The Riverside Mica Home Warehouse and Build, situated in Vanderbijlpark, was founded in 2006 and the business forms part of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest hardware franchise. This Mega Mica offers a complete range of D.I.Y tools and supplies, building material, and garden centre products all under one roof. They also supply all building and maintenance contractors irrespective of size as well as the home improver and home builder. Not only that, they are a dynamic team and pride themselves in providing exceptional customer service. They boast friendliness of their staff, that are knowledgeable and excited to be of service to their customers. 

Besides the products that they sell, they also boast a detailed webpage containing information regarding DIY projects that any home user can take on. For example, if you visit this page, you will see step by step guide for example “how to build a table Part 1 and 2” up to the first entry on 18 August 2014 detailing “how to make a to-do list chalkboard. The bonus of these “how to guides” is that you can purchase all the required material from the Riverside Mega Mica store – what clever marketing! Additional services include:

1. Colour matching and tinting
2. Key cutting
3. Board cutting and edging
4. Remote control programming
5. Gas filling and swapping
6. Delivery service
7. Glass cutting
8. Dedicated contractors for DIY projects
9. Building cost estimation / plan reading
10. Roof truss quotes
11. Quotations
12. 
    
13. Made to measure blinds

5.1     Three levels of contact are distinguished in service delivery: high-, medium-and low-contact-level services. Provide a practical example of what high-contact and medium-contact will be like when a customer wants to use the “Board cutting and Edging” service.  

5.2     Comment on the customer channel preference for each of the following scenarios.

5.2.1  A customer using Riverside Mega Mica’s contractor service to design a house.                               

5.2.2  An old customer of Riverside Mega Mica requesting a quote for garden centre products.                

5.3     Service providers can offer their core service or supporting services to customers through intermediaries. This enables them to expand their market and reach more customers. There are three primary types of intermediaries that can be used to deliver the core or supporting services.

5.3.1  Which type of intermediary is Riverside Mega Mica? Clarify your answer.                              

5.3.2  Identify and apply three (3) advantages of the intermediary identified in question 5.3.1 for Riverside Mega Mica.