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Unethical Practices and Sweatshops in Developing Countries
The Phenomenon of Sweatshops The global marketplace is driven by intense price competition as well as quality considerations. This means that those exporters who can offer quality at the lowest price often bag the orders from the global corporations like Nike, GAP, Apple, and other western multinationals who outsource their production to emerging markets. Since […]
Cross Merchandising – Meaning and Concept
Retailing refers to the concept of selling merchandise in small quantities to the consumers for their end use. According to retailing, the individual can walk up to any nearby retail store and purchase products as per his need and pocket in small units for his own consumption. The display of merchandise at the store plays […]
Building Customer Satisfaction, Value and Retention
In this world of extreme competition, companies with a total focus on customer are going to be the winner. Companies must understand importance of customer satisfaction and then build process around it. A satisfied customer will be a loyal customer. There are large offering of products and services available in the market then why the […]
Developing a Brand Equity Measurement and Management System
Marketers have various tools at their disposal to build a strong consumer based brand equity. Through this tool, they have developed many strategically important marketing communication programs. It is important for survival of brand to understand how effective these programs have been. If these programs have been able to induce a positive image and increased […]
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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