Customers Expectations and Delight
February 12, 2025
Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision. Strategic leadership can also be defined as utilizing strategy in the management of employees. It is the potential to influence organizational members and to […]
What is “Business to Business Marketing” ? Let us first understand the meaning of Business. Any organization or firm actively involved in the transaction of goods and services to the consumers/end users is known as business. As the name suggests “Business to Business Marketing” (B2B Marketing) refers to the exchange of either goods or services […]
Business Managers of today are living in challenging times. Business targets had never been stiffer, work pressure and managing the complexities of competition is keeping them on their toes all the time. Today, success or failure of a business and the Organisation is dependent wholly upon the Organisation’s ability to be flexible and to respond […]
The first four elements in the services marketing mix are the same as those in the traditional marketing mix. However, given the unique nature of services, the implications of these are slightly different in case of services. Product: In case of services, the ‘product’ is intangible, heterogeneous and perishable. Moreover, its production and consumption are […]
Merchandising Retail Merchandising refers to the various activities which contribute to the sale of products to the consumers for their end use. Every retail store has its own line of merchandise to offer to the customers. The display of the merchandise plays an important role in attracting the customers into the store and prompting them […]
The world economy nowadays is increasingly characterized as a service economy. This is primarily due to the increasing importance and share of the service sector in the economies of most developed and developing countries.
In fact, the growth of the service sector has long been considered as indicative of a country’s economic progress.
Economic history tells us that all developing nations have invariably experienced a shift from agriculture to industry and then to the service sector as the main stay of the economy.
This shift has also brought about a change in the definition of goods and services themselves. No longer are goods considered separate from services. Rather, services now increasingly represent an integral part of the product and this interconnectedness of goods and services is represented on a goods-services continuum.
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.”
The defining characteristics of a service are:
Intangibility: Services are intangible and do not have a physical existence. Hence services cannot be touched, held, tasted or smelt. This is most defining feature of a service and that which primarily differentiates it from a product.
Also, it poses a unique challenge to those engaged in marketing a service as they need to attach tangible attributes to an otherwise intangible offering.
While products can be mass produced and be homogenous the same is not true of services. eg: All burgers of a particular flavor at McDonalds are almost identical. However, the same is not true of the service rendered by the same counter staff consecutively to two customers.
Moreover, it is very difficult to separate a service from the service provider. Eg: the barber is necessarily a part of the service of a haircut that he is delivering to his customer.
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 |
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