How to address to unique characteristics of the Service Industry? Explain strategy and Tactics Overcome it

How to address to unique characteristics of the Service Industry? Explain strategy and Tactics Overcome it.

Ans.    Intangibility : Intangibility prevents the consumer from having the benefit of the touch, see and feel factor. This makes it difficult for him to comprehend the enormity of the service offer.

            Marketing Implications :

i)       No possibility of the customer to see, touch or feel the service proposition before or during its purchase.

ii)      There is also no scope for the customer to make impulse purchase decisions.

iii)     Intangibility prevents any kind of measurement of quality, conformance and compliance by known rules for goods. There is also no scope for any inventory or stock measurement or trying to detect any form of consistency in the offer.

iv)     The customer cannot stake any claim of ownership or the offer Possession of the service proposition; he can only experience the offer.

How can a marketer overcome the drawback of intangibility?

The following are the ways by which intangibility can be overcome :

(a)     Visualization : The marketer should find ways and means to help the customer visualize the transaction process and the service transaction benefits of consuming the service product. For this pictures and films should be used. For example Mauritius Tourism Promotion Board uses beautiful photographs of the Indian Ocean islands in order to convey the enjoyment that lies in store for tourist.

(b)     Association : It is difficult for the marketers to convince consumers about the credibility, character or the ability of the service delivery due to the intangibility of the services. This can be overcome by associating the offer with some living persona, or known inanimate objects. For an example ICICI bank seeks to associate itself with the rejuvenated and dynamic Amitabh Bachchan. The Big B is an Appropriate Symbol of versatility, strength, character and the genuine success.

(c) Physical Representation : The marketer can go in for tangible representations symbolizing the existence and character of service industries. The tangibles help in making the offer believable. Some of the ways in which this can be used are: uniforms, colours, logos and mascots, buildings and business cards, facts and figures.

Perishability : It implies that unlike goods, services cannot be stored—but have to be transacted during the given time. If the transaction cannot take place, then the service offered loses its value. Service revenue can never be recovered with the hope of future sales. There is the element of opportunity lost.

            Marketing Implications :

(a)     No delayed sales

(b)     Simultaneous production and Consumption

How can a marketer overcome the drawback of perishability?

The perishability factor prevents a service marketer from storing his offers. This robs him of the privilege of delayed sales. The service marketers suffer from lost opportunities. But there are ways and means to overcome the perishability factor:

(a)     Over marketing

(b)     Managing demand

(c)     Managing supply

Heterogeneity/Non standardization/Variability :

Variability conveys to the customers an element of inconsistency and non standardization in the service offer and service delivery. The customer’s service encounter are different every time.

Marketing Implications :

(a)     Inconsistency in the quality of the offer and delivery

(b)     Heterogeneity and non standardization

How can a marketer overcome the drawback of variability?

Some of the ways to overcome are :

(a)     Training of internal customers

(b)     Recruitment and selection of internal customers

(c)     Training of external customers

(d)     Automation

            Inseparability : The implication of inseparability for service marketing is enormous. The entire focus would be to get under one roof at one time both the service provider as well as the consumer. While manufactured good can be replicated and made available in many places simultaneously, the service provider can only be in one place at one time.

Marketing Implication :

Opportunity lost: The implication of both the provider and the consumer of the service having to be present during that time and at the place of the service encounter is that marketing takes the form of an event management. Its success will depend on the ability to bring the service provider and the consumer under one roof, at the same time. Otherwise the service transaction will not take place.

How can a marketer overcome the drawback of Inseparability?

There are some ways to overcome inseparability :

(a)     Training of internal Customers : The service provider with the help of his organization should take extra quality efforts to train other service providers, as trainees under an expert. The intention is to bring more service providers of the same expert eyes into the market. Then the number of people who can be served at one time would be more and the catchment area of the service could also be widened.

(b)     Videoconferencing : Inseparability can be overcome by the service expert by giving instructions through video and satellite conferencing. And thus it is now very common to have a complicated surgery not only videotaped for reference and replay but also broadcast to medical colleges near and far.

(c)     Robotics : Many intricate surgeries are now carried out with the help of robots.