1. Research process As the secondary data on evaluation of customers in Vietnam with regard to groupon are not available, the method to be used in this study is almost research employing a combination of qualitative and quantitive approaches. Problems de? nition Quantitive research Research design Qualitative research Questionnaire online survey Sampling Fieldwork Data analysis Managerial implications Figure : the stages of customers evaluation research Normally the starting point of any research process is the research problem and research objectives.
The next stage is to design plans of getting information of both quantitive and qualitative ? gures. Then the the objectives transform in to questionnaire. In the survey both quantitive and qualitative questions are used. Multiple choices with scale measure is used on the other hand question with open answers are use to identify the quantitive problems. Information to be obtained should be determined prior to the building of questionnaire. Table 1 shows how information is to be collected. Each variable have 5 question to determine. Variables Reliability! Who to ask Customer!
What to get How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s reliability ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s responsibility!! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s assurance! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s empathy! ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s tangibles! Responsibility Customer Assurance Customer Empathy! Customer! Tangibles Customer! The next step after questionnaires were designed and sampled, ? eldwork was executed that involved the completion and return of questionnaire. Data analysis can start after the returned questionnaire were checked.
Finally, the research process ends with the most important part that is the managerial implications. 2. Quantitative study The purpose of the quantitative study is to identify the relationship between 5 factors reliability, responsibility, assurance, empathy and tangibles and the quality of groupon companies’s services. The details about sampling, data collection and data analysis methods are described in the next part. a. Sampling • Sample size: a sample of 390 people was drawn from residents living or working in some districts in Hanoi and some part of districts 1 Ho Chi Minh city. 90 people answered some question to classify in 3 groups which are the people have used groupon service, the people never use groupon service but they know about it and the people never use groupon and do not know anything about it. As expected, 50 percents of people who were asked to do survey are student because large number of people who use groupon to buy product and services is low income people; 30 percents of that is white collar worker the reason is that they have to work with computer and internet in plenty hours in a day and they want to buy product with low cost lso and the last group of people the survey focusing on is housewives which is have 20 percents in total sample. Sample should include both women and men, belonging to 5 groups of age (from 18 years old to over 55 years old). • Selection criteria: the selection criteria for those participating in the study were age (between 18 and over 55 years old), income ( at least more than 1 million Vietnam dong per month), ability to use computer and the internet ( because almost all groupon companies are working base on internet environment).
In addition, respondents should not be acquaintances of each other because they can share the same attitude about some services and companies. b. Data collection The questionnaire consists of 25 questions to determine 25 items which belong to 5 factors. These factors were developed from the study model Serqual . The Likert ? ve-point scale was used for those items that aimed to measure consumer’s evaluation and felling. • Factors 1: reliability have 5 questions which were designed to explore customer’s belief • Factors 2: responsibility was aimed to ? d out the felling of customers about responsibility of the companies whether they can respond the requirement of customer immediately or with some delays. This factor was determined by 5 questions • Factor 3: Assurance is the factor which have 5 question to measure the security of the companies’s service. • Factor 4: empathy use 5 question to explore if the staff of companies try to help and understand customer or not. • Factor 5: tangible have 5 question to determine like the last 4 factor. Those question use to evaluate the appearance of the companies such as the website, voucher or uniforms of staffs.
Every question uses multiple choices with ? ve-point scale from 1-5 which mean terrible, poor, average, very good and excellent. The questionnaire was translate into Vietnamese and pre-test on 5 respondents to ensure the correct understanding and the ease of answering. Pretest results were satis? ed. The questionnaire were distributed to 730 persons in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city via online survey which is designed by Google and send by email, direct message and social networking(Facebook, Twitter). (Appendix Phu luc bang hoi )
Of 730 person sent survey 390 returned result, of which 163 were usable (163 respondents use groupon as the media to shopping). The valid questionnaire must (1) not having more than ? ve missing values; (2) not selecting all “1” or all “5” for all questions. The distribution of questionnaires and the collections of returned ones were carried out from 8th October to 20th October 2012. c. Data analysis Answers from the respondents were reviewed for completion and usefulness. Accepted questionnaire were coded and the raw data input in the SPSS package version 20 for Mac.
The reliability of measurement scales was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha value. A scale is reliable if the alpha is higher than 0. 6. Descriptive analysis is used to describe the variables in term of frequency. Due to the small size sample, subgroup analysis is not meaningful. Analysis variance (ANOVA) or cross tabulation results therefore were not used. The lis of codi? ed variables is shown in Appendix phu luc cac bien Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of variables and to identify the underlying common dimensions.
Factor scores were then analyzed using multiple regressions, through linear relationships between a dependent variable and various independent variables (predictors) were determined. 3. Results 3. 1 Sample pro? le Groupon-buying discount products or services online are consumed by a large number of population due to the development of the internet past 10 years. Sample includes 46 men and 117 women, aged from 18 to over 18 years old with the majority being the age group of 18-24 years old. Of 162 respondents 20. 2% using groupon for their work, 64. 4% using for their personal purpose and 15. % using groupon to buy products and services for both purposes which are personal and work. More than 60% of people who are asked have a low income which is less than 5 million Vietnam dong per month, it can be reasonable when most of groupon customer have a low income and it may explain that price is very importance when they decide to buy somethine. And a large number of the respondents are student which are a young generation. They can easily using internet and modern way of shopping. Figure : Gender distribution Figure : Purpose distribution 15% 28% 20% 72% 64% Man Women Personal Work
Personal and work Figure : Age distribution Figure : Monthly income 1% 7% 13% 16% 11% 12% 79% 9million 5-9 million other 61% 18-24 25-29 30-40 40-50 Figure : Job distribution 150 100 50 0 Student New employee Employee Housewife Other Table show the demographic characteristics of the sample with regards to gender, age, income, job and voucher’s value. Table : Summary samples’s characteristic Percentage (n=162) Female Gender Male 18-24 25-29 Age 30-40 40-50 less than 5 million 5-9 million Monthly income more than 9 million other Student New employee Jobs Employee Housewife Other 1. 500. 000 11% 16% 69. % 12. 3% 15. 3% 1. 8% 0. 6% 17. 8% 69. 9% 9. 2% 1. 8% 1. 2% 7% 1% 61% 12% 28% 79% 13% 72% 3. 2 Descriptive analysis In the study, ? ve factors were used to measure customer evaluation and felling. For the statistical purpose all variables were described in term of frequencies (percentage) and average values (means). Finding related to customer’s evaluation and felling are summarized in tables. a. ! How customers trust groupon companies services in Vietnam, those thing can show up by some factors such as the quality of products what companies guaranteed and the punctuation of delivery. Consequently, the result will show how customer believe in companies and their goods. Groupon companies always sale all product with a very cheap price so this factor explore how is the customer’s belief. Table : Customer’s belief in groupon companies Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 2. The customer’s belief in discount price 3. The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 4. Delivery’s punctuation 5. Customer care staffs’s knowledge 6. Customer care staffs’s respond 22. 6% 21. 5% 17. 8% 19. 6% 22. 7% Very good/ excellent 30. 7% 31. 3% 55. % 42. 9% 34. 7% Average value (means) 3. 08 3. 10 3. 53 3. 29 3. 21 As can be seen that customer belief indicator is more than 3 but still below than 4. The respondents accepted and trust those companies. b. How customers evaluate the responsibility of Vietnamese groupon companies: Online shopping is very different from traditional shopping because clients can pay money and have goods or services immediately so that responsibility is a very important factor to rate ? rms’s qualities. It can be seen that customer evaluate ? rm’s after sale service is poor .
It is probably due to many groupon companies in Vietnam think that responsibility which is taking care customers after they had bought products and service belong to suppliers, they only have to sale goods. It may lead to 47,9% of respondent thinks ? rm’s responsibilities are terrible and poor. Table : Response to companies’s responsibility Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 7. Staffs's enthusiasm 8. Companies solve your problems actively 9. Hotline for customer care 10. Recheck customer’s information to ensure fast and correct delivery 11. After sales services 16. 6% 26. % 31. 3% 23. 9% 47. 9% Very good/ excellent 40. 5% 27. 6% 33. 8% 44. 1% 19. 6% Average value (means) 3. 28 3. 08 3. 06 3. 29 2. 60 From the table it can be concluded that ? rm’s responsibility is acceptable but they some aspects are poor for instance hotline and after sales services. c. How customer rate companies’s assurance: Not as tradition transactions, online shopping should have a more secure transaction. Most of payments for groupon company are electronic payment which have many potential risk. As the result keep customers’s personal and payment data is very essential.
Vietnamese people do not care much about security but in the modern life but when credit card, online wallet etc... are becoming more popular everyday it has to be a factor to evaluate service qualities Table : Customer evaluation of transaction assurance Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 12. Trading process is quick and exactly 13. Privacy of transaction 14. Company always keep clients's data safe 15. Contrasts are sensible and clear 16. Reputation of companies 22. 1% 10. 4% 17. 2% 11. 7% 14. 7% Very good/ excellent 44. 1% 56. 4% 52. 5% 55. 2% 40. 5% Average value (means) 3. 33 3. 9 3. 54 3. 60 3. 29 Every items belonging to assurance factor are shown on the table. It is believed that respondents rate this factor pretty good. d. How companies and their staff empathize customers: This factor was designed to uncover customer’s felling about companies’s empathy. There is an idiom that “customers are always right” so that communication between sellers and their customers is very importance . Those 5 questions explore how respondent think about staff attitude and empathy. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s empathy Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 17.
Staffs’s behavior and attitude 18. Companies's staff pay attention of customers's private requirement 19. Customer always feel convenient and satisfied of services 20. Company makes improvement after client’s complain 21. Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 14. 1% 27. 6% 21. 5% 31. 3% 21. 5% Very good/ excellent 46. 7% 35. 6% 33. 1% 20. 9% 41. 1% Average value (means) 3. 37 3. 09 3. 14 2. 88 3. 31 The table show that customer’s evaluative criteria is uneven, some items have a high value some is quite low.
Respondents evaluate that improvements of company after their complain are poor, 31. 3% think that it terrible and poor. e. How is the tangibles of companies: Although almost all groupon companies do not impress their customer by a fancy shop or building but there are some aspects to evaluate their tangibles such as their vouchers and websites whether they are beautiful or ease of recognizing. Respondents think that about these 2 things groupon companies do well and they probably appreciate that. However there is a aspect having a low evaluation by respondents which is staffs’s uniform.
It can be a result of companies category which is online company because of that they do not think staff’s uniform is the serious problem. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s Tangibles Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 22. Transaction place 23. Vouchers design 24. Website designed 25. Staff uniform 26. Transporters have transportations to deliver products to clients quickly and safe. 19% 11. 6% 8. 6% 33. 2% 16. 6% Very good/ excellent 45. 4% 59. 5% 64. 4% 24% 46. 6% Average value (means) 3. 42 3. 66 3. 74 2. 85 3. 41 4. 3 Factors in? encing groupon services quality a. Evaluation of the measuring scales In the reliability analysis, items that have total-item correlation smaller than 0. 6 were removed from the scales but in this sample there is no variable was eliminated. All items were tested for reliability. The resulting Cronbach alpha of each scale is presented in Table . Table : Alpha values Codi? ed variables Reli1-Reli5 Res1-Res5 Assu1-Assu5 Emp1-Emp5 Tan1-Tan5 Number of items 5 5 5 5 5 Alpha value 0. 804 0. 831 0. 863 0. 826 0. 856 Measurement Scale Reliability!
Responsibility Assurance Empathy! Tangibles b. Factor analysis Twenty four variables were submitted for factor analysis. The extraction method used was Principal Axis Factoring, accepting all Eigen values which are higher than 1. The rotation method was Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization; rotation was coverged in 9 iteration. The factor analysis resulted in e Component 1 Tan1 Tan2 Emp5 Tan5 Tan3 Tan4 Assu3 Assu2 Assu4 Emp1 Assu5 Emp4 Res5 Res3 Emp3 Emp2 Res4 Reli5 Res1 Reli4 Res2 Reli2 Reli1 Reli3 Assu1 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 9 iterations. 2 0. 767 0. 760 0. 742 0. 714 0. 699 0. 561 0. 803 0. 771 0. 732 0. 552 0. 542 3 4 5 0. 521 0. 708 0. 609 0. 580 0. 550 0. 502 0. 524 0. 772 0. 754 0. 723 0. 564 0. 784 0. 746 0. 549 Eigen values and variance of each factor are indicated in Appendix Ph? l? c Eigen. The factor correlation matrix (Appendix Ph? l? c ma tr? n tuong quan) illustrates that the correlation between factors is insignificant (correlation coefficient are smaller than 0. ). This is an underlying assumption required for multiple regression. For those variables that load on two factors, the higher load on two factors, the factor with higher value is selected. However if loading difference is not significant (that is not more than 0. 3) the variable will not be used for multiple regression (Tan4 and Emp2). Table Nr :Factor nomination Factor name Transaction place Vouchers design Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 1 Tangibles Having transportations to deliver quickly and safe.
Website designed Staff uniform Company always keep clients's data safe Privacy of transaction 2 Assurance Contrasts are sensible and clear Staffs’s behavior and attitude Reputation of companies Company makes improvement after client’s complain After sales services 3 Responsibility Hotline for customer care Customer’s convenience and satisfaction of services Attention of customers's private requirement Customer care staffs’s respond Staffs's enthusiasm 4 Staff quality Customer care staffs’s knowledge Companies solve your problems actively Factor component
Nr Factor name Factor component The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 5 Reliability The customer’s belief in discount price Delivery’s punctuation The above 5 factors were considered independent variables in the multiple regression model and the dependent variable was “Quality of groupon service”. Multiple regression results are presented in the next section. c.
Multiple regression Multiple regression is use to identify the relationship between the dependent variable and many independents variables. The multiple regression model has the following form: Y= ? + ? 1X1 + ? 2X2 + ? 3X3 + ? 4X4 +..... + ? nXn The relationship between the dependent variable “Quality of groupon service” and the factors identified through the above factor analysis is determined using multiple regression. Table shows the variance of this analysis. Tab
