The QR codes in the Services Sector Free Sample for Students

Questions: 1.In which stages of the Consumer Decision?Making Process may QR Codes be of Particular relevance?2. Do you see a Marketing Opportunity for QR codes in the Services Sector? Explain why or why not, and illustrate your answer by using Examples from the Services Sector such as retail, Financial Services, Health Services, Public Sector Utilise and Transport. .3.The Case Study offers examples of how QR codes can bypass Multiple Layers of distribution and support Marketing. Specific to the Services Sector what are some Potential advantages of this?4.How may QR Codes affect Consumers Perceived risk of Products within the Services Sector?5.Which other Forms of Interactive Content and/or Information may be developed to support Service Operations and Customer Satisfaction in the Future? Answers: Introduction The paper discusses the case study of QR codes. The paper discusses all the four questions as asked in the case study. QR codes are definitely the way forward for businesses as it helps to streamline the operations. 1.There are usually 5 stages in consumer decision making process. These are problem recognition, information gathering, evaluation of alternatives, purchase of product and post purchase evaluation. QR codes can be used in all the stages of customer decision making progress except the problem identification however it depends on the maturity of the business processes of the organizations how they are using QR codes. Usage of QR codes in some stages of consumer decision making process is common and used often while in some of the stages, usages of QR codes is not so obvious and used only by some of the companies (Mostafa, 2015). QR codes are most commonly used in advertisements which can be classified in the information gathering stage of the consumer decision making progress or customer acquisition stage for the company. There are numerous advertisements in malls, magazines with QR codes and buying through these codes also enable consumers to get some discount. Thus, QR codes are also used in the purchase of the product stage of the customer decision making as people can directly scan the code and land at the payment page for the product and pay with ease (Trepov, 2012). QR codes are also used in the post evaluation phase of the consumer decision making process so as to retain the consumers. Wine companies are putting QR codes on their products that will educate customers about their facilities and hygiene. Food companies are also publishing various articles related to Healthy lifestyle and healthy food items on their products. This way they are connecting directly with their customers very quickly. 2.Yes absolutely, there are lot of companies who are using QR codes in service sectors and have benefitted by it and there is lot of scope also for leveraging QR codes in other business processes. For instance, take the example of any airlines, they are using QR codes very effectively in their day to day operations and also saving cost. Airlines allow passengers to check-in in to flight via their mobile devices using QR codes. Airlines sends the boarding passes in form of QR codes and every time your QR codes are scanned, it retrieve all the information. It also saves company a lot of money on printing passes and thus environment friendly also (Dou, Li, 2008). In retail services, merchants are displaying their account information in form of QR codes and when people need to pay to the merchant, they simply scan the QR codes and make payment. In day to day life also, Banks are employing QR codes and people are able to transfer money in different accounts (Cata, Patel, Sakaguchi, 2013). In hospitals, also, QR codes are been used for marketing purposes as well as to increase the patient engagement by showing them the real time wait times (Downer, Oprescu, Forbes, Philips, McTier, Lord, Simbag, 2016). QR codes helps people to engage with hospital in a better way. Not only this, samples of different patients also stored using QR codes which help in effective management as well as in reducing human errors. 3.QR codes provides the unique capability to organizations by directly reaching to customers very quickly. This approach offers potential advantages to companies. The biggest advantage is that the cost and time to reach to the customers has come down drastically. QR codes are widely used in service sector for automating the business processes like scanning the QR code will automate the process with no role for human. Not only this, today people with their smart phones can scan the QR code from websites, advertisements, billboards and other places where companies are placing their QR codes and once people scan the code, companies can prompt them to register at their site by giving some discount. And that is how the companies are getting the customer data and the ways to remain in touch with people. Once companies got the data of the consumer, they can directly send you the emails, messages on phone on your birthdays or on a monthly basis discussing about their new range of products and services (Lorenzi, Vaidya, Chun, Shafiq, Atluri, 2014). Thus, Using QR codes for bypassing multiple layers of distribution has huge advantages. Also, people can organize their marketing efforts in a better way by dividing customers I various buckets and organiz ing separate campaign for each bucket. 4.QR codes can be used very effectively in managing the consumers perceived risk of products within the services sector. Before buying the product, customers often contemplate about the perceived risk of the products. Such risk may include the questions or doubts about the usability/functionality of the product, hidden costs of the product, time risk, financial risks, and social risks. Organizations can capture the reviews of their products in form of QR codes and make them available for consumers on their sites and at every place where the company is selling the product. Not only this, organizations should link about the videos of how to use the product so that consumers can make informed decision and has the right expectations (Demir, Kaynak, Demir, 2015). Thus, QR codes can actually bring the more transparency in their selling process and helps to lower the consumers perceived risk of products. Take one example, in hospital industry, there is a new technique for treatment however people are scared of going through that so company can make the video of actual treatment and also capture the testimonial of the consumers and can give its excess to other potential consumers by means of QR codes on their advertisements 5.There are many forms of interactive content that can be developed by the organization for supporting service operations and customer satisfaction. Healthcare companies can start quizzes on social media platforms like twitter to engage the customer, to educate people about their new services and also educate people about the simple stuff they can do to become healthier (Gu, Skierkowski, Florin, Friend, Ye, 2016). Tour and Travel companies can start campaigns and contest to gain the traction from the consumers. Surveys and feedbacks are another important interactive content that can help the organizations to support service operations. Entertainment services companies can make use of interactive infographics to connect with customers. Not only this, organizations can give people access to more data about themselves and help them to make informed decisions. For instance, Amusement parks can display the peak time and non-peak times, average waiting time for various activities during p eak time. In a same way, Tour and travel companies can tell tourists about the peak periods as well as lean period at various tourists destinations so that people looking for budget travel will also be benefitted. All this can be done through various forms of interactive content like blogs, campaigns, quizzes, surveys, contests and infographics (Jami, Mitchell, 2016). References Trepov, A. (2012). QR Code in marketing.Majesty of Marketing. Dou, X., Li, H. (2008). CREATIVE USE OF QR CODES IN CONSUMER COMMUNICATION.International Journal of Mobile Marketing,3(2). Cata, T., Patel, P. S., Sakaguchi, T. (2013). QR code: A new opportunity for effective mobile marketing.Journal of Mobile Technologies, Knowledge and Society,2013, 1. Lorenzi, D., Vaidya, J., Chun, S., Shafiq, B., Atluri, V. (2014). Enhancing the government service experience through QR codes on mobile platforms.Government Information Quarterly,31(1), 6-16. Demir, S., Kaynak, R., Demir, K. A. (2015). Usage level and future intent of use of quick response (QR) codes for mobile marketing among college students in Turkey.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,181, 405-413. Jamu, J. T., Lowi-Jones, H., Mitchell, C. (2016). Just in time? Using QR codes for multi-professional learning in clinical practice.Nurse Education in Practice,19, 107-112. Mostafa, A. A. (2015). The Effectiveness of Product Codes in Marketing.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,175, 12-15. Downer, T., Oprescu, F., Forbes, H., Phillips, N., McTier, L., Lord, B., ... Simbag, V. (2016). Enhancing nursing and midwifery student learning through the use of QR codes.Nursing Education Perspectives,37(4), 242-243.` Gu, L. L., Skierkowski, D., Florin, P., Friend, K., Ye, Y. (2016). Facebook, Twitter, Qr codes: An exploratory trial examining the feasibility of social media mechanisms for sample recruitmen