Who Are Harvey Norman’s Customers?
Hi, I am doing a marketing paper for my MBA and have decided to focus on retail companies, primarily Harvey Norman.
Can anybody tell me who the typical Harvey Norman customer is in Australia and is there such a thing as customer loyalty to a retail brand.
E.g. If Harvey Norman for example provided good service or product/price the first time around will that make the customer automatically shop with them again? or do you think consumers make a choice each time they make a buying decision what retailer to shop at based on research they conduct on range, price, etc?
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I can’t seem to find much info on Australian retailers, all the text books seem to be US focused.
We have bought from H/N before because of price. When we lived in Brisbane, it was worth shopping around, but now we are in a small country town, the is no competition. On most electrical and furniture, they are very well priced.
Customers go to HN for the first time because they’ve seen a particular item advertised; because long interest free terms were on offer; because they were shopping around and it was a logical port of call; because it was handy (in the local shopping centre etc); because of word of mouth recommendations (low prices, good range etc.)
They return when they have had a good experience and having done so, unless they have a really bad experience first time back, most will continue to do so to the exclusion of other stores. Some will still shop around, but make a point of going to HN last because they know that genuine prices will be matched or beaten, the item will probably be in stock and they’ll get good service. HN still needs good prices, range and above all, good sales people, but customers are actually fairly forgiving after they’ve shopped there for a while. Many customers have particular sales people who they prefer to deal with and will call before visiting the shop to make sure they will be working that day. Interestingly, if they have a bad or even neutral experience first time around, they rarely return again for a major purchase.
There’s no such thing as a typical HN customer. They range across every income group, educational level, age and nationality, but most customers in the more technical areas (computers, audio equipment, cameras etc) will be people who need advice on their purchases. More technically inclined customers tend to use specialty stores where they believe they’ll be dealing with kindred spirits.
I worked for HN Computers for 6 years and we had many, many customers who wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else. When I now visit the store after working elsewhere for several years, I still see many familiar faces amongst the customers so the retail brand loyalty is evidently still there.
People who don’t care he is such a right-wing w**ker