MKT203 - Services Marketing

Assessment 1

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 Information
Payment Service hours, gym Consultation
At the gym (credit location, terms & Advice for suitable
card, cash), online conditions, list of gym package and
(PayPal, CC) fitness sections frequency & intensity
Billing Order taking of workouts
E-invoice of each Online gym
Core service
gym package, registration, onsite
Paper receipt, Fitness exercise booking, online
Online bill appointment
scheduling
Exceptions
Live-streaming Hospitality
workout sessions, Greeting, hygienic
advance bookings gym, exercise
Safekeeping
with personal clothes, toiletries,
Protection of
trainers, refunds shock absorbent floor
personal belongings
at the gym, security
of credit card and
personal info

Figure 2. Darren Handley Designs

Service offering diagram (Flower of service)
Information
Location of retailers,
Return & privacy
Payment policies, series of Consultation
At the stores surfboards, price Brief training for
(cash, CC);
On the website beginners
(ShopPay, Google Online information
Pay, PayPal)

Billing Core service product Order taking

Invoices, receipt, Purchase at the
e-invoice for online Surfboard design and retailer store,
purchase manufacture Online order

Exceptions Hospitality
Custom orders Instant shipping,
(types, size, design, Prompt response
Safekeeping
construction) to inquiries within
Surveillance
24-48 hours
camera at the
stores, protection of
customer
information

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Comparison of two service offering diagrams

Based on the service offering diagrams, the core services of two organizations differ greatly.
While the core service of Hoyts Cinema is movie – mental stimulus processing service, Darren
Handley Designs has surfboard design and manufacturing as its main service. In fact, Darren
Handley Designs is considered a manufacturer offering tangible products; however, due to a
growing emphasis on value-adding services to marketed goods, the organization has bundled
its core service with products and passed the thin line between services and production. The
customer service of Darren Handley Designs now becomes a stand-alone item for marketing
[ CITATION Joc17 \l 1033 ]. Despite a marked discrepancy between two core services, their
supplementary elements to form augmented services are similar with recurring items. Different
supplementary services at two businesses are listed under eight clusters, namely information,
order taking, billing, payment (facilitating supplementary services to delivery core service) and
consultation, hospitality, safekeeping as well as exceptions (enhancing supplementary services
to add extra value to core service).

To specify, customers require relevant and adequate information in the service usage process
from both organizations, which consist of information about service price, service hours and
legal customer policies. Two businesses have successfully provided information to their
customers on time via various communication channels such as by employees, via printed
notices or on the online platforms. Hoyts Cinema and Darren Handley Designs also have an
effective system of order taking at the on-site venues and on the online channels to ensure a
fast and accurate process. Billing and payment are essential to all kinds of services, which can
range from cash transaction with paper invoices to cashless payment with e-invoice. The two
organizations both partnered with PayPal and accepted Credit Card to ensure the most
convenient experience for their customers.

Regarding enhancing supplementary services, while consultation and safekeeping at both

businesses have some resemblances, their hospitality and exceptions are distinct due to the
type of service progress and differing customer needs. As movie theater is a mental stimulus
processing services with high participation rate of customers, it is more essential to effectively
manage the hygiene and safe distancing rules than retailing stores of Darren Handley Designs
during the Covid-19 situation. Hoyts Cinema has adopted Health & Safety rules for their
customers with staff training and training protocols. However, those strict regulations as an act
of hospitality towards customers’ well-being may increase worries at the place called
entertainment center [ CITATION Zei20 \l 1033 ]. Meanwhile, other supplementary services of
Darren Handley Designs remain relatively unchanged regardless of the external environment as
the core service belongs to possession processing services.

The combination of core and supplementary services creates augmented service that helps the
organization stand out in the competition. While new customers tend to focus more on core
service product, firms should still invest in core services and augment their offerings with
supplementary services to create customer loyalty [ CITATION Wal14 \l 1033 ].

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 Figure 3. Service Blueprint of the Hoyts Cinema

Pre-process stage In-process Post-process stage

stage

Phase Research & Purchasing tickets Preparing for movie Watching After the movie
planning movie

Physical Hoyts Cinema Railing Ticket Snacks and Theater Large screen, Bright Restroom
Evidence Cinema exterior, stands, counter, drinks, menu, corridor, sign seat, cup light, design &
website parking cinema seat chart, employee’s of cinema holder, dim light theater facilities,
space decorati ticket appearance hall, corridor hygiene
ons printer, employee’s
employee’s appearance
F appearance F F
Front stage
Customer Browse Arrive Queue Purchase Buy snacks Pass Watch Eat Leave the Go to the
Action movies at the to buy ticket and drinks through movie snacks hall toilet
and cinema movie and the ticket and
show ticket choose booth and drink
time, the seat enter the
watch W hall W W
trailers W

Line of Interaction

Contact Person Greet, Take Greet, Close the hall

confirm the orders, check the door
(Visible actions)
movie, show accept ticket,
the seat payment, show
chart, prepare direction
accept snacks &
payment drink
and print
ticket
F
F

Line of Visibility

Contact Person Update Dim the light Stop the

the sold and start the movie,
(Invisible actions) seats movie turn on the
and light, clean
ticket the theater
Back Stage inventory hall

Line of Internal

Physical Ticket Movie Maintain Cleaning

Interaction receipt preparation, projectors of the
preparation ads showing and restroom
Support Processes facilities F

IT Interaction New Cinema Popcorn tank, Projectors, Projectors,

releases on ticket F&B inventory sound system sound
the system management system
spotlight,
serving the
content F
requested

F: Possible fail points

W: Possible risk of excessive waiting 4
Analysis of Hoyt Cinema service blueprint

Service blueprint of Hoyts Cinema is illustrated above to examine the customer experience in
interacting with service product, service scape and service employees at the high-contact,
mental stimulus processing service of movie theater. The service process map is divided into
three fundamental phases to assess the customer interaction and their sensitiveness at every
touch point with the service. They are pre-process stage, in-process stage and post-process
stage [ CITATION Joc17 \l 1033 ]. While the in-progress stage delivers the core services of the
cinema, most of customer actions occur during pre-process stage which forms their very first
impression of the service provider – Hoyts Cinema.

During the pre-process stage, there are three main preliminaries including research and plan,
purchasing ticket and preparation for the movie. The customer actions start with surfing the
Hoyts website to check the movie trailers and show time and end at entering the theater hall. By
the end step, the customers already experience several supplementary services including
information on the Internet, hospitality, order taking as well as billing and payment from cinema
employees. Moving on to the in-process stage, there are limited customer actions as they are
passive receiver of entertainment service by watching movies and eating snacks. However,
failures happening in this phase can form a negative impression with the customers and affect
the overall service quality of Hoyts Cinema. From failure points of unhygienic theaters to broken
sound or light systems can lead to dissatisfaction. Furthermore, at Hoyts Cinema, customer
satisfaction is not only formed by the service delivery of movies but also by the quality of the
chosen movie. Although there is no error at the physical evidence or employee interaction, the
customers can still be displeased if the quality of movie is not good as advertised on the cinema
website. In the end, service encounter is not closed yet even when the core service has been
delivered. Major touch points at the cinema can also affect the customer satisfaction when they
exit the theater hall and use the bathroom after two-hour watching movies.

At the service blueprints, potential fail points and possible excessive waiting are also pinpointed
at various touch points of the service process at Hoyts Cinema. These F points can negatively
influence the customer’s enjoyment of the core service (for example, no parking space,
expensive and unappetizing snacks, unfriendly staffs, errors in order taking and billing,
unhygienic theater hall and restroom). Long waiting time can also result in annoyance when the
delays happen continuously during the service process such as waiting time to purchase tickets
and snacks, or to use the restroom. Especially excessive waiting at the main service scape like
ticket counter also indicates possible operational issues [ CITATION Bit08 \l 1033 ]. Additionally,
the service blueprint of Hoyts Cinema also indicate which process stage and touch point are the
most critical in forming customer experience to strategize an effective total quality management
for the organization [ CITATION Fal15 \l 1033 ].

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REFERENCES

Bitner, M.J., Ostrom, A. & Morgan, F., 2008. Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for
Service Innovation. California Management Review.

Lasut, F.F. & Tumewu, F., 2015. Customer decision making in selecting cinema using analytical
hierarchy process (AHP) method. Periodical Journal of Scientific Efficiency, 15(4), pp.322-31.

Walsman, M., Dixon, M., Rush, R. & Verma, R., 2014. It's more than just a game: The effect of
Core and Supplementary Services on Customer Loyalty. Cornell Hospitality Report, 14(23),
pp.6-14.

Wirtz, J., Lovelock, C.H. & Lovelock, C.H., 2017. Designing service processes. In Essentials of
Services Marketing, Global Edition. Pearson Education Limited. pp.236-66.

Zeitchik, S., 2020. As movie theaters reopen, they’re tackling a role they never expected to
play: Psychologist. [Online] Available at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/22/movie-theaters-reopen-theyre-tackling-
role-they-never-expected-play-psychologist/ [Accessed 30 July 2020].