After-Sales Services and Consumers’ Perception of Quality: A Study of Refrigerator Users (Consumers) in South East Nigeria

Abstract

Even well designed, defect-free products can fail if they do not fit consumers’ perceptions of high quality or if appropriate follow-up service is unavailable. Poor however is that some products that command high customer favourable perception with high turnover do not always turn out to be profitable. The objective of the study, therefore, is to ascertain the impact of after-sales services on consumers’ perception of quality and corporate turnover and profitability. One hundred and twenty (120) consumer and vendor (manufacturers) respondents from each of the major commercial cities of the five (5) states of South East Nigeria were conveniently selected for study. Data generated from the respondents using a set of questionnaire, were analyzed using statistical tools. The results showed, among others, that after-sales services impact positively on consumers’ perception of quality loyalty, however little on turnover and corporate profitability. Based on the findings of the study, the research concludes that there is still room for growth in after sales services and customer loyalty management as many marketers and product managers, especially in household appliances market, have not fully grasped and made use of the whole potential of after-sales service and the strategic importance of the management of customer loyalty for corporate profitability given the inputs of after sales services. The research thus, recommends, among others, that firms should ensure that customer service is an integral part of the product offering, to be subjected to the same quality standards as the production process, adopt good pricing strategy and monitor customer behaviour for profit maximization among others.