Case Analysis of Home Solutions India Ltd aka Home Town

1. 2015
Report on Home Solutions
(India) Limited-Kitchen Section
BY
PRATICK CHOUDHURY - 22
RANJINI R. - 24
SAMRAT MAZUMDAR- 25

2. Home Solutions (India) Limited- Kitchen Solution
Future Group is an Indian private conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. The company is
known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sectors, with popular
supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores like Brand Factory,
Central etc. and also for having notable presence in integrated foods and FMCG
manufacturing sectors.
HomeTown is a unique one-stop destination for complete home-making solutions, the first
of its kind retail format in India. It provides consumers all that goes into building a house
and everything to make it a ‘Home’, all under one roof.
The format also offers a one-of-its-kind Design and Build service that encompasses
experienced designers who help design the home, and a team of skilled technicians for
services like carpentry, flooring and tile installation, plumbing, sanitary ware installation,
painting and wallpaper, electrical fittings and much more. Design and Build is flexible,
transparent and easy on the pocket.
The store is divided into 3 sections:
 Exhibitions: Puts up a live display of various rooms such as living room, dining room,
bedroom, kids room, kitchen and bathroom.
 Markets: Featured products for living room, dining room, bedroom, kid’s room,
kitchen and bathroom, home furnishing, mattresses and Depot.
 Services: this section offered service such as Mr.Carpenter, Mr.Plumber,
Mr.Electrician, door delivery and installation.
Home Town maintained its USP as “ab ghar banana kitnaaasaan!!” Offering an array of
home products and the services of skilled technicians, Home Town offers an experience that
is democratic, hassle-free and convenient. All this comes with service and product
warranties at great prices.
Facts of the Case:
 Mrs.Raj Dogra, a middle income working woman wanted to revamp her home.
 She was keen to have a new kitchen with smart designs as were displayed at Home
Town.
 She made several visits to Home Town and spent lot of time with Mr.Vipin, who was
in charge of designing the kitchen, discussing the design of the kitchen.
 Mrs.Dogra finalized the design specification of the kitchen for Rs.1,11,000 with a
delivery due date after a month i.e. June 9, 2007.

3.  Mr.Vipin made false promises that modules would be fabricated at the company’s
world class facility at Nagpur.
 Mr.Vipin had handed over the blueprint of the modular kitchen and diagrams
suggesting changes in the kitchen space.
 Customer got the preliminary work done.
 Mr.Vipin sent technical staff for inspection after repeated requests from the
customer.
 Technical staff approved the space ready for installation
 On June 6, Mr.Vipin was unsure of the delivery and reluctant to give commitment.
 On June 8, Mrs. Dogra went to Home Town to know the exact status from Mr. Vipin
who was trying to hide himself so as to not face Mrs.Dogra
 When encountered, Mr.Vipin revealed that the company did not have stock as
specified by Mrs.Dogra.
 Customer’s dream of having a modern and trendy kitchen was shattered.
 For one month the family was eating outside and had made temporary makeshift
kitchen was made in the bathroom.
 It had become an awkward situation for the customer in front of family members.
 On speaking to Mr.Vinod, Head of kitchen section, Mumbai, Mrs.Dogra was to
change her specifications as the required material would be available only after 3
months.
 She was assured that the products would be delivered within 10 days i.e. June 19.
 Promise to compensate for the delay was not attended.
 On June 14, Vipin sent an SMS that the kitchen was getting air-lifted on June 20.
 When nothing was heard till June 21, customer made enquiries about the same to
find out that due to rains the roads were blocked and further delay was estimated.
 If the kitchen was being air-lifted, why was it getting delayed because of the rains?
 Customer was not given proper information about the same.
 Mrs.Dograr sent an email to the Pantaloon Customer care cell on June 23, with a
request that the matter be brought in notice of Mr.KishoreBiyani, CEO Future Group.
 Finally material was delivered to the customer on June 27.
 When carpenter came to install the same, it was discovered that the material was
short supplied and the kitchen was not ready for installation as the plumbing work
was not in order, even though it had been approved by the technical team of Home
Town.
 Look of the kitchen was spoiled as tiles had to be broken and water pipes were taken
outside the walls
 A team of carpenters were deputed from Mumbai to handle the installation.
 Plumbing problem was unattended.
 The colour and material of the shutter as chosen by the customer as an alternative
to the original specification, was different from that selected by the customer

4.  Mr.Vinod visited customer’s house on July 4and promised to change the shutters
within a period of three weeks
 According to Mr.Vinod, even though the existing shutters were not as per the
customer’s choice, they were close to what she had opted for.
 This annoyed Mrs.Dogra as it was her kitchen and she would like to modify it
according to her choice, moreover when she was not getting it done for free of cost
 The replacement for the shutter was provided several days after the promised date
 Customer was waiting for someone to re-fix the shutters and rectify the defects that
still existed
 Till August 3, Mrs.Dogra was still waiting for the carpenter to complete the work
 The management of Home Town tried to identify its mistakes and learn from them
so that they are able to provide effective service delivery and eventually are able to
meet customer expectations.
Lack of Upward Communication :
There wasno propercommunication
channel betweenMr.Vipinand
Mr.Vinod.Issuesfacedbythe
Mrs.Dogra were neveraddressedon
time andwere nevercommunicated
to the highermanagement.
Insufficientrelationshipsfocus:Home
Town’smainmotive wastoclose the
deal ratherthan buildastrong
customerrelationship.Theynever
focusedonthe problemfacedby
Mrs.Dogra and were notat all
empathetictowardsher.Their
reluctantresponse wasanindication
of theirdisinteresttowardscustomer
problemsandtheirlackof focus
towardsbuildingastrongrelationwith
the customers.
Inadequate Service Recovery: Inspite
of continuousfollow upsbythe
customer,the employeesof Home
Towndid notrespondtoher
promptly.Notonlycouldtheymeet
the deadlinesthattheyhadpromised,
theywere alsoveryaloof andnon-
empathetictowardsthe entire
situation.Insteadof providing
compensationtothe customer,they
were tryingtoavoidher.

5. Poor service design:The entire processwasveryunsystematicand
unstructured.Vague promiseswere made tothe customerwhichledthe
customerto buildhopeswhichwere eventuallynotmet.There wasno
concrete processsharedpriorwiththe customer.
Absence of Customer-drivenstandards:The standardsset byHome Town
were notaccording tothe customerneedsandexpectations.
Inappropriate physical evidence andservicescape:The technicianhad
wronglyapprovedthatthe space was readyforinstallation.Thiseventually
ledto a majorproblemwhile installation.Since the plumbingworkwasnot
inorder,tileshadto be brokenand waterpipeshadto be takenoutside
the wall.Thisspoiledthe entirelookof the kitchen.
Lack of teamwork: Lack of teamworkwasveryevidentinthe case as
there wasno coordinationbetweenthe technicianandMr.Vipin,the
logisticsteamandMr.Vipin.
Problemswith service intermediaries:The coordinationbetween
logisticsandmanagementwasnotsynchronisedasMr.Vipin saidthat
the kitchenwasbeingair-lifted,afterwhichthe customerwasinformed
that there wouldbe furtherdelaybecause roadswere blockeddue to
heavyrains.The technical staff whowassentfor inspection,wrongly
approvedthe space readyfor installationwhichcreatedalotof
inconvenience later.
Mr.Vipinwasnotaware of unavailabilityof stockthatwasrequiredby
the customer.

6. Ineffective Managementofcustomerexpectations:Throughout
the case,none of the expectationsof the customerwashandled
properly.Evenwhenthe customerwaspatientinfollowingupwith
the service provider,she wasnotassistedinthe rightmannerand
none of her expectationswere metaspromisedinthe beginning.
Mrs.Dogra was neverinformedaboutthe delaythatwasexpected.
She was askedtochange the selectionof shutterdue to
unavailabilityof stock.
Overpromising:Home Towndidnot leave anyopportunityinoverpromising.Rightfromthe time
that the moduleswouldbe fabricatedatthe company’sworldclassfacilityatNagpur,to assurance
of desiredshutters,employeeshadonlymade false promisestoMrs.Dogra.
Inappropriate pricing:The expectationthatamiddle-income housewife hadtorevampherkitchen
ina modernandtrendywaywas thoroughlyshatteredbecause of the carelessnessandnon-
empatheticattitude of the employeesof Home Town.None of the expectationof Mrs.Dogramet
comparedto the price that she was chargedby the company.

7. The service that was provided by Home Solutions India Ltd was falling below the adequate
service level even. If it shown in chart, it should look like the following:
Service received
The factors that influenceddesiredandpredictedserviceare
Many serviceswere
promisedand
promotedduring
sellingthe product
and inAds.
It was the needof
Mrs.Dogra fora new
modernkitchen.Home
improvementsare nota
casual affairfor a middle
income groupfamily.
Delayintransportationof
productsdue to rainswhich
was one of the reasonthat
ledto transportingthe
productsby road ratherthan
beingairlifted.

8. Service Quality
In satisfaction versus service quality, satisfaction was very far fetched as they severely
lacked on basic service quality they projected and promised.
The important service quality dimensions that Home town missed are as follows:
Reliability: This was the major area where outcry happened, the person dealing with Mrs
Dogra was very unreliable and even other people involved in this whole case. The ability to
perform the promised service dependably and accurately was absent and no sense of
reliability was passed to customer.
Responsiveness: The people of Home town were giving false information to customer and
delaying the whole process with vague replies and even responding very late to her queries.
The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service was completely absent.
Assurance: The Home town people failed to built trust even though their planned work was
failing, they were giving false assurance at beginning which damaged the reputation more
than being good. Employee’s knowledge and courtesy & their ability to inspire trust and
confidence was not there at all.
Home townlackedthe basic functionof the service
whichiscalled‘musts’.Astheywere promisedtoget
the kitcheninstalledwithinstipulatedtime,they
failedwhichletthe familytoorderfoodfrom
outside.SatisfiersandDelightswere notpresent.

9. Empathy:After regular complain by Mrs Dogra for the delay of the whole service, the Home
town people started avoiding her and didn’t gave her any special attention to make her feel
comfortable and reassured. Caring, individualized attention given to customers were not
there. It seemed like a transactional relationship rather than creating a healthy relationship
b/w the store and customer.
Tangibles: No personnel, communication material was present or being provided for more
support to the customer. Though physical facilities made it look genuine and trustworthy
but it didn’t hold strong in this case. Even they asked her to change her requirement since
they did not have the required product.

10. Relationship Marketing:Home Town and Mrs. Dogra
 Customer acquisition was done as she had trusted them for revamping her kitchen
and had earlier also placed an order for several bathroom items including Jacuzzi etc.
 But Home Town was not able to satisfy her requirements right from the beginning
hence, retaining customer by giving her a chimney and financial discounts (discount
of 11000) was not a good enough technique.
 Hence, they failed to build a good relationship with the customer.
In thiscase,Home Town was
onlyable toacquire the
customer,Mrs. Raj Dogra and
not able tosatisfyher.Home
Townwasn’tget above the
Acquiringstage.

11. Customer (Mrs.Dogra) satisfaction
It is very much evident from the case that Mrs.Dogra was not at all satisfied with the service
provided by Home Town.The reasons being:-
1. Service features were not up to the level-The service provided lacked the entire
service marketing mix.
 Product-The product delivered was short supplied and also the the colour
and material of the shutter supplied was different from the one that she had
selected.
 Place-Home Town had no idea about the intermediaries when the product
would be delivered, delay in time, transportation facilities.
 Price-Although the price was approachable,but for the worst service
delivered price couldn’t be considered.
 Promotion-Campaigns and Ads that were done for promotion were just
Overpromising and led to underdelivery of service.
 People-Employees were not responsive to face customers and also gave
reluctant replies.
 Physical Evidence-The kitchen space was literally destroyed.Improper
approval by Home Town staff,plumbing work not in order,cutting of tiles to
find plumbing alternatives etc.
 Process-It was the worst customer oriented process and a terrible experience
a customer can expect.
2. Customer emotion was not understood-
 Mrs.Dogra desired for a new dream kitchen with trendy smart designs.She
dreamt for a beautiful smart kitchen
 Such type of major home improvements is not a casual affair in middle
income group family.
 This wasn’t understood by Mr Vinod or Mr.Vipin and it led to providing the
worst customer experience.
3. Facing awkwardness with family members/friends –Humiliation/Insult faced by in
front of family members and friends as they weren’t still able to resume normal
living in their home.

12. Service Encounter themes
Notat all uptostandards.
Needof Mrs.Dogra wasthat
the kitchenbe deliveredon
time andthe service offered
be smooth.Butitwas
delayed.
Alsothe the colourand
material of the shutter
suppliedwasdifferentfrom
the one that she had
selected.
Alsoshe hadto request
several timestoMr.Vipin
and Mr. Josephto getthe
site inspected.
Verypoor.There were
no properresponse to
mails.Mailsfrom
Mr.Vinodwere short
and justaddressing
the problemsrather
than beingapologetic.
Mr Vipinalsotriesto
avoidMrs.Dogra till
she caught herat the
cafeteria.
Mr Vipinand
Mr.Vinodnever
understoodthe ordeal
Mrs.Dogra had been
goingthrough.
Service Recoverywas
terrible.Noproper
communicationfrom
Mr VinodorMr Vipin
evenafterrepeated
mailsandcomplaints
fromMrs.Dogra
As incentivesthey
providedchimney
that Mrs.Dogra
alreadyhadand
didn’tmentionabout
the Rs. 11,000
disocunttheyhad
mentioned.
Eventhe response
providedwasn’t
timelyand
sometimesMr.Vinod
didn’tevenreply.

13. Mrs.Dogra complaint actions following Service Failure from Home
Town employees
Although they mentioned to provide service warranty for 1 year, but that was after the
completion of job. In this case, the job itself was not carried out upto the satisfaction of the
customer.So,Mrs. Dogra will have limited hopes for service warranty.
Although it is less likely that Mrs.Dograwill switch,but if she does
,these might be some of the reasons:
1. Inconvenience:
Wait for appointment and service
 Although Mrs.Dogra cancelled her office engagements so as to be available
for 3 days to facilitate installation, she came to know that the delivery of
products was further delayed.
 Also there was no or late reply to mails she sent out of the poor service
delivered.
2. Core service failure: All the service mistakes done that resulted in the poor service
provided.
3. Service encounter failure: Unresponsive.Mr.Vinod tried to avoid Mrs.Dogra.Also the
entire logistics was not clear.
4. Response to service failure- Reluctant response, not proactive to inform the
customer about the delay.
Mrs.Dogra was a VOICERtype of complainer.
She activelycomplainedtoMr.Vinod
regardingthe service gapsandcustomer
expectationsbutshe islesslikelytospread
negative wordof mouthor switchor go to
thirdparties.
Althoughshe wrote ineverymail aboutthe
ordeal she wasfacingand askingto refundthe
moneybutstill she didn’ttake anyactions.
Atmostshe tookher complainttoMr.Diwakar
the store manager and sentmailsto
PantaloonsCorporate office CustomerCare
and alsoexpressedherinteresttogetintouch
withKishore Biyani,CEOfuture group.

14. Service Recovery Strategies
If Home Townwould
have respondedtothe
mailssentbyMrs.Dogra
ina properand timely
manner,itatleastgivesa
sense of relief tothe
customerthat the
service provideris
workingonthe issues
mentioned.
Alsoitneedstoprovide
propercommunication
whenthe productswill
reach,whatare the
difficultiesfacedin
logisticsandwhatare
the revisedtimelinesso
that there ismore
transparencybetween
service providerand
customer.
Thiscase that
happenedbetween
Home townand Ms.
Dogra can be taken
as a reference to
improve future
businessfrom
customers.

15. If I were the CEO what would I have done?
1. A dedicated Customer Relationship Manager along with a team who would be the
interface between the customer and the various departments of the organization.
Thus instead of voicing concerns to the Section Managers,Head of Section or Store
Manager who are busy with sales ,the primary job of the Customer Relationship
Manager will be to take customer concerns into consideration and solve them to
build relationships.
2. Focus would be not to sell,but to build relationships with customers.This would
mean investing in IT and periodic market research to know customer needs
,expectations, feedback of the service provided or the service yet to be provided and
make buying an experience or ad values to the entire process.
3. Keeping complete control and track of intermediaries and channels and providing
that data to customer to increase transparency between customer and services
provided.Each and every process of mine will be traceable and customers will have
exact information where their orders or services are pending. For ex:-They will know
whether the product is manufactured, dispatched, when will it be delivered, when
will the service provider come.
4. Booking or fixing appointment of service provider as per convenience of customer
and service provider.
5. Have a proper Grievance Redressal system,once the grievance is received it is
verified,action taken is planned ,approved and taken.
6. Motivating employees to face service delivery failures and how to handle
them.Providing incentives if they achieve objectives and targets so that employees
are motivated.
7. Not overpromising and leading to failure to meet expectations. Rather promising
slightly more so that realistic promises made by Marketing team can be achieved by
Operations team.
8. Prioritize customers having service failures and giving it more importance to service
recovery and service delivery .
9. Take service failures as experience and improvise services. Also benchmarking
services so that employees will be motivated to set high benchmarks for incentives.