In the period from 24 February to 3 April 2017, Heraklea worked with secret shopping agencies in the region to create the ninth study of the basic elements of service quality in order to find the best in the region
Five nations in the region were included – Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia. Secret shoppers visited 800 various locations, such as car salons, banks, gas stations, retail shops, supermarkets, tourism, catering and service facilities, Hrturizam.hr reported on May 9, 2017.
“We measured five basic elements of quality service such as: greeting, the definition of the need/desire of shoppers, knowledge of products, offer of additional products and goodbye greeting, using the GUEST acronym: Greet, Understand, Explain, Suggest, Thank. Looking at results per category, it can be concluded that car salons with a score of 94.44% saw a 3.81% increase compared to last year. Supermarkets, just like last year, were the category with most room for improvement with a score of 55.3%,” said Željka Bakmaz from the Heraklea Agency.
The leading position in service quality in the region went again to Slovenia with a score of 79.03%, although down by 2.42% compared to last year. In this year’s results, Macedonia is in second place with a 77.01% score and growth of 10.57 percent. Montenegro is in fourth place with 73.40% and a 10.51% rise from last year. Serbia is very close with a score of 73.4%, with 5.27% growth. Most room for improvement is seen in Bosnia-Herzegovina with 59.06% and a 7.1% decline, the only one below the annual average at 71.85%.
Croatia placed third in this year’s study. The best score was made in the greeting category (92.91%), while most room for improvement was found in the additional products offering category at 42.18%. Croatia leads with 100% satisfaction in the car salon category, with services in second place with 93.62%. These two categories are also the only ones which saw growth compared to last year. Car salons went up 5.56% and services by 4.04%
Supermarkets have to improve a lot, with a score of 59.81% and a 2.22% decline. Banks are in third place this year with 80.95% and a 1.4% decline. Gas stations made the largest decline of 12.78%, while tourism, retail and telecommunications have an average 8 percent decline in quality service compared to last year.
The quality of service is one of the main competitive advantages and an important element of advancing business. Service quality also affects advancement of sales, company image, attracting new consumers, reduces complaints and the satisfaction of consumers, resulting in loyalty.
This very thought demonstrates that the advancement of service is a continuous process with necessary constant investment in order for companies to achieve competitive advantage, better results and satisfied and loyal consumers.
