CIA3: SERVQUAL Mapping

A Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Business Administration

Submitted by

Prankur Jain -2028105

Mahim Gurung - 2028111
Adarsh VR - 2028120
Aastha Sharma - 2028136
Irene Elza Thomas 2028133
Lydia Sarah Mathew 2028146
Shivani k nair - 2028149
Chetlapalli V Sesha Sai Priyanka - 2028259

Submitted to:

Dr.Kavitha R Gowda

School of Business and Management

Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore- July 2021

 INTRODUCTION

The Online Ordering System is an easy and quick way for customers to order food from a
restaurant without having to go there. This technique is made possible by the internet, which
connects the restaurant or food firm on the one hand and the customer on the other. As a result of
this approach, the consumer goes to the restaurant's app or website, browses through various
food items, combos, and cuisines on offer, and then selects and purchases the products he or she
requires. A delivery person will then bring these things to the consumer at his or her doorstep at
the time the customer specifies. Debit cards, credit cards, cash or card on delivery, and even
digital wallets can be used to pay for such online orders. This online meal delivery system is
absolutely safe and secure, and it is a very popular method that is revolutionizing the food sector.

ZOMATO

Zomato was developed in 2008 by DEEPINDER GOYAL and PANKAJ CHADDAH as a

restaurant search, discovery, and delivery service. India, Australia, and the United States are
among the nations where it works. It includes restaurant information, such as top dining spots,
menus, and images posted by local street teams, as well as user reviews and ratings.

In addition, the company offers a number of services such as online ordering, table reservations,
and so on. It collects all of the needed data from each restaurant on a regular basis to guarantee
that their data is up to date. They have a large community of foodies and bloggers who contribute
their own images and reviews, giving customers all the information they need to make an
informed decision. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Zomato also started delivering groceries.
The program is now available in 24 countries and over 10,000 cities as of 2019.

MISSION

Our mission is to ensure nobody has a bad meal

VISION

Zomato is used by millions every day to decide where to eat in over 10,000 cities across 23
countries. In a few years, we should be able to help point you to a great place to eat no matter
what part of the world you’re in.

SERVQUAL Model
The SERVQUAL concept was created with service companies and merchants in mind. In reality,
while most businesses provide some level of customer service, only the service sectors are
concerned with determining and measuring service quality. As a result, SERVQUAL takes a far
broader view of service than just customer service.

The distinctive properties of services were one of the driving forces behind the development of
the SERVQUAL paradigm (as compared to physical products). Because of these distinct
qualities, such as intangibility and heterogeneity, it is far more difficult for a company to
objectively judge its level of quality (as opposed to a manufacturer who can inspect and test
physical goods). The establishment of this model gave a formal approach for service firms and
merchants to examine the collection of characteristics that influence consumers' perceptions of a
firm's overall service quality. SERVQUAL has become an important aspect of customer
monitoring and offers numerous benefits. These include everything from providing service
quality assessment to tracking consumer expectations and views over time. SERVQUAL also
helps to compare similar elements of competitors. While customer satisfaction and service
quality are related, service quality is a separate notion. These dimensions provide an item scale
for assessing service quality based on client feedback. They also assist in getting to know the
customer, which is why they are important components of service marketing.
The limitations of SERVQUAL include the fact that its consistency across all service sectors is
unknown, and it does not evaluate service outcome perceptions. Many people have criticized the
use of assessing expectations in service quality.

The model basically deals with five components that are:

● Reliability
● Assurance
● Tangibles
● Empathy
● Responsiveness
Hence it is known as the RATER model. They are service quality parameters that are used to
determine perceived service quality on a multi-item scale.

● Reliability -This refers to the firm's ability to provide the service efficiently and
precisely. It assesses if the company delivered on its commitments. Based on the above
model it is seen that Zomato is highly reliable and this helps them stand out from their
competitors. Zomato allows foodies to follow their friends so that they can see what they
eat and like. They can also learn more about the area by visiting adjacent locations. One
could take advantage of their special deals and promotions, as well as the convenience of
not having to wait for the order to be delivered.
● Assurance- This dimension is determined by Zomato’s personnel. It is through this ability
that they instill confidence and credibility in the minds of customers. The feedback
provided by customers who visit the restaurants featured on Zomato's site is critical to the
company's growth. Because it is a service company, it relies on its consumers for referrals
and repeats purchases. As part of its customer service, Zomato has an online customer
support system that requires customers to rate their experiences. Customers can use the
support chat facility at any time. Customers can also contact Zomato employees for help
with their difficulties through a customer support center.
● Tangibles- Physical facilities, equipment, employees, and communication materials are
all included in this category. Zomato's robust business model was vital in its growth and
success. Before we get into the Zomato Business Model, let's define what a Business
Model is and what the aspects of a Business Model are. A business model is a structure in
an organization that is built on notions that support the feasibility of a product or
organization and depicts how an organization operates, earns revenue, and goes forward
to achieve its goals.
Customer segments: Zomato has been split into three segments:
Customer segment: Restaurants in the neighborhood: Zomato allows restaurants for their
target audience to see
Users: Zomato is for people seeking to find restaurants or specific dishes in the
immediate vicinity. Zomato is the solution for home delivery enthusiasts
 Content contributors: They are Zomato content contributors. They examine food and
locations actively and give users appropriate text and graphic information.

● Empathy -This dimension refers to the organization's focus and priority on the wants and
demands of its consumers. For Zomato their first value their customers above anything
else. They believe that food doesn't have a religion. ‘They are proud of the idea of India –
and the diversity of our esteemed consumers and partners, Zomato founder Deepinder
Goyal tweeted. We are not sorry if any business is lost as a result of our values.’
It's commendable that Zomato stood up to a racist while refusing to remove the rider. I
only wish Zomato management had shown empathy, despite the delivery man's mistake
in December and the damage it did to the brand. Also, a big heart. However, you caved in
to social media pressure in December and overreacted by firing the Zomato guy. Your
rider is as impolite as you have shown now.

● Responsiveness- This dimension has to do with the company's capacity and willingness
to assist consumers and deliver on its promises. They focus on three aspects such as:
a.Improving the quality of food: Zomato is completely committed to maintaining a
neutral platform. Hyper pure continually assists food enterprises in keeping high
standards. Zomato's Hyper pure project aims to provide fresh, sanitary, and high-quality
products and cooking supplies to its partner businesses. The most coveted symbol of
excellence among its member restaurants is the Food Hygiene rating.
b.Customers' accessibility is improving: Zomato's delivery service has been growing
since its beginning, and it is now available in a growing number of places. They are
rapidly expanding their offerings. They now take table reservations, host corporate
events, and feed India.
c.Providing a diverse range of interesting options: The success of Zomato gold speaks
eloquently for Zomato's effectiveness in providing a diverse range of engaging options.
Zomato is always striving to improve and leaves no stone unturned in its pursuit of
excellence. They make sure that their products are affordable without sacrificing their
revenues.
Apart from the above five components services quality can be assessed on several dimensions
such as:

● Security: Every month, more than 120 million users come to Zomato. What connects
these diverse people together is the desire to experience the best food that a city has to
offer. If users of Zomato trust them with their personal data, they naturally expect to
protect the information. They take cyber security seriously- and the ones using it
regularly for years would agree to it. Also, they went the extra mile to ensure the safety
of their customers by following the Covid -19 protocols. There has been a major concern
about food availability, particularly for the elderly and others who do not have or are not
able to cook at home while caring for the families affected. Several home cooks and
community-led initiatives have been set up to feed those who need them. Zomato ensured
to take orders on priority by assigning the fastest riders and specialized customer
assistance. "There are thousands of restaurants that have pledged in their kitchens to give
priority to these orders," the founder stated.
● Competence: Of the 10 competitors, Swiggy, Just Eat and InnerChef are the top 3
competitors of Zomato. Resting competitors include 48 East, TinMen, Faasos, Foodora,
Chefie, and Foodpanda. Zomato was ranked 2nd in terms of revenue last year among all
of these top ten competitors. In its Sustainability category, Zomato has developed a
"Hyperpure" program which focuses on the increase of quality of products used by
restaurants by delivering their partner restaurants clean and fresh ingredients. Zomato
was successful in serving more than 2200 eateries in Delhi and Bengaluru in the first half
of 2020, i.e. after 19 September, and has issued over 65000 orders.
● Accountability: While as a team they strive to keep Zomato information current, they
appreciate it one could contact them when an update is needed. Cause if the time and list
change, consumers will not be very happy with the delivery person who arrives late.
Zomato does not regulate any problematic restaurant actions posted in reviews. (e.g. to be
allowed to provide shisha, to serve alcohol to children, or to stay open longer than
permitted). Furthermore, Zomato cannot delete or censor any reviews involving any
third-party service provider. If it comes within our criteria, such a review can be
 maintained. This business requires heavy skin - it does not include personal attacks to
indicate the perceived attitude of owners or employees and reports on each activity.
● Access: Since its inception, the supply of Zomato is increasing and its reach is growing
to ever more cities. They grow their services vigorously. They now give bookings for the
table, cater to companies, and feed India. Zomato ensures that it allows its client’s, new
tastes and experiences to unravel beyond geographical limits. They give their consumers
the best information and assist them to make an informed choice in the most readable
way.
● Ratings and review: One of Zomato's main parts is to give local eateries and lodging
search facilities. The Zomato app or its website enables customers to find the same way.
In addition, Zomato offers its clients information on the menu, food quality, and
restaurants' contact details. Zomato's rating system is regarded as one of the top systems
on the market and based on Zomato's extensive database gathering. Different companies
including Zomato are focusing more on mobile apps with the increasing growth of
mobile users so that customers may boost the accessibility of their services and can also
improve the procedures. The Zomato mobile app is a crucial android and IO platform
compatible canal. The customer can order his favorite cuisine on the Zomato website and
can also search for the ratings of other Zomato eateries.

Apart from the five main dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, these are the rest of the factors
which are important for accessing the quality of service.

Reliability of Zomato as a service quality dimension

Based on the above model it is seen that Zomato is highly reliable and this helps them stand out
from their competitors. Zomato allows foodies to follow their friends so that they can see what
they eat and like. They can also learn more about the area by visiting adjacent locations. One
could take advantage of their special deals and promotions, as well as the convenience of not
having to wait for the order to be delivered. Zomato helps restaurants save money on raw food
ingredients by providing a timely and safe food delivery service as well as an accurate online
ordering system. Zomato's voice on social media platforms was not only entertaining but also
very unique, which served to set the brand apart from its competitors.
Every day, a restaurant typically loses a significant amount of money due to excessive raw
material utilization, notably due to several instances of food wastage. The focus of Zomato is
solely on food. It also aims to control the entire value chain, from restaurant selection to
delivery. It's a good source and it could be trusted because the company doesn't believe in
manipulating ratings, whether positive or negative. Even if the restaurant is the best in the world,
if they request that Zomato remove a negative review, it will not be done unless it is a phony
review.

Below are a few questions that check the reliability of Zomato against their main competitor
Swiggy:

1. Is the company following through on its response time commitments?

Zomato: The introduction of a new On-Time or Free (OTOF) campaign has been announced by
Zomato. Zomato users will now be assured to receive their food on time or receive a refund, as
the name implies. Zomato's On-Time or Free, which was previously limited to a single dish or
cuisine, is now available throughout the full Zomato menu of thousands of eateries in over a
hundred Indian cities. According to Zomato, this makes it the first and only food delivery app
that guarantees on-time delivery. Zomato has launched a TV campaign for the feature with the
slogan "kabhi to late ho jaata." Many users in the ad selected ‘On-Time or Free' in the hopes that
Zomato would be late this time, only to be disappointed when it arrived on time. The background
music, ‘thoda sa late ho jaata,' accurately represents the frustrations of users who are unable to
obtain their orders on time, every time.
Swiggy: The hyper-competitive category has proven to be Foodtech, as strong competitors strive
for a higher market share. Zomato and Swiggy have not only been delivering discounts but also
offer many features, like subscriptions frequently that makes the customers stick to the brand and
order more frequently online. Although a number of difficulties have been solved, consumers
still have to wait 45 to 60 minutes to get hold of food. Swiggy guarantees delivery in 30 minutes
to remove this discomfort and repay the order value (amount). However, the 'Free 30 minutes'
function is dynamic and Swiggy continues to delete and add an offer in accordance with the
riders' availability. It is important to note that Swiggy was the first aggregator to offer delivery or
free service for 30 minutes. To date, Domino's fast service pizza franchise was only able to
deliver on a large scale for 30 minutes.
So here both the companies cater to the issue of reducing the duration for delivering the order.

2. When a consumer has a problem, does the company use an empathetic and soothing
approach?
Zomato: One of the Zomato delivery executives was caught on camera grabbing a meal box from
his bag, taking a couple of bites, and then resealing it before leaving for his delivery destination
in December 2018. The video went viral, resulting in a digital mob lynching. The video was shot
in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, according to Zomato's investigation. It acknowledged that there had
been a "human error of judgment" and the delivery executive was taken off the platform." Based
on this incident the founder took to Twitter and tweeted about the decision made by the
company. He tweeted, “Food doesn't have a religion,” It's a belief system.” “We are proud of the
idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed consumers and partners,” We are not sorry if
any business is lost as a result of our values.”
This shows how Zomato places its customers above everything else.

Swiggy: Swiggy client at Gurugram accused a delivery partner, even as a Swiggy customer
support officer was still in the pipeline, of threatening physical attacks on them. Swiggy's e-mail
response spokesman said over the last few days that Swiggy has been engaged in a constructive
dialogue with their partners to explain the revised payout sets and to alleviate their concerns. In
the last three days, a large number of managers have understood that Swiggy has a strong
earning potential with over 3700 partners. They are disappointed by the many regrettable events
in which a smaller group of people, including outside parties, are intimidating their delivery
partners.

3. If they are dependable, do they provide services when they say they will?
The way Zomato works is widely praised. It promises and supplies its customers and
partners with quality, accessibility, affordability, and assortment. The values of zomato,
which make zomato unique and admirable. They are highly dependable and do provide
the services are provided. They have stringent policies and Zomato is a website and
mobile app that makes no claims to be a court of law or a ministry of health. But if
customers have a problem with a restaurant or believe it does not meet health code
requirements, they recommend that one could contact the proper authorities directly.
Based on the policies followed by Zomato it tells us that the right place to report any
unlawful activity, physical confrontations, health code breaches, etc. Not on reviews but
instead one could directly inform the appropriate authorities so that it could be
investigated.
Swiggy: Swiggy is renowned to its clients as the firm that actually gets its meals fast and
flawlessly. Swiggy is responsible for providing convenience to its employees and ensuring that
the promise is delivered every time. It implies that everyone in the delivery of orders and
customer experience is obsessed, so that when a consumer orders from Swiggy he does it with
the implicit confidence and understanding that it works. Everything Swiggy does — everything
really well thought through, from the design of its application to its delivery algorithms, backend
systems, the size at which it operates, and its operative procedures to give superior customer
experience.
In conclusion, we can say that, while both companies' expansion plans provide a promising
image, with the passing year Zomato and Swiggy needed to progress towards profitability, the
largest hurdle began to become increasingly evident. The companies have apparently burned
funds with Zomato estimating a loss of more than 1,000 Crores and Swiggy hit over 2,300
Crores in an effort to boost their market shares. Deep discounts as a policy have contributed to
the company's marketplace, but have also resulted in enormous losses. Swiggy and Zomato
began taking a couple of steps in 2019 to stop the policies on deep discounts. Their success has
led to the development of new customers, which without any big discounts are harder to entice.

Limitations of SERVQUAL Model:

As useful and on point this model is, it is not safe from criticism. There are studies that state the
SERVQUAL model is not without its limitations. To list a few :
1. Theoretical Criticism: There had been issues raised about the validity of the SERVQUAL
model as a generic instrument for measuring service quality across different service
sectors. Taking into consideration the various dimensions a real time service holds, it
would be insufficient to measure their quality on a limited scale that this model offers.
Also unlike the gaps model, many customers do not access service quality in terms of
Perspective minus Expectations. The reason is they found that the dominant contributor
to the gap score was the perception score because of a generalized response tendency to
rate expectations high.
 Being process-oriented which is solely based on the process of service delivery and not
on the results of the service encounter, it does not take into account that together process
and their result is a better predictor of consumer’s choice than choosing only one.
SERVQUAL is based on an expectation model rather than an attitudinal model and hence
fails to draw on establishing economic and psychological theory.
2. Validation: The validation of the model is another grey area. Multiple studies describe
that questions about the validation of the ServQual are being raised. When using the
SERVQUAL model, it is not considered to be enough to use it once and consider the
results as final immediately upon the findings. If it is part of a continuous improvement,
every new item or component could have different impacts for the gaps and thus for the
decisions of the customers.
3. Operational: The model states that a customer judges a service only based on their
expectation but in reality, a customer uses other factors too. The 4 of 5 items of the
SERVQUAL model cannot capture the variability or the specific context meaning within
each service quality dimension, even though authors acknowledge that context-specific
items can be used to supplement SERVQUAL, but the “new” item should be similar in
form to the existing SERVQUAL item.
Customer Experiences of using Zomato’s services
A total of 60 respondents have participated in the survey to help us analyse the SERVQUAL
aspects of Zomato and the results are as follows:

Interpretation
This tells us that Zomato gives their customer service a high priority and is reliable given that
more than 80% of the respondents are satisfied with their services.
Interpretation
More than 70% of the respondents believe that it is easy to navigate through the application
which tells us that the tangibility aspect tied with the application in itself is superior in nature.

Interpretation
On a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being very difficult, it is seen that more than 60% of the
participants believe that Zomato’s customer support communication is reliable. Although this
also tells that there is room for improvement in terms of better technical support given to the
customers at times of distress.
Interpretation
This tells us that Zomato’s restaurant suggestions, reviews and images assure customers of a
good experience and that they can rely on Zomato when they need to find good restaurants.

On a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being very difficult, it can be understood from the graph that
customers found Zomato’s services reliable to find restaurants during the pandemic. This further
goes to show that Zomato is empathetic towards their customer’s needs and are responsive by
accommodating to their needs with suitable solutions
Interpretation
On a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being easiest, we see that more than 70% of the respondents find
the payments easily made and are assured of cyber safety. This is because of their robust
technical support in place to enable smooth payment transactions every time.

Competition Analysis
The Indian food delivery industry is going through a phase of consolidation to survive and stay
competitive in the market. This consolidation is taking place because the smaller players in the
market want to exit and the cash-rich players want to continue on their growth trajectory.
The biggest competitor of zomato is Swiggy and in the second position is dunzo.
Taking into account the review given to the app on play store it is clear that zomato is still more
preferable by people to Swiggy.
Zomato- 702,184 (4.3 stars)
Swiggy — 342,133 (4.2 starts)
Positioning of zomato: Zomato has positioned itself as a platform that brings restaurants,
suppliers, consumers, food suppliers, and logistics partners together. Zomato is a millennial go-
to-app when it comes to dining out. It has become a mandate now to check reviews and
recommendations before visiting a restaurant and Zomato is positioned as the app they should
look for when it comes to looking for authentic reviews. Also a reliable food delivery service
with 24 hours available customer service.
Positioning of swiggy: Swiggy’s key marketing tool is that helps clients get the food they want,
wherever they want. All the marketing efforts made by my Swiggy have helped to build the
impression that Swiggy makes life simple and comfortable for its customers and offers the best
customer experience and strives to please both the partner restaurants and the customers with the
services.
Swiggy has scaled 14 million monthly orders with an average order value of Rs. 380 Zomato has
crossed 10.5 million monthly orders with an average order value of Rs. 416.

When assessing the two and analyzing various reviews about the two, it was found that Zomato
was easier to use. However, Swiggy is easier to set up and administer. Reviewers also preferred
doing business with zomato overall. Reviewers felt that Zomato meets the needs of their business
better than Swiggy. When comparing the quality of ongoing product support, reviewers felt that
Zomato is the preferred option.

Service Recovery strategies for Zomato

 Zomato’s business model has come under the microscope ahead of its share sale. The
pressure is high on Zomato to deliver on a profitable report, which most domestic internet
companies have failed to achieve. This is more challenging as Zomato’s business model is one
that interacts with customers on every transaction, and if the service is not delivered to the
customer’s expectations it will cause a service failure. Zomato’s service delivery failures are as
follows:
1) Wrong order being delivered.
2) Order being delivered late.
3) Order not being delivered at all.
When a service failure occurs, Customers register a complaint and give Zomato a chance to
correct its problems. customers want to be treated fairly and are adequately compensated in a fair
manner. This complaint when dealt with will provide reassurance to the customer that they are an
important part of Zomato, and their relationship with Zomato is valued. A service recovery
process should be deployed to resolve the complaint and give the customer a better experience.
The satisfaction of the service recovery process is defined by three stages
1) Procedural Justice- It refers to the stages that a customer has to go through to register
their complaint. The customer then expects the firm to take responsibility for their
misdoing and a service recovery process should begin, by taking the customer's inputs
into consideration.
2) Interactional Justice- This stage involves the employees who provide the service
recovery to the customer. This is where contact is made with the customer and an effort is
made to resolve the problem.
3) Outcome Justice- This stage is concerned with the compensation that the customer
receives as a result of the inconvenience caused by the service failure.

Service Recovery Strategies

● Create a service recovery Team- After you've defined your criteria, you'll need to identify
who will be in charge of responding to service recovery tickets. The characteristics of
your chosen service recovery threshold will influence this decision. You can allocate all
service recovery tickets to team leaders if you've established your service recovery for
 one or two-star interactions. Alternatively, if you want to focus on all ratings below five
stars, you may form a staff dedicated solely to service recovery. In some circumstances, it
may be more practical for the agents to conduct service recovery on their own. It all
depends on the size of your team, your overall goals, and the number of tickets you sell.

● Re-Survey the customer- Send a follow-up feedback request once the problem has been
rectified to gauge the success of your service recovery efforts. Successful service
recovery not only helps your staff to track and report on the program's effects, but it also
allows the customer to reflect on their pleasant experience. This pleasant emotion leads to
brand loyalty, repeat purchases, and, ideally, brand endorsement among their friends and
family. You may easily automate this procedure as your service recovery operation grows
by generating a new feedback request after a ticket is closed.

References

1. Zomato says food is a religion. What about empathy? (2019, July 31). Filter Kaapi Live.
https://umasudhircom.wordpress.com/2019/07/31/zomato-says-food-is-a-religion-what-
about-empathy/
2. Www.ETBrandEquity.com. (2019, December 16). Zomato launches 'on-time or free'
campaign, users will get money back if food arrives late. ETBrandEquity.com.
https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/zomato-launches-on-
time-or-free-campaign-users-will-get-money-back-if-food-arrives-late/72755885
3. The Servqual model - Definition, dimensions, gaps and advantages. (2021, April 25).
Marketing91. https://www.marketing91.com/servqual/
4. Understanding the SERVQUAL model. (2013, August 12). THE Marketing Study Guide.
https://www.marketingstudyguide.com/understanding-the-servqual-model/
5. Servqual Model His Advantages And Disadvantages Marketing Essay. (2015, January
1).Ukessays.https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/servqual-model-his-
advantages-and-disadvantages-marketing-essay.php
6. SERVQUAL analysis - disadvantages. (n.d.). q4uweb.
https://q4uweb.wordpress.com/disadvantages/
7. zomato-competitors. (n.d.). Owler. https://www.owler.com/company/zomato#competitors