SERVICE MAREKTING
A service is an activity which has some element of intangibility associated with it, which involves some interaction with customer or with property in their possession, and does not result in a transfer of ownership.
A change in condition may occur and production of the service may or may not be closely associated with a physical product. It includes a wide variety of services.
There are the business and professional services such as advertising, marketing, research, banking, insurance, computer-programming, legal and medical advice. Then there are services which are provided by professionals but consumed for reasons not of business, rather for leisure, recreation, entertainment and fulfillment of other psychological and emotional needs such as education, fine arts, etc.
“Services as fulfilling certain wants and states that, “services are those separately identifiable, es- sentially intangible activities which provide want-satisfaction, and that are not necessarily tied to the sale of a product or another service.”
Characteristics of services.
Intangibility actually presents several marketing challenges: Services cannot be inventoried, and therefore fluctuations in demand are often difficult to manage.
For example, there is tremendous demand for resort accommodations in XYZ in February, but little demand in July. Yet resort owners have the same number of rooms to sell Yet- round.
Services cannot be patented legally, and new service concepts can therefore easily be copied by competitors. Teaching is an intangible service. Services cannot be felt, tasted, touched or seen in the same way as goods.
Inseparability – The most basic and universally cited, difference between goods and services is intangibility. Because services are perform
In most cases services cannot be separated from the person or firm providing it. A person who possesses a particular skill provides Service. A plumber has to be physically present to provide the service; the beautician has to be available to perform the massage
Perishability – It basically refers to the fact that services cannot be saved, stored, resold, or re- turned.
A seat on an airplane or in a restaurant, an hour of a lawyer’s time, or telephone line capacity not used cannot be reclaimed and used or resold at a later time.
A car mechanic who has no cars to repair today, or spare berths on a train, unsold seats in a cinema hall represent service capacity, which is lost forever.
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