Definition
of Services:-
The
American Marketing Association defines services as - “Activities, benefits and
satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in connection with the
sale of goods.”
Characteristics
of Services
1. Perishability:
Service is highly perishable and time
element has great significance in service marketing.Service if not used in time
is lost forever. Service cannot stored.
2. Fluctuating Demand:
Service demand has high degree of
fluctuations. The changes in demand can be seasonal or by weeks, days or even
hours. Most of the services have peak demand in peak hours, normal demand and
low demand on off-period time.
3. Intangibility:
Unlike product, service cannot be touched
or sensed, tested or felt before they are availed. A service is an abstract
phenomenon.
4. Inseparability:
Personal service cannot be separated from
the individual and some personalised services are created and consumed
simultaneously.
For example hair cut is not possible
without the presence of an individual. A doctor can only treat when his patient
is present.
5. Heterogeneity:
The features of service by a provider
cannot be uniform or standardised. A Doctor can charge much higher fee to a
rich client and take much low from a poor patient.
6. Pricing of Services:
Pricing decision about services are
influenced by perishability, fluctuation in demand and inseparability. Quality
of a service cannot be carefully standardised. Pricing of services is dependent
on demand and competition where variable pricing may be used.
7. Service quality is not statistically measurable:
It is defined in form of reliability,
responsiveness, empathy and assurance all of which are in control of employee’s
direction interacting with customers. For service, customers satisfaction and
delight are very important. Employees directly interacting with customers are
to be very special and important. People include internal marketing, external
marketing and interactive marketing.
Difference
between Goods and Services
Given below
are the fundamental differences between physical goods and services:
|
Goods
|
Services
|
|
A physical
commodity
|
A process or
activity
|
|
Tangible
|
Intangible
|
|
Homogenous
|
Heterogeneous
|
|
Production and
distribution are separation from their consumption
|
Production,
distribution and consumption are simultaneous processes
|
|
Can be stored
|
Cannot be stored
|
|
Transfer of
ownership is possible
|
Transfer of
ownership is not possible
|
