Question

PLEASE ANSWER (URGENT)

Service marketing Case study: PI-O’s

Please read the following case and answers this question:

1- How can you help PI-O in determining and minimizing their customers’ expected risks (Functional risk, Financial risk, Temporal risk, Physical risk, Psychological risk, and Social risk)? Identify the expected risks and suggest solutions? Justify your answer.

For more than 35 years, PI-O’s has been one of the nation’s go-to venues for children’s birthday parties and rainy afternoon outings. Operating under the slogan “Where a kid can be a kid,” there are more than 575 PI-O’s locations in 47 states in the USA and 10 foreign countries. Their goal is to provide a fun and safe environment for children aged under 12 years to play and families to create memories, but in 2015 PI-O’s made improvements not for the children, but for the parents.

“Your average kid who comes to PI-O wants to come 11 times a year; they come three times a year. The difference between that and the 11 times a year they want to come is the mom and dad veto,” said Tom Leverton, CEO of LEL Entertainment, Inc. “What we’ve been doing over the past couple of years especially is trying to address the mom and dad needs.”

To that end, PI-O’s expanded their menu to include items geared to more advanced culinary of tastes of the parents, such as the Cali Alfredo pizza and the BBQ Chicken Pizza, Caesar and Club whole-wheat wraps, BBQ Chicken Ciabatta sandwiches. They also added dessert churros served with salted caramel and white chocolate icing. "Kids are at the heart of everything we do at PI-O 's, but kids don't come alone, and we want to make sure parents have just as enjoyable an experience as the kids do, especially when it comes to the food," said Leverton.

The new adult menu has been promising for PI-O’s, but they aren’t stopping there. In 2016, they began testing additional menu items in select markets. The Orlando, Florida market has seen the addition of giant chocolate chip cookies to the menu. They are also testing a Honey Mustard- bourbon wing sauce, multigrain Italian Chicken and Chicken Caesar flatbreads, and gluten-free pizza dough.

In March 2016, PI-O’s debuted a lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet to address the issue of customer frequency. The buffet is $3.99 for children and $5.99 for adults. They are also testing half-priced games on Tuesday evenings in the Dallas market. PI-O decided also to introduces a loyalty card that will give one free entry after 5 visits and a discount of 10 % in the foods for regular customers.

Answer 1

PI-O'S is a chain of amusement parks and is very famous among kids. The park offers fun and playful activities for kids along delicious food and much more for adults too. The chain is also very famous for organising birthday parties.

What the park offers?

Rides

Food

Zoo and Aquarium

Family Entertaiment Centre

Water Park

Retail Outlets

Playgrounds

Themed Areas

Mascots

Mammal Shows

Carnivals

Video Game Centre

Theme Parks

Special Events

There are several risk involved in handling such a big venture.

How to determine and minimise customer expected risks?

Functional Risk

It means all the facilities offered by park should be absolutely safe with no margins of error. The kids along with their parents should feel completely safe while enjoying any of the ride or anything offered by the park.

The rides should be operating normally as its upper and lower operational limits.and the effective operation of safety related controls checked.

Any unsafe means of functionality could damage the business for a long time.

If the parents feel safe with the facilities provides they will take their child again and again.

An easily readable "SAFETY RULES" board at the entry of ride can be very helpful for everyone.

The amusement park management should use documentation relating to the test done to the inspection body of the country in order to give assurance to public and goverment.

Finanacial Risk

Every customer comes to the park purchase tickets and spend on food with his/her hard earned money. The financial risk management includes theft inside premises, loss of personal belongings during a ride and moreover every customer wants complete value for money. The customer will never return or refer anyone to go in case he/she does not felt safe financially inside the theme park.

Determination of these kind of scenarios can be done by addressing the customers seeking help in minimal time and provide solution to it. The customers will get the happiest whenever they get help from the management in case of lost/found scenarios, compensation of theft etc.

Every amusement park must have one department to handle such cases and should be easy to approach for the customers. The customers will get back for sure in case they find suitable help in such circumstances.

Temporal Risk

If consumer prefers any other place with similar facilities is called Temporal Risk. The risk is always there because you never know the customer mind and where will it go. The customer can make temporary changes in their taste and prefrences or may get influence by others.

Determination of this can be done from making complete records of customer data. Which customer comes again? Which customer never came back?

Customer not coming again is a scenario where he/she might find something short of expectations or any other reasons like safety, no value for money etc.

An amusement park management can offer discounts for the returning customers in terms of food or can provide one free ticket as gesture of customer trust and loyality.

Physical Risk

This includes injuries a parent or kid suffered during the ride or while using any other facility within the premises. The physical risk management is the most critical thing to handle in the amusement park business. A customer will surely never come if he/she does not find suitable measures or treatments in such circumstances.

Determination can be done by addressing the customers coming back after enjoying the ride and ask if they sustain any injury during the ride?

Roller coasters like rides are not for kids but can do injuries to adults not physically but mentally. Some customers may find faintness, vomitting after the ride, so someone must be there to address them personally in such scenarios.

First aid centers, team of medical staff can be appointed within the amusement park in order to handle such situations.

Psycological Risk

Some parents made their mind that there is nothing for my kid inside the premises or the rides are meant for adults or some other reasons for not coming back again.

The parents and kids must be addressed by someone who can show all the activities in the premises and can diffrentiate i.e what is for adults and what is for kids. Proper knowledge of the theme park should be given the customers in order to gain more customes.

The pyscological risk barrier amongst customers can be solved by making them believe that they and their kids are absolutely safe in the premises and can use the facilities according to the safety rules.

Social Risk

It refers to anything by which the communities around them gets affected. Enviromental measures should be taken in order to minimise the social risk. The pollution from the rides or any facilities should be managed effectively.

No parent wants their kids in the unhealthy conditions or to take them to the places where the communities around them are not safe.

Determination can be done by measuring all the aspects that can harm social surroundings and cotrol them effectively.

Solution is to maintain proper documentation for the enviromental aspects and assure the customers that the premises is completely safe by pasting such documents in diffrent parts of amusement parks.

See, mostly parents come to an amusement park for their kids basically. The responsibility of the amusement park management is to provide safety and believe them that they and thier kids are in a safe and healthy enviroment .

Hope that answers the question. Do comment for queries.