Services marketing has incurred an explosive amount of academic research in the last 20 years, yet since 1986 there has been no debate about the notion that services are distinct from products and therefore deserve special focus. , a set of concepts and a body of knowledge. (Brown, Fisk, and Bitner, 1994). This essay will explain the distinctive features of service marketing, giving examples where possible. It will start by defining service marketing and providing some basic insight into its divergence from product marketing. You will then examine the four characteristics of services and end with an explanation of the additional P’s found in the services marketing mix.

In the last century there has been a great change in marketing thinking; evolving from a vision dominated by goods, in which tangible production and discrete transactions were the focus, to a vision dominated by services, in which intangibility, exchange processes and relationships are central (Vargo & Lusch , 2004). Vargo and Lusch define services as the application of specialized skills (knowledge and skills) through events, processes and actions for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself. Four idiosyncratic characteristics of services will now be given, highlighting why service marketing is different from commodity marketing.

Arguably the most distinctive feature of services is their intangibility. Services are defined in (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2006) as “facts, processes and actions”. None of these are physical items that a client can appropriate, although during a service the physical evidence will be evident in the form of things like the medicine the doctors prescribe, the photo you took on the roller coaster, or the food. on your plate in a restaurant. This invisibility creates a number of problems for marketers. First, there is no stock, which makes it difficult to manage supply and demand. Second, the services cannot be displayed or shown to customers, making it difficult for marketers to advertise the quality of the service. And finally, because services don’t physically exist, it’s hard to patent them, making it easy for other companies to copy your service.

Another notable aspect of the products is that, on average, they stay the same. If you buy a Ford Focus here in Australia and then buy the same model in America, chances are they’ll both be exactly the same. The services are different because they are heterogeneous, which means that they differ with each use. For example, a wildlife tour will never be the same twice, not only because of the random and unpredictable nature of the animals, but the guide may be in a different mood, the weather will have changed, and there will be different clients each time. These factors make it difficult to consistently deliver quality service, which is important for marketers because customers will have a particular set of expectations in mind, based primarily on what was promoted in the service and previous industry experiences. in particular.

Another distinctive feature of services is the fact that they are produced and consumed at the same time, unlike products where customers do not see how the product is made. A good metaphor for this is being in the theater. Consumers can be likened to an audience, where they watch actors (employees) perform on stage (physical location like a commercial store) among props (physical objects like chairs, tables, flowerpots, etc.). The actors are ‘live’ and performing (producing) at the same time that the audience watches (consumes). This brings us to the concept of interactive marketing. In a service, operational staff carry out much of the marketing function (Klassen, Russell, & Chrisman, 1998), and marketing specialists handle advertising and promotion.

The final distinction that differentiates services from products is their perishable nature. While some products deteriorate very quickly (such as water balloons), services simply cannot be stored, saved, resold, or returned. The main concern for marketers would be the procedure for when things don’t go as planned. Customers can’t just return the service and ask for another; it is up to the service provider to offer the customer some kind of compensation. If passengers are forced to wait a long time for their flight, employees might provide free coffee and snacks while they wait, in an attempt to make up for their poor service.

With product marketing, the marketing mix includes the four Ps; product, price, place and promotion. The services use the same elements plus three more to help explain their unique nature.

First are the people, who comprise everyone who influences buyer perceptions, including the buyer himself. Customers have an active role in production and can therefore influence the outcome of their own service or the service of others. For example, a large family with screaming children interrupting a romantic dinner of young couples in a restaurant.

Every person is important to the salesperson, no matter how small their role. Consider an IT professional who installs computers in people’s homes. During that installation, the buyer can form an opinion of the service provider as a whole based solely on the performance of the IT professionals. Sometimes a person is the sole provider of services, for example a dentist or a lawyer, making his performance and appearance critical to a high perceived quality of service.

The sixth ‘P’ is the physical evidence, which is the environment in which the service is provided and where the company and the client interact (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2006). It also includes any physical object that helps in the provision of the service. (Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 1991) define it as the environment and its instruments. With some services, customers may find it difficult to judge the quality of the service, especially with trusted services such as financial advisors or legal advice. It is crucial that marketers address consumer fears regarding risk before, during, and after the use of credit services (Keh & Sun, 2008). Since the customer does not have the knowledge or experience to judge the actual service, they instead turn their attention to other things, including physical evidence of service quality. This would usually come in the form of a professional looking workspace, however it would vary with each service provider. For example, in a doctor’s office, cleanliness would be expected.

Finally, there is the service process, including the procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is delivered (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2006). When purchasing a service, customers often have a set of expectations about the service process, and when these are not met, the perceived quality of the service decreases. For example, in whitewater rafting, a customer might be dissatisfied if, when he arrived, he was told he had to get the raft up the river first. The process is important because people are involved in it, unlike products, where the process is behind doors.

Services account for at least 70% of the nation’s total GDP for at least 5 countries, including the UK and Australia, making them a hot topic not only for marketers, but also for anyone competing in the business world. Services are distinguished from products by four characteristics; intangibility, they are heterogeneous, there is simultaneous production and consumption, and their perishability. Marketing services differs from product marketing in that an additional three P’s are added to the original marketing mix; people, physical evidence and process.