unit 9

compare the effectiveness of the operational practises of two retail agents.  

The two types of retail travel agencies I will be comparing today are an independent agency which will be Classic Travel and a multiple agency which will be Thomas Cook. I will be comparing the effectiveness of the operational practices.

Independent Agency – Classic Travel
Classic Travel is an independent agency as there is only one store as is the manager owns the store. Classic travel have a front and back office. In the front office, there are many desks allowing agents to deal with customers as quickly as they can as they will always be someone who can deal with customer enquiries.

Multiple Agencies – Thomas Cook                 
Thomas Cook is a multiple agency as they have 1,200 stores around the UK. Thomas Cook stores mainly have a large front office as they deal with a large amount of customers on a daily basis. The back office may be smaller as there is a Thomas Cook head office that deals with many things the back offices do but on a much larger scale and put more effort in and customer’s details are more likely to be stored on a computer system.

The differences between both retail agencies are: The front office is the first thing the customer will see when entering the store. The front office in Classic Travel is very well presented and is very clean, tidy and professional. It is clear who the preferred agents are (Club Med, Sandals and Kuoni); there are walls which have the preferred agents logos and brochures for customers to view. The back office is for customer details/ bookings. Also in the back office, the agents wages, contract hours and working patterns, holidays, bonuses and incentives are decided and other work related documents.  The agents in Classic Travel use many of the systems to book products for customers; the main system they use is the View data system, as it is the most reliable and has been around for many years. A Thomas Cook store front office will look the same as Classic Travel but there will only be Thomas Cook brochures for customers to choose, as only Thomas Cook products are sold in their stores. On the other hand, both of the retail stores are similar.  Both Thomas Cook and Classic Travel have a front and a back office; all of the agents use the same computer systems to book products for customers and follow the same procedures whilst booking the products (booking procedures). Both retail travel agencies are trying to compete in the tourism industry and are always competing to achieve competitive advantage. Both retail travel agencies having displays in the front windows showing offers and deals for holidays and other products to attract the customer’s eye and for the customer to enter the retail store.