A 7 page paper assessing this admired, customer-focused retailer’s current position and current strategies to make recommendations for the future. Whereas other retailers turn first to customer service to cut costs, Nordstrom’s is taking the more intricate route of tuning internal processes and making use of customer information that already exists. Nordstrom’s is one of the last old-style department stores in which salespeople maintain close relationships with their best customers. It is unusual in that it still retains service at this level; it is likely alone as a mid-range store behaving as a high-end one. Includes a non-bulleted SWOT analysis. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: CC6_KSmgmtNordstrom.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
present chairman, is well versed in the history of the company founded by his grandfather in 1901. He reports that as recently as 40 years ago, it was not
uncommon to see a salesperson named Nordstrom on the sales floor "loudly disagreeing with customers ... Grandpa didnt have any idea of customer service ... But he wanted to make
a living. Eventually, we saw it was not in our best interest to be arguing with customers" (Tice, 2001; p. 31). Today, Nordstroms
is a highly respected $5.5 billion national chain whose salespeople - regardless of last name - would never dream of arguing with a customer for any reason. Rather, far
more likely is the view of a salesperson calling a longtime customer upon arrival of a shipment containing items the salesperson knows likely will interest the customer. A service
and relationship that all Wal-Mart shoppers believed to be long gone outside the price ranges of Neiman-Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue, much of Nordstroms current success and growth within the
otherwise-lackluster retail apparel industry depends on the close relationships that Nordstroms maintains with its customers. Current Situation SWOT Analysis Strengths Customer Service.
Grandpa may have argued with customers, but such is never the case today. As mentioned above, customer service is one of the hallmarks of Nordstroms business model (Tice, 2001).
It is so well known that consumers in cities currently without a Nordstroms anxiously await its arrival. A hundred years after its founding, "the company has grown into
a $5.5 billion-a-year retail colossus whose reputation for world-class customer service makes it one of the nations most-wanted stores" (Tice, 2001; p. 31).