Characteristics of Services
CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES
The services have unique characteristics which make them different from that of goods. The most common characteristics of services are:
Intangibility.
Inseparability.
Perish ability.
Variability
Intangibility
Services are activities performed by the provider, unlike physical products they cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelt before they are consumed. Since, services are not tangibles, they do not have features that appeal to the customer’s senses, their evaluation, unlike goods, is not possible before actual purchase and consumption. The marketer of service cannot rely on product-based clues that the buyer generally employs in alternative evaluation prior to purchase. So, as a result of this, the services are not known to the customer before they take them. The service provider has to follow certain things to improve the confidence of the client:
The provider can try to increase the tangibility of services. For example, by displaying a plastic or a clay model showing patients an expected state after a plastic surgery.
The provider can emphasize on the benefits of the service rather than just describing the features.
Not all the service product has similar intangibility. Some services are highly intangible, while the others are low i.e. the goods (or the tangible component) in the service product may vary from low to high.
For example: Teaching, Consulting, Legal advices are services which have almost nil tangible components; While restaurants, fast food centers, hotels and hospitals offer services in which their services are combined with product (tangible objective) , such as food in restaurants, or medicines in hospitals etc.
Inseparability
Services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. Incase of physical goods, they are manufactured into products, distributed through multiple resellers, and consumed later. But, incase of services, it cannot be separated from the service provider. Thus, the
The services have unique characteristics which make them different from that of goods. The most common characteristics of services are:
Intangibility.
Inseparability.
Perish ability.
Variability
Intangibility
Services are activities performed by the provider, unlike physical products they cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelt before they are consumed. Since, services are not tangibles, they do not have features that appeal to the customer’s senses, their evaluation, unlike goods, is not possible before actual purchase and consumption. The marketer of service cannot rely on product-based clues that the buyer generally employs in alternative evaluation prior to purchase. So, as a result of this, the services are not known to the customer before they take them. The service provider has to follow certain things to improve the confidence of the client:
The provider can try to increase the tangibility of services. For example, by displaying a plastic or a clay model showing patients an expected state after a plastic surgery.
The provider can emphasize on the benefits of the service rather than just describing the features.
Not all the service product has similar intangibility. Some services are highly intangible, while the others are low i.e. the goods (or the tangible component) in the service product may vary from low to high.
For example: Teaching, Consulting, Legal advices are services which have almost nil tangible components; While restaurants, fast food centers, hotels and hospitals offer services in which their services are combined with product (tangible objective) , such as food in restaurants, or medicines in hospitals etc.
Inseparability
Services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. Incase of physical goods, they are manufactured into products, distributed through multiple resellers, and consumed later. But, incase of services, it cannot be separated from the service provider. Thus, the