SA Rocks

A big part of products anywhere you go in the world is consumerism and the consumer experience. In SA trends have been set that state that the consumer has no power, that the consumer has no say and is not in control. This for me is worrying and frustrating.

It is with this in mind that I would like to delve straight in to the SA Rocks Product Week interview with Ian Donovan, Director of getclosure!.

Consumerism is a massive part of life, rich, poor, thin, fat, healthy or not, anyone and everyone has to either be a consumer or a seller. So it affects us all. For a while now I’ve been complaining about the end consumer being taken for a ride, be it banks, wholesellers, retailers, anyone is trying make a buck at my expense.

Enough of my moaning! Let’s get in to the questions:

1. Tell the readers of SA Rocks why we are interviewing you, what do you do and exactly why am I talking to you about consumerism in SA?

getclosure! is an independent online complaints management portal that facilitates discreet complaint resolution and provides comprehensive information on consumer rights and remedies.

We set up a discreet line of communication between consumers and suppliers to manage the complaint handling process. And best of all, the service is free for consumers!

4 key ways in which getclosure! assists consumers:

1. We deliver each complaint to an appropriate person in the supplier organisation.
2. We follow up with the supplier to get a response to your complaint.
3. We identify remedy providers willing to address unresolved complaints.
4. And we provide much needed information on consumer rights and remedies.

What we have realised is that South African consumers aren’t vocal enough about bad service. We whinge a lot, but all too often we just don’t actually take the step of making our complaint known to the party delivering the bad service.

That’s where getclosure! comes in. We offer a user-friendly service that saves time, money, frustration and importantly, one which yields results.

2. Where does a culture of good service start and with whom?

The important thing to recognise is that a culture of good service cannot be imposed by management. In some businesses, the commitment to good service can be traced to an inspirational leader who sets a high standard for others in the organisation to emulate. In others, good service delivery is the result of appropriate incentives. And there are other businesses – and I believe that getclosure! is one of these – in which the people who actually deliver the service have decided for themselves as a team that they are going to deliver an exceptional service.

3. Is it really the fault of the retailer that good service is hard to come by, or do we as consumers make it so bad?

It is the retailer’s responsibility to offer good customer service by training its staff, implementing the correct channels through which consumers can complain and to educate its customers.

As consumers though, we often allow businesses to get away with bad service by not complaining and in so doing perpetuating the problem. If consumers want better service, they need to step up and draw the attention of businesses to service that falls short of the required standard. Good businesses will always respond appropriately to constructive criticism.

4. What action can be done by the public to improve the situation?

Lodge constructive complaints! Go to www.getcosure.co.za and click on the submit a complaint button to start the process.

5. Are there ways to handle bad service? Does shouting and screaming really make things any better?

There definitely are appropriate and inappropriate ways to complain and to a large extent, this depends on what you are trying to achieve. If your objective is to receive better service, the best place to start is with the person responsible for delivering the poor service, with a polite but firm complaint drawing attention to the problem. If that does not bring the desired response, the next step is to identify someone in the organisation who does care. And that is where getclosure! can assist: we go the extra mile to bring complaints to the attention of an appropriate person in the relevant organisation. Our experience is that in most cases this achieves the desired result. Inevitably there are businesses that do not respond appropriately and in those cases, the intervention of a third party may be needed in order to get the complaint addressed. Part of the getclosure! service is to assist consumers with unresolved disputes to identify a suitable remedy provider. In extreme cases, for example where the supplier simply couldn’t care less, the consumer may find it necessary to use the media to draw attention to the problem.

6. Do you think there are certain industries that are worse than others when it comes to bad service?

Every industry has examples of businesses committed to service excellence and others that are less committed. We think there is a growing commitment across all industries to delivering a better service and we’re delighted to be playing a small part in that process.

7. What do you think a startup or new business can do to ensure that service starts off well and remains so?

Every business, but especially every new business must listen to its customers. If a customer has taken the time to highlight a problem, it should be seen as an opportunity for a company to improve and deliver a better product or service. By complaining, these customers are giving the company a rare second chance to make good. How quickly and effectively a business responds to complaints often determines whether a consumer will continue to do business with them.

Surveys indicate that 60% to 75% of customers who complain to a supplier about a product or service will use it again if their complaint has been resolved and 95% will do so if the complaint was resolved quickly.

8. Is there anything I’ve left out or that you’d like to include here?

We’re about to launch our new home page and would love your readers to tell us what they think of it and what we can do to improve our service. Go to www.getclosure.co.za.

Thanks for taking part in the interview, it’s always great to speak to people in niches with opinions about things that affect so many of us!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Welcome to the very first themed week here at SA Rocks.

I say the first because Product Week is going to be followed up by various themes. Some that I have in mind are Politics Week and Culture Week to name but two.

For now let’s get down to the product for today.

I have decided to take us back some time to a product that every South African should know and love. Chappies.

You’ve gotsta love you a Chappie. Who doesn’t love Chappies? I don’t know a single person. The education value alone is enough to insentivise anyone to purchase just one.

And who could forget any parent in SA saying that “When I was young a Chappie only cost me 5c.” Now, hell, Chappies cost a lot more.

Here is all you could ever hope to know about Chappies Bubblegum:

Chappies chewing gum was created in the 1940s by Chapelat, the largest confectionery manufacturer in SA. The company, whose products included Sunrise Toffees, Sweetie Pies and Frutus, wanted a bubblegum product to challenge Wicks, the only single-piece chewing gum on the market.

Chappies took off in the 1950s when marketing and sales manager Arthur Ginsburg took over responsibility for the brand. His innovations helped establish and entrench Chappies in the market. The first innovation lay in the business model. Each piece of bubblegum was smaller than that of arch-rival Wicks – but you could buy two pieces for 1c. This inspired move led to Chappies gaining value as a currency as shopkeepers used the squares of gum instead of giving change in half-cent and 1c pieces.

Ginsburg’s second innovation was the introduction of the “Did You Know” questions on the inside of the wrapper.

By the 1970s Chappies had a 90% market share and began exporting to other countries in the sub-Saharan region. At the same time, Chapelat was sold to Cadbury, which was looking to expand the confectionery side of its business. Since then, Chappies has held its market lead by constantly updating its product. The surge in competition, however, makes itdifficult, even for a brand as strong as this, to maintain the domination it had in the 1970s.

Before I decide to bore you with inane rubbish, let me hand over to someone who has already blogged about it and done so passionately with great time and care.

The quotes below are from the ChappiesWrapper blog at iblog:

WHEN I was 12 years old a very lucky girl in my Grade 7 class, Charmaine Clarkson, won 1st prize in a sweet competition. She was to share the prize with her classmates: we each got a box of Chappies Chewing Gum. It was a great prize. I only remember her name because of the Chappies prize. A few days ago I met the man who created Chappies. His name is Arthur Ginsburg and he’s 85 years old. He lives in Killarney, Johannesburg, and retired from the confectionery business 20 years ago, but remembers the Chappies story well. In the 60s and 70s Chappies was to the youth what Coke is today – everyone chewed Chappies. It became an iconic South African sweet, recognised by everyone in its distinctive yellow wrapper with blue and red stripes, and chipmunk head. Youngsters still love Chappies today.

You could blow great bubbles with Chappies, and it was the cheapest gum on the market – you could get two Chappies for a penny. It came in a range of colours and flavours, in small squares with four Did you Know? questions inside the wrapper.

So that’s it for the very first post of the very theme to the SA Rocks themed weeks.

A request or two; Send me some suggestions for themes, that’d be great. And send in some links, products, leads and anything else you have or can think of that is relevant to this weeks theme!!

Here’s to a great week and some great products ahead for the week.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I am hoping in the next week or two to dedicate my SA Rocks blogging efforts to funky, innovative, hip-happening, rocking, brilliant local endeavours.

Basically what I am looking for is a simple email from you telling me what the product is, where it’s available and why you think it’s rocking!

The products can literally be anything. As long as it’s local. A website, T-shirt, design company, invention, innovation, hybrid fruit (I’ve eaten a Grapple – Grape/Apple – before so don’t laugh) or anything else that you think deserves to be recognised and I will consider it as a potential post on SA Rocks Product Week.

I will wait till I have a variety of products before announcing when the actual product week will be but for now start emailing through products you want to promote!

So get cracking, get exposure and get local, ‘Cause it’s lekker – Bru!

Popularity: 6% [?]