Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/476647
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 MARCH 2015 12 Business Today Regular market closed – 10/03/2015 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change Twap s BOV 135106 297860.220 24 2.210 2.200 2.200 2.210 0.010 2.205 s GO 2200 6292.000 2 2.870 2.850 2.850 2.870 0.020 2.860 s HSB 184638 363484.880 19 1.973 1.950 1.950 1.960 0.010 1.969 l MIA 9171 28892.500 6 3.155 3.150 3.155 3.150 0.000 3.150 s MLT 6000 5510.600 3 0.930 0.910 0.930 0.910 0.010 0.918 s MSI 2000 2160.000 1 1.080 1.080 1.080 1.080 0.030 1.080 l PZC 4400 3740.000 2 0.850 0.850 0.850 0.850 0.000 0.850 l SFC 305 991.250 1 3.250 3.250 3.250 3.250 0.000 3.250 t G15A 208235 211337.700 2 101.490 101.490 101.490 101.490 -0.030 101.490 t G15B 21664 22389.740 1 103.350 103.350 103.350 103.350 -0.020 103.350 s G17C 12000 13263.600 2 110.530 110.530 110.530 110.530 0.040 110.530 s G18A 13977 17441.900 1 124.790 124.790 124.790 124.790 0.070 124.790 s G21A 53146 66671.660 4 125.450 125.450 125.450 125.450 0.240 125.450 s G22B 100000 122780.000 2 122.780 122.780 122.780 122.780 0.180 122.780 s G28A 259500 349873.850 4 134.830 134.630 134.630 134.830 0.890 134.830 s G28B 127000 166484.300 5 131.090 131.090 131.090 131.090 0.590 131.090 s G30A 310000 436066.000 6 140.690 140.490 140.490 140.690 0.960 140.670 s G31A 2000 2787.600 1 139.380 139.380 139.380 139.380 0.900 139.380 s G32A 63100 82686.970 3 131.070 131.000 131.000 131.070 0.890 131.040 s G32B 41600 53250.310 2 128.110 128.000 128.000 128.110 0.880 128.010 s G34A 7500 9221.250 1 122.950 122.950 122.950 122.950 0.810 122.950 s BV18A 10000 10506.000 1 105.060 105.060 105.060 105.060 0.050 105.060 s CF19A 22000 22655.600 4 103.000 102.890 102.890 103.000 0.110 102.980 s GH20A 8900 9856.750 2 110.750 110.750 110.750 110.750 0.250 110.750 s IG24A 12400 13321.750 5 108.000 106.750 106.750 108.000 1.000 107.430 t IH19A 10000 10100.000 1 101.000 101.000 101.000 101.000 -2.000 101.000 s IH20A 6000 6178.200 1 102.970 102.970 102.970 102.970 0.010 102.970 s MB24A 26000 27794.000 1 106.900 106.900 106.900 106.900 0.400 106.900 s MI15A 10000 9325.000 1 93.250 93.250 93.250 93.250 0.750 93.250 l MS23A 14100 15580.500 2 110.500 110.500 110.500 110.500 0.000 110.500 s PC20A 5000 5452.500 1 109.050 109.050 109.050 109.050 0.050 109.050 l PG20A 350000 378000.000 6 108.000 108.000 108.000 108.000 0.000 108.000 s PT24A 327900 350169.900 7 106.900 106.500 106.500 106.900 0.400 106.790 Market Summary as at March 10, 2015 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... closed Number of trades ............................................................. 124 Volume Traded ................................................................. 2,365,842 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 3,122,126.53 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 0.00 Value of GBP£ denominated securities .............................. 0.00 Current Index ................................................................... 3571.463 Previous Index ................................................................. 3558.145 Change in Index (%) ......................................................... 0.374% 6pm Holdings plc ........................... 0.680 0.00% Malta International Airport plc ........ 3.150 0.00% Bank of Valletta plc ......................... 2.210 0.45% MaltaPost plc .................................. 1.360 0.00% FIMBank plc ................................... 0.470 0.00% Medserv plc ................................... 1.520 0.00% GlobalCapital plc ............................ 0.800 0.00% Middlesea Insurance plc ................. 1.080 2.86% GO plc ............................................ 2.870 0.70% MIDI plc ......................................... 0.230 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc .............. 1.760 0.00% Plaza Centres plc ............................ 0.850 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ...................... 1.960 0.51% RS2 Software plc............................. 2.960 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.645 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ................ 3.250 0.00% Island Hotels Group Holdings plc .... 1.020 0.00% Tigné Mall plc ................................. 0.701 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................. 1.930 0.00% Pefaco International plc .................. 2.190 0.00% Malita Investments plc .................... 0.910 1.11% Santumas Shareholdings plc .......... 1.970 0.00% The customer experience Kevin-James Fenech Converse, or Chuck Taylor All Star, has just launched its 'Made by You' cam- paign to celebrate the brand's 100th anniversary. In essence, the company will display thousands of portraits of customers wearing their rubber-toed basketball 'sneakers' (that's trainers in English). The company hopes that this campaign will photo-document the 'individual' and the 'unapologetic' way of how this iconic brand of trainers are worn by people all over the world. In the words of Geoff Cottril (VP – Brand Manager, Converse): 'People have used Converse as a badge for self- expression for decades now.' 'Made by You' will tap into that self- expression and (hopefully) the pictures will show the world through the eyes of peoples' trainers. The portraits will appear in a street-level "gallery" in New York's Flatiron district and Converse fans that don't live in New York, will be able to view and share the portraits through social media feeds including Instagram and Facebook. Before going any further, I must confess that I am a big fan of Converse and I 'unapologetically' love the brand even though I am now a 'young' 40-year old. I love what the brand stands for, its history and its powerful simplicity. Yet despite all this brand admiration, the product itself is also very good. My point being that it is not just brilliant marketing and brand building. Converse trainers are excellent: comfortable, all ways stylish (they never seem to go out of fashion), flexible (you can wear them in a variety of social situations) and durable (they tend to last for a long time). The point I am trying to hammer home is that clever branding on its own, which 'Made by You' undoubtedly is, simply isn't enough. The brand promise must be kept and this can only be done if the product and the customer experience live up to that promise over time. In the words of Converse 'Made by You' campaign: 'Our mission is to unleash the Creative Spirit through products and experiences that inspire and enable each of our consumers to be his or her true, authentic self.' Business people out there need to appreciate that we are now all in the business of delivering customer experiences. Great products alone are no longer enough nor are great marketing campaigns. You need to deliver great customer experiences. In fact, business research shows that measuring the satisfaction on customer journeys is 30% more predictive of customer satisfaction than traditional satisfaction surveys. Why? Because that's all that matters in today's day and age: the customer experience. In fact, paying attention and investing in the customer journey and making the customer experience consistently good, has the potential to increase customer overall satisfaction by 20% and to lift revenue by up to 15% (Source: McKinsey). The problem is that businesses today operate across multiple channels, hence if the customer experience varies (i.e. it is not consistent) across these channels you actually undermine your brand. It is, therefore, important that businesses take a journey-based approach to understanding the customer experience and invest in improving it. Here are four tips to help you improve the 'customer experience': 1. Make sure the customer experience – ranging from employees answering the phone, to serving customers in a shop or interacting through social media – is always consistent. There is no point having a wonderful FB page but a lousy, slow, response on the phone; 2. Identify the five most important customer-journeys and focus on improving them. I would suggest the customer-journeys that contribute the most to your profit formula; 3. Give priority to removing 'negative experiences' immediately, since business research shows that '…a single negative experience has four to five times greater impact than a positive one' (Source: McKinsey); 4. Set up a committee to track the progress and identify ways how to innovate and improve the customer experience. The committee will need to come up with metrics needed to measure performance in this regard. The truth is that the customer experience is the next competitive battle ground. I used Converse as my example in this article not just because I have an affinity for the brand but also because I think they do a good job in delivering a valuable customer experience. Put yourself in your customers' shoes (excuse the pun) and carefully understand the experience you are offering them. If it sucks improve it and if it is good, make it better. Finally, make sure you are consistent in delivering across all sales and communication channels a uniquely, valuable customer experience, since this is where your competitive advantage primarily comes from. In the words of Maya Angelou: 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.' Conclusion: I hope your customer experience makes customers feel good. Kevin-James Fenech is a management consultant at FENCI Consulting