The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited

1 Introduction

To evaluate the services of Towngas, the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited commissioned the students of Service Operations Management of the City University of Hong Kong to carry out a survey of a variety of individuals about their bathing and showering habits and their opinion and satisfaction levels regarding different water heaters. Based on the survey findings, the factors for respondents in choosing water heaters and their habits of using hot water were analyzed.

1.1 Business Background

The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) is the major supplier of the town gas in Hong Kong. Founded in 1862, it was the first public utility in Hong Kong. Currently, with more than 3,000 km of pipeline network and an 85% economic reach, the Company supplies town gas to over 1.5 million customers in the territory.

According to the review of the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), the usage of town gas by the Hong Kong residences has dropped about 2.3%, and the overall usage of town gas in Hong Kong has slightly decreased by 0.8%. In recent years, many Hong Kong people switched to use the electricity instead of town gas in their daily life, eg. Boiling water and bathing.

In order to maintain the company profit by providing safe, reliable supply of gas and the caring, competent and efficient service to their customers, collecting information about the customers?habits and the preferences about water heaters is a must for Towngas. This information can be used to match the service and products provided by Towngas with customers?needs in order to be a successful producer and supplier. By gathering more background information, e.g. demographic and customers?preferences about water heaters, Towngas can analyze the future trends of advertisement and suit specific needs and requirements of its customers.

1.2 Research Objectives

In this survey, our target respondents are aged between 18 and 56 who use gas water heater, electric water heater or LPG water heater currently. We will focus on three main areas to identify the market of water heater for Towngas.

1.2.1 Bathing Habit and Perception

?To gauge the usage of domestic hot water in terms of bathing, showering and shampooing

?To find out the reasons for choosing showering or bathing

?To find out motivation or discourage for hot water usage, e.g. hygiene, comfort, leisure, temperature etc.

?To explore experiences while showering or bathing and gratifications or desired outcomes

?To examine what specific needs segments exist as they relate to showering and bathing

?To identify barriers to hot water usage

1.2.2 Household Hot Water Consumption Behavior

?To identify other uses of hot water and their habit of using water heater

?To track the changes of bathing, showering or shampooing habits including selection mode, temperature & duration from a year ago.

1.2.3 Water Heater Satisfaction

?To find out the customers’selection criteria when purchasing Water Heater

?Io investigate the ideal Water Heater for customers

?To study customer satisfaction of their Water Heater

?To measure the loyalty of using their current water heater

?To obtain some suggestions for improvement and recommendations from customer

?To identify the general image of Towngas

1.3 Survey Methodology

1.3.1 Survey coverage:

The survey covers land-based non-institutional population in Hong Kong. For this coverage, a sampling frame must exist. There are two requirements for the respondent which is randomly drawn from the database:

1. They must be between 18