Customer service differentiation in the Greek food market: the case of chilled and ambient products

摘要

The objective of this study is to compare two different food product categories concerning customer service elements. For this purpose, four producers of ambient and chilled products were contacted with personal interviews in order to identify the customer service elements that are suitable for each product category. The results indicate 39 service elements that the food manufacturers provide to the food retailers, from which 24 are common between chilled and ambient products, nine elements were selected only for chilled products, and six elements were selected only for ambient products. Moreover, the importance of the common elements in the two product categories is evaluated by 40 supermarkets. The results indicate that statistical differences exist in the importance of the service elements: notice of shipping delay; in-stock performance; handling emergency orders; personnel competence; and sales and marketing support. The customer service differentiation between the two food product categories implies that the suppliers should provide different service elements in each category as well as offer different service level for the common elements.