ideal IKEA shopping experience. They were told to pretend that all IKEA stores had been destroyed and that new ones had to be designed from scratch. How would the store look? What would the shopping experience be like? Jason Magidson, who helped IKEA create the process, reported that customers responded with statements like the following: I never feel disoriented because I always know exactly where I am in relation to every department. If I am buying one item, all of the other items that go with it are nearby. Shopping is a pleasant, relaxing experience. Even though they were not technical experts, customers were asked to actually draw up a design for a store that would satisfy their needs. What is significant about IKEAs approach is not just that the company asked customers what they expected but that it subsequently incorporated these expectations into the service design for the store. Designers created a multistory octagonal building with an atrium in the center that formed a home base for shoppers, addressing their concern about being able to find items easily. In keeping with another customer expectation, items were grouped together with related products. When shoppers were tired or hungry, they could go to the cafeteria-style restaurant on the upper floor that served Swedish food. IKEAs customers were so satisfied with the store (85 percent rated it as excellent or very good) that they returned more and spent about an hour longer than they did in other IKEA stores. These actions close gap 2 because service design was based on customer expectations. IKEA has done an excellent job of closing all four provider gaps. The companys supplier network is carefully chosen and managed to ensure quality and consistency. Despite the fact that the company has stores in more than 30 countries, it keeps standards, designs, and approaches very consistent everywhere, thereby reducing the service design and standards gap. The company also makes important changes to standards when necessary. In 2006, the company took a major step to address a customer need to reduce long wait times. When company managers realized that wait times were so long that customers were leaving the stores without paying for their items because of congestion at checkout, they implemented a line busting initiative using handheld technology. In peak times, extra retail associates now roam the checkout area and invite credit card customers to step out of line and pay with a handheld unit and get a receipt from a mobile printer. Servicescapesthe indoor and outdoor physical environmentsare unique and customer focused, further closing gap 2. IKEA is also well known for its strong employee culture and careful hiring and training factors that help reduce gap 3. In Chapter 12, we will tell you about another way the company closes gap 3: its innovative service concept that involves customers in the delivery, assembly, and creation of its products. To accomplish this service, the company educates its customers thoroughly with its scriptlike catalogs, thereby helping to close gap 4.

Question : Read the IKEA case study in page 38 of the ebook. Explain how does IKEA closes the customer GAP?