EICS Project

Group 3
UM15275 Malhar Patel
UM15280 Prashant Sharma
UM15283 Preet Singh
UM15285 Rachna Edakandy
UM15292 Sahil Chugh
UM15369 Sanjeev Raman

Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Organisational Culture ............................................................................................................................ 2
Major Customer groups ...................................................................................................................... 3
Stakeholders Involved ......................................................................................................................... 3
Category 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Vision:.............................................................................................................................................. 3
Mission: ........................................................................................................................................... 4
Category 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 4
Determination of target customer and market segments .............................................................. 4
Determination of key customer requirements and expectations .................................................. 4
Category 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Customer Service Plan .................................................................................................................... 5
Service Blueprint ............................................................................................................................. 6
Customer Service Measures ........................................................................................................... 6
Customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction ...................................................................................... 7
Customer data and information sources ........................................................................................ 7
Category 5 ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Determining and Defining Key Customer Service processes .......................................................... 7
Improving customer service processes ........................................................................................... 9
Category 6 ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Service Recovery Plan ..................................................................................................................... 9
Service Guarantee ......................................................................................................................... 10
Customer Perception .................................................................................................................... 10
Cost of Lost Customers ................................................................................................................. 10
Category 7 ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Employee Education and motivation ............................................................................................ 10
Service Design ............................................................................................................................... 11
Category 8 ......................................................................................................................................... 12
Pricing and Distribution ................................................................................................................ 12
Category 9 ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Managing Demand and Capacity .................................................................................................. 13

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Introduction
Greentrends is a chain of unisex hair and Style salons mainly having operations in southern
and eastern India. Greentrends is a subsidiary of Trends by Vogue Pvt. Ltd., a CavinKare group
company. Greentrends offer wide variety of haircut and colour services, Skin care solution
and other beauty treatments.
Green Trends is owned by Trends in Vogue Pvt. Ltd., a CavinKare Group company. Trends In
Vogue Private Limited came into existence in July, 2002, with the sole aim of providing
customers with the best grooming solutions. The need for exclusive salons that can offer
world class styling for the whole family, resulted into the birth of Trends in Vogue. It has two
successful salon chains Limelite and Green Trends.
Both the chains have expanded across the country serving customers with its wide range of
hair and skin services. Trends in Vogue has set up its salons with high-end equipment,
infrastructure and delivers high-end services through highly skilled stylists.
Trends in Vogue reflects the brand becoming the largest and most-advanced chain of hair and
beauty salons in India, and to be the first to bring new changes in the industry through new
product innovations, customer centred service delivery mechanisms.
The parent company CavinKare has successfully transformed itself from personal care
solution provider to a FMCG company with strong presence different sectors. Such as Dairy,
Snacks, Food and beverages businesses.

Personal
Care
Chick Shampoo,
Nyle, Indica,
Meera oil

Professional
Care
Raaga
Professional

Food

Snacks

Ruchi, Chinni's

Garden Namkeens

Dairy
Products
Cavin's

Beverages

Maa Fruit Drinks

Organisational Culture
Majority of the salons are Company Owned Company Operated (COCO). By doing so company
ensures that the quality of the services across the salons are same. In any city, initial salons
are COCO. Later company gives the franchisee to expand the operations.
The Chennai head office keeps very close eye on daily operations of each salon centers. They
have employed centralised data and billing system to ensure the smooth data flow. The
Cluster Managers of each regions and the Area Managers of respective areas visit the salon
on regular basis to ensure smooth functioning of centers.
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The above chart describes the hierarchy at the greentrends.

Major Customer groups

60 % of the customers are women and 25 % are the young men.
1. Style conscious youth Men/Women of relatively young age who are style conscious,
primarily students and professionals
2. Women Women of medium age group seeking hair and skin care services.

Stakeholders Involved
1.
2.
3.
4.

Customers
Employees
Suppliers
Beauty Experts

Category 1
Vision:
Stay on time, be consistent, and provide the highest level of customer service in the field of
cosmetology.
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Mission:
To ensure that our clients are always valued individuals who are respected and treated in a
consistent and professional manner at all times in a friendly environment, where excellence
prevails in everything we do.
Being a unisex Hair & Style salon, Green Trends is into a segment of providing highly
customised services to their customers. For leadership following things matters the most for
keeping the services they offer to be in line with their mission and larger organisational goal.

Evaluation at personal level

Shared Vision
The collaborative Process at each level
Communicating the vision to all the stakeholders

Category 2
Determination of target customer and market segments

Type of segmentation

Variables

Geographic

Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns in Southern and

Eastern India

Demographic

Young and middle aged women

Young urban men

Psychographic

Urban and semi urban lifestyle, style

conscious

Other

Bridal

Determination of key customer requirements and expectations

Through developing understanding and trust with the customers.
Through clear communication between the service provider and the customer.
Obtaining feedback after service and suggestions for improvement.
Providing of professional and affordable services for the target groups.
Registration and tracking of services availed by customers.
Tracking new trends in customers based on demand.

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Category 3
Customer Service Plan

Pre consumption
Pre booking of services
reduction of waiting time
Promotional offers for
loyalty card holders

During consumption

Post consumption

Minimize waiting time

Engaging servicescape (Waiting
area - Hospitality with tea,
coffee , magazines)
Creation of a relaxing
environment with calm music
Clean and hygienic environment
Friendly and Engaging staff to
understand expectations pre
service

Readjustment if unsatisfied with

service
Loyalty card provision for
reduced rates for services
Customer
feedback(Expectations and
unmet demand) immediately
after service and post leaving
Personalised message for
complaints and suggestions via
call and email

In the Pre consumption stage, the components of customer service plan include
appointment facility for pre booking of services which would reduce the waiting time of the
customers. Also information regarding offers to the Green Trends members is sent via text.
In the during consumption stage, the components of service plan include provision of
servicescape including hospitality with tea, coffee and magazines to minimize the sense of
waiting time. The servicescape includes provision of an environment which is calm, relaxing,
clean and hygienic. The staff is friendly and engaging with the customers.
In the post consumption stage, the plan includes readjustment if unsatisfied with service.
Loyalty cards are provided whose benefits included subsidised rates of services. Customer
feedback is taken at different levels - immediately after consumption at the reception level
and a text is sent with the email to the Chennai headquarters for complaint redressal.
Other stakeholders inputs are considered in the following ways

Frontline employees (hairstylists, receptionists etc) inputs are taken to improve

service process and quality.

The suppliers communicate with area manager and cluster manager on marketing and
sales aspect.

The partners communicate with cluster manager and Chennai head about new
products and latest trends in the market.

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Service Blueprint

Category 4
Customer Service Measures

Emotional
Satisfaction

Customer
service
Measures
Loyalty
Measurement

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Repurchase

Customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the most crucial step in delivering quality service. Knowing what the
customer expects from the service is very crucial. Customer satisfaction can be judged from
three parameters service quality, product quality and price. Green Trend measure customer
satisfaction on the basis of these 3 factors.
Customer Emotions: Green Trend measure customer satisfaction by understanding customer
needs thoroughly and evaluating customer satisfaction throughout the service process. They
believe customer emotions play a huge role in making them understand about customer
satisfaction. If a customer is satisfied, a sense of fulfilment which is followed by happiness and
contentment is seen in customers face and if a customer is not satisfied a sense of
ambivalence which is sometimes mixed with sadness and anger fills the environment.
Loyalty: loyalty is also seen as a parameter by green trends to evaluate customer satisfaction.
They believe if a customer is satisfied, He/she will be loyal to the saloon and will be a repeat
customer to their organization. They also believe that he/she will also recommend the service
to others through word of mouth and will be hugely loyal to the organization.
Feedback form: They generally ask their customers to fill feedback form which gives them an
idea about customer satisfaction /Dissatisfaction.
Customer data and information sources
Centralized server: Green Trend has a centralized CRM Server in Chennai. They have nodal
server in each of their branch which they use to enter customer data every time a customer
make a purchase in their organization. Details which are added in the server are name,
contact number and membership card number (If applicable).
The details are used to understand customer purchase criteria, whether that customer is 1st
time customer or a loyal customer. They manage a Loyalty customer database which
contain a list of loyal customers.

Category 5
Determining and Defining Key Customer Service processes
To be successful in the intensive competition of Salon Services. A company needs to
differentiate from the competition based on their key services processes. The following are
the solution used by Green Trends in determining Key Service processes

Understand your customers needs and meet them

How can you meet your customers needs, if you dont know what they want? To
understand what they need, just listen to the voice of the customer and take action
accordingly.

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Customer listening is done in many ways, for example feedback forms, mystery
shopping, and satisfaction surveys. Greentrends involve senior employees in customer
listening to ensure decisions benefit the customer as much as the company.
Since, it is a highly customizable service. It depends on the requirements of the
customer. So, one of the best way of determining the key service processes is through
the customer themselves. This can accomplished by: Feedback/complaint management
Surveys
Free trials and discussion sessions

Benchmarks

For example, if customers have been complaining about long wait times to be seated set a
goal related to that. Would your business want 80% of the customers to be happy with
their seating? More? Would there be a different kind of benchmark that could be set?

Open all communications channels

The customer wants to contact you in many ways face to face, by mail, over a phone, and
email - and will expect all of these communication channels to be open and easily intermingled.
This presents a technical challenge, as it requires an integrated, streamlined solution
providing the employee with the information they need to effectively service the
customer.

Attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing customers

A satisfied customer stays with a company for a longer period of time, spends more and
may deepen the relationship through repetitive transactions. For example a happy credit
card customer may enlist the companys financial services and later take travel insurance.
This is an easy sell, compared with direct marketing campaigns, and other dedicated and
expensive approaches to attract new customers.

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Improving customer service processes

Identify key
operational
and support
processes

Contniously
improve
processes

Organize
process
benchmarking
activities

Assign process
owner and
targets

Conduct
process
efficency
audits

Category 6
Service Recovery Plan
GreenTrends Approach

As with any company, GreenTrends also faces service failures. As said by the store managers,
sometimes a service does not meet a customers expectations e.g. customer does not get the
desired look after the haircut. Unlike other organizations, Greentrends does have a customer
service recovery strategy in place. As GreenTrends customer acquisition also depends on
Word-of-mouth, they ensure necessary service recovery efforts. However, there is no
question of a service recovery paradox.
The service recovery approach for GreenTrends can be divided into:

Fixing the customer GreenTrends follows the below approach for addressing any service
failures:
a. Apologize for mistakes, accept the service failure
b. Assess the damage done and what are the immediate options available to ensure
the customer is satisfied.
c. Discuss with customer available options and decide on the best alternative.
Fixing the problem GreenTrends has different ways of collecting feedback. Most
customers voice their opinions to the employees or the front desk.
a. Take opinions of voicers/passives on the feedback form. Advise them to record
areas of improvement as well
b. Greentrends has a Mail to CEO scheme where customers can directly address
their problems to the CEO for immediate grievance redressal.

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c. Learn from customers and improve their service

Service Guarantee
In very rare cases, GreenTrends offers the customer a free visit to the Salon and also allows
customers to try out other services like hair spa for free. There are also consulting services for
customers on how to use different products, what best suits their hair and skin types.
However, this guarantee is personalized and off the books.
Customer Perception
The customers of GreenTrends can be classified into:

Passives They do not complain about the service usually. However, the employees
ensure they are satisfied with the service.
Voicers They are the customers who voice their opinion and complain actively.
GreenTrends employees say they do not spread negative word but give them second
chances.

GreenTrends thrives on building excellent customer relationships and hence there is a lot of
scope for learning from customers and making the service fail-safe.
Cost of Lost Customers
According to the store manager, the percentage of irate customers is in the range of 3-5%
only. And there is no franchisee model as in case of competitors like naturals or finesse, they
already have a fail-safe service delivery process. The USP of GreenTrends is high service
quality at affordable price. The cost of lost customers is low, due to low switching and
affordability of services provided by GreenTrends.

Category 7
Employee Education and motivation
Greentrends hires only high skilled professional for its salon.
Greentrends parent company CavinKare has its own TRENDS ACADEMY School of hair
and beauty training institution in Chennai. Along with technical skills, it focuses on soft skills
and etiquette of the employees. CavinKare is planning to open its second such academy at
Siliguri, to tap the north-eastern market.
Being the LOral Professional salon, the employees are also trained by the experts of the
L'Oral. Such experts from L'Oral do conduct trainings and workshops for the hair dressers
on regular intervals. Also in-house experts from the Chennai head-office also visit the
different salons to conduct the special workshops and provide advanced trainings. Keeping
the growing demand in the eastern sector (Bhubaneswar and Kolkata region), greentrends is
also thinking about hiring dedicated expert for the eastern region operations.

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Service Design
The flower model

Information
-Appointment
-Package Info

-Reminders

Exceptions

Consultation
-Personal
Advices

-Complaints

-Feedback

Payment
-Cash
-Credit card

-Treatment
Suggestions

Skin care, Hair care

& Beauty
treatments

- Membership
card

Hospitality
-Waiting Area
-Staff Behaviour

-Loyalty Points

Billing

Ambiance

-Soft Billing

-Cleanliness

-Mail Billing

-Comfort

- Dedicated
billing software

-Salon furniture
& Equipment

The core product that customers seek in Green Trends is skin care, hair care and beauty
treatments. There are many other supplementary services including beauty consultation,
information on beauty packages etc which increase the value of the core product.
The facilitating services which are required in the use of the core product include

Information
Appointments is taken over call to avoid waiting time and to ensure that demand
can be smoothened so that it does not exceed maximum capacity.
Information on different beauty packages and discounts is disseminated to all
the loyalty members.
Information on reminders for appointment timing is disseminated.
Ambience
Cleanliness is a top priority for Green Trends. In the beauty industry, aesthetics
is necessary, for which cleanliness cannot be compromised.

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Comfort is ensured in pre consumption and during consumption stages. Comfort

is ensured during waiting time with beverages and during consumption based
on the customer's needs.
The salon furniture and equipment is neat and of top quality.
Billing
Soft billing - the bill is verbally communicated to the customer.
Mail billing - The bill is emailed to the customer and also sent via text.
There is a dedicated billing software which is connected across all Green Trends
stores centralised in Chennai. The prices are determined at the Chennai head
and the bills are generated based on the fixed prices.
Payment
The different payment modes include cash and credit/debit cards.
The membership card can also be used to redeem points and gain subsidised
rates on services.
The enhancing services which increase the value of the core product include Consultation
The staff is trained to identify visible problems like blackheads and suggest
treatment for the same.
Personal consulting with staff members is allowed to increase customised
solutions to the customers' needs.
Hospitality
The waiting facilities includes seating area and beauty and fashion magazines to
reduce the waiting time appear shorter. This is because occupied time feels
shorter than unoccupied time.
Food and beverages is also offered to the customers to reduce their sense of
waiting time.
Exceptions
In provision of services, if the customer demands using their preferred brands
such as LOral, its facilitated.
To handle special communication such as complaints and suggestions, there is a
suggestion book in the receptionist counter. Also, post consumption a personal
message is sent to the customer to write to the Chennai Head's email id with
complaints and suggestions.

Category 8
Pricing and Distribution
As all the store of Greentrends are Company Owned Company Operated (COCO), Pricing for
each service offering and retail products sold at the salon is decided by Chennai corporate
office.

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Prices in different cities are not same. Based on the socio-economic factors, base prices for
each city is determined and then premium is charges based on that particular salon type and
location.
As far as the competitors are concerned in Bhubaneswar city, greentrends had positioned
itself at a unique position because of its superior customer experience. As salon and spa
industry is all about customised services and service experience which differs from salon to
salon, so there is no role of competition based pricing when it comes to pricing the services.
The pricing strategy of greentrends can be identified as the combination of both the Prestige
Pricing and Value Pricing. As for the customers visiting the salon is more concerned about the
get component of the services rather than the monetary price. Unlike LimeLite, greentrends
is not an ultra-high end salon, so customers will not be paying arbitrary price set by the
company. So understanding what customer means by quality and matching the price level to
that of the quality level is essential.
For the city of Bhubaneswar having six different Salons the prices are different for each salon.
Such differential prices are based on the salon location and Salon setup. Some salons are
categorised as premium service providers which are priced 5 to 10 % higher than the normal
salons. Differential pricings are done keeping the services offering and the Salon setup
keeping in mind.

Category 9
Managing Demand and Capacity
Being a Spa & Salon, the demand for such services increases during the special occasions such
as Durga Puja, wedding season etc. During such period greentrends encourages people to visit
the salon by taking prior appointments to avoid the rush at the salon. Also annual seasonal
trends are analysed for each city and salon to forecast the possible footfall at the salons.
Salons having a capacity constraints shifts the demand to match the capacity by

Communicating peak days/hours to customers to encourage them to take an

appointment and visit.
Modifying timing.
Giving priorities to the loyal customers by giving them early appointment.

Greentrends using the same strategy to keep the check on the inventories. It employs the
monthly physical checks of the inventories of the supplies. Based on the past seasonal trends,
the demand for upcoming month is anticipated well in advanced and based on the available
stock, new stock is order to ensure that it reaches the salon at right time and in right quantity.
Because of unforeseen reasons, if the inventory stock out takes place, the salon takes the help
of the other salons present in the city to meet the immediate need.

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