The Undercover Boss USA episode began with a brief summary and explanation of the business and the CEO. The business was Forman Mills, which is a discount retail store in the USA. The business sells discount apparel and merchandise around the USA. Its target market, when forming marketing strategies and advertising campaigns, is the lower LSM groups as the Forman Mills’ stores have been established in lower income areas in the USA (Heavy – Forman Mills Information). The values and organisation culture of Forman Mills are twofold: on the one side they like to be crazy and out of control to be different, and on the other they like to be professional towards their consumers.
Currently, Forman Mills has 2500 employees who work in 35 stores in…show more content… The first words of advice Nikia gave Rick was to be quick and not take too long. Her manager informed her that customers do not want to be kept long. Customer Service Representative’s role involves doing sales as well as helping customers with coupons, and to help consumers with service and product problems (Sokano – Customer Service Representative Job Description). Rick was extremely concerned when Nikia raised the alarming fact that Nikia and other Customer Service Representatives were not trained at all when they were employed into the business. This is a major weakness for Forman Mills because the consumers can see the business as uncompassionate and unprofessional if their customer service representatives aren’t capable of fulfilling their jobs properly. Thus, it is imperative that Forman Mills’s Human Resources function includes a training & induction programme for their employees as it will benefit the business’s public image and productivity, and it will benefit the employees because they will learn and develop vital skills which makes them more qualified for their position and other positions. Another concern which Rick analysed was the unnecessary time it took for Customer Services Representatives to call the manager if there are issues such as using coupons. This, once again, was a negative process under the marketing strategy. Forman Mills should have a quick, easy process for customers so that customers can easily purchase products using coupons, cards, cash or gift cards. Another technological challenge which Forman Mills has fallen behind on is the outdated cash register system. Nikia expressed how the cash register system was outdated compared to other companies from the retail industry. There was only one card system in the store that Nikia worked in and as a result, Nikia had to move fast. The excess energy which she exerted also put pressure on her productivity.