After-sales service plays a crucial role in businesses in todays economy. Unsatisfied customers end up with complaints that easily spread via the internet or word of mouth. The consequences of this most likely fall back on the company's reputation negatively. Therefore is it important to value customer service and companies to have proper practices in place.
Retailers who sell Zespri's product are liable for the after-sales service. If the product or service is not up to standards, it becomes Zespri's responsibility. If a product is damaged, the consumer will complain to the retailer and they are provided either a refund, exhange, or gift card equivilent to the value. The retailer then makes the issue clear to Zespri and it is resolves.
It is also important that the retailers are educated on kiwifruit as they may be asked questions about the kiwifruit that they will need to answer. Being taught about kiwifruit will make the consumer feel like the product is more reliable due to the service being at a high quality and their questions about the product are answered.
Very similar to the Hort16A service, the retailers will need to be updated and educated on the new variety of G3 kiwifruit to be able to effectively answer any questions consumers have. This will create positive feedback and a positve consumer experience.
The innovation affects service as the Zespri business will have grown due to an increase in customers alongiside their new product. Therefore there will need to be new firm infistructure (more workers trained in customer service) to accomodate for an increase in consumers to meet their needs. Human resourcing is also important, as they will look after the issues that customers and the service team run into.
As more information is released, or new varieties are developed, there needs to be communication between the growers, packers, and retailers. This will create knowledge that will be able to be used as service so that the retailers can pass on the knowledge to the consumers.