Shell sets up call center for fast delivery service

Pilipinas Shell Corporation has set up a call center facility in Cebu to keep its customer base amid the stiff competition in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market.

The company's call center located at the Keppel Building at the Cebu Business Park (CBP) is designed to support the home delivery service campaign of Shell's LPG, said LPG Zone Channel Manager for Central and Eastern Visayas Leric Sotelo.

Currently, Shell's Cebu call center services an average volume of 8,000 calls a month, using the hotline number 254-5555.

Sotelo said the facility will distribute the calls to Shell's distribution channel all over Metro Cebu, so that delivery request will be assigned to the nearest shell distribution center or gas station.

According to Sotelo the company has to do aggressive campaigns and marketing strategies to further pamper the customers, while usage is seen to have shrunk in the last few months, due to the skyrocketing prices of fuel.

In Cebu, Pilipinas Shell has five large LPG distributors, he said all of these channels are now servicing full customer service offers, such as home delivery, among others.

To protect customers from the illegal traders making fake LPG tanks, and illegal refilling, he said authorized distributors are now encouraged to put up showrooms, in order to promote better customer service to Shell LPG customers.

Although Shell has cornered 30 percent of the total LPG customers in Cebu, which is a larger chunk compared to competitors, Sotelo said putting up the call center would enhance and improve further Shell's foothold in the market.

The call center is open starting 7 o'clock in the morning up to 7 o'clock in the evening from Mondays to Saturdays, while 7 o'clock in the morning to 12 noon on Sundays.

He said as soon as the company sees good number of calls daily, expansion of the call center facility will soon be pursued.

For Shell, Sotelo said the company is trying to concentrate on its Customer Value Proposition (CVP), to provide safe, clean, exact weight, and accessibility of its product in from smaller to bigger community areas in the country.

Because of expensive cost of LPG products nowadays, Sotelo said LPG companies like Shell are now suffering from the shrinkage of usage, as residents are shifting to use traditional method for cooking, such as using kerosene-based stove, charcoal, and firewood.

Providing personalized service like home delivery system can also help customers to save logistic expenses, as the product will be delivered by the company at their doorsteps.