Service Marketing

A Study on Servicescape/Physical evidence

of service and Preparation of Service
Blueprint of
“Lakme Salon”

To Dr Sugant R
By Group 8, Sec ‘B’
Kishor M 19027
Harshith Y 19081
Akshay Shetti 19125
Nishan N 19153
Sindhuja Sista 19171
About Lakme salon
• India’s first and leading chain of salon providing services in hairstyling, skin and beauty
care
• Target segment- youth and elderly of age group of 35-55 years and elite or upper middle
class, also attracts glamour industry for maintaining beauty and skin.
• There are 400+ stores across 125 cities
• Most of the outlets of the salon work on the franchisee model.
• There is common branding in each outlet.
• Competitors: Javed Habib, Haider espresso, Shahnaz Hussain, loreal, green trends etc

Address:
Sara complex ground floor, new kantharaj Urs road, kuvempu nagara, Mysore, Karnataka
Physical Evidence/environment

• Location- commercialised areas, malls and Posh areas

• 180+ outlets and the construction area is 1500sq feet
• Average number of customers visiting daily are 200
• Offers and discounts are mentioned near the entrance.
• Well maintained stores with good ambience, aroma, soothing music and air conditioned
rooms with furniture
• They have shelves that has top salon product brands like Schwarzkopf, and other Lakme
products.
• 10- 15 well behaved staff with uniform
 Lakme Salon,
Kuvempu nagar
Mysore
Roles played by service environment/service space

• Bridal makeover
• Skin treatments
• Hair spa
• Massage
• Manicure/pedicure
• Body care
• Makeup
 How do you feel in the environment? Does the environment consistently
convey the image desired by the business? If yes, how? If no then what
should be changed

• The salon was soothing, calm and aromatic

• The services were systematic and professional
• Services were relaxing and took sufficient time
• Most of them communicated in the local language hence, the company should employee
multi lingual people
• but few of the employees were unable to serve the customers and there was confusion at
the billing section, this might be because of lack of training.
• Long waiting time-to manage the long waiting time the salon can engage the customer or
make sure their service is done early.
Mary Jo Bitner
framework
Physical environment dimensions

• Lakme salon has air conditioned parlours, calm environment, soft music and
aromatic rooms.
• The layout is spread over 1500sq feet, Lakme is well equipped, there are 10 chairs ,
10 mirrors and 5 washbasins, 3 rooms etc.
• Signages and TVs displaying offers and discounts are placed at the entrance
• Flower vases and showpieces are placed on the tables
Holistic environment
• The spatial layout of the salon rooms with all the modern cosy furnishings created a sense
of comfort in the mind of the customer.
Internal responses
• Employee responses- the employees are energetic young professionals trained in the latest
trends in hair and beauty industry
• Customer responses- young customers are delighted with the services that the salon offers.
Behaviour
Employee, individual behaviour- the employees are friendly, well mannered and enthusiastic.
the customers are loyal, impulsive and impatient
• Social interactions: The employees are ever willing to give their best to meet up to the
customer expectations
Describe the customers. How were they dressed, and how did they act? Were they alone or
with others? What are your inferences regarding customers’ social status, lifestyle or income?

The customers that visited the salon were mostly young and adults who were aged around 25-50. Hardly any old aged
customer was seen.

• Dressing sense: Dressed casually with not much of any formal wear or uniformity. Dressing style of all customers
were similar except a bride who was in a wedding saree.

• Behaviour: Behaviour of most customers can be termed as ‘slightly excited’ because they visited the salon to
make themselves look good than they actually were.

• Situational status: The customers mostly came with one of their friends or families and none of them were alone

• Social status: The customers belonged to middle class and upper-middle class segment (Observed through their
dressing sense)

• Lifestyle: Their lifestyle resembled mainly to the economy or middle class lifestyle and in case of bride it was very
hard to figure out due to exceptional situation dressing sense (Glamorous dressing with jewellery and other
ornaments)

• Income: Most of the customers seem to belong from medium and upper middle income level.
 Describe the customer contact personnel. How were they dressed, and how did they
behave?

The customer personnel were:

I. In terms of dressing
1) Customer contact personnel wore formal uniforms comprising of colour pink and black for both Male
and female personnel.
2) They were perfectly groomed and hygiene
II. In terms of behaviour
1) They seemed to be communicating with customers in utmost kind and polite manner
2) Communicated in moderate voice tone with customers
3) Behaved in a very gregarious manner before the customer could undergo any services and behaved in a
gentle way after they undergone the service
General demographic characteristics of the employees (gender, age range, language, socio-
cultural status etc)

The general demographic characteristics of the employees are:

1) Employee count: A total of 12 employees comprising of 7 female employees and 5 male employees
2) Gender: Male & female
3) Age range: Typically aged between 23-45
4) Language: Language spoken were English and Kannada
5) Socio-cultural status: Economy/middle class segment

6) Other characteristics: The atmosphere was quite calm and comfortable as all the employees were
busy in their work and bottlenecks did not exist at all. Overall it’s a place which would encourage
to have more new employees especially the youth
Based on Mary Jo Bitner framework for understanding service scape effects on behaviour,
what are your inferences on response/behaviour of employees and customers?

I. Employee responses
 Cognitive: The environment inside the salon made the employee believe they always worked here
and would love to work in the future as well because it is highly decorated with all the beauty
related materials and products on which the employees were always passionate about.
 Emotion: The salon is bound with full of vanity mirrors and chairs where instrumental music is
played, the employees does not respond much as they experience it everyday. When it comes to
pleasure or degree of arousal they find it much pleasurable to work there
 Physiology: The salon is accommodated with full fledged air conditioners where the temperature
is regulated according to the climate outside. The employee responses are bit a feel of discomfort
as they live at such a low temperature and in dim light environment everyday
I. Customer responses
 Cognitive: The environment inside the salon makes the customers respond very well by spending
some time in a colourful environment and they feel that whenever they visit a salon they would always
visit here.
 Emotion: Predominantly the aspects that arouse customers to feel more pleasurable and instantly
change their mood are some of he instrumental music and scents of different products.
 Physiology: Mostly customers enjoy the temperature inside due to air conditioners especially during
warm season but they can negatively respond if the temperature is too low during rainy or winter
seasons and sometimes the responses can also deteriorate due to dim lightning which can make them
feel gloomy and eventually lead to some amount of physical discomfort
Observations on the service culture of this business

• Our observations on the service culture of Lakme salon are

 They are passionate in maintaining the standards and legacy of Lakme

 Always Consider customers as a first priority
 We were never aware of upto what degree the customers perceived their services and after
visiting and experiencing their service we thought this place would leave its customers stunned
about its service and later we came to know that the customers had the same reaction of ours.
 Blissful and comfy ambience
 Employees take responsibility of any misconduct or inconvenience caused to customers
 Employees treat customers as someone they know already.
Thank You