Standardisation of logistics customer service

Abstract

PURPOSE: This paper is devoted to the standardisation of customer service in the logistics services market. Its first part focuses on various aspects of defining and optimising buyer service. Next, the focus turns to the benefits and barriers of service standardisation, and at the end of the text, the focus turns to logistics buyer service, understood as the ability of a company's logistics system to meet customer expectations in such categories as lead time, certainty and security of transactions, communication with the customer, and efficiency and convenience of service. The authors have made a comprehensive analysis of customer service as a business process. They have focused on the ways in which customer service is perceived and the factors determining its level. They then evaluated the advantages of standardising logistics service, without ignoring the limitations of implementing this process.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper uses the method of descriptive characteristics of market phenomena and processes. The professional literature on customer service standardisation was comprehensively searched.

FINDINGS: The results of the analyses are of both cognitive and pragmatic value, especially in the context of undertaking work towards the development and implementation of a standardised logistics strategy for customer service.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Standardisation of the customer service process allows for a quicker response to customer preferences, and also makes it possible to design the process in such a way that it has a positive impact on the company's operations and becomes a source of its competitive advantage. Among the many benefits of standardising logistics customer service are increased customer satisfaction, lower staff management costs and a systematic drive to improve the quality of customer service.