Term
| Five Characteristics that distinguish services from products: |
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Definition
1. The Intangibility of services
2. The Inseparability of services from service providers
3. The Difficulty of standardizing services
4. The High degree of customer involvement in services
5. The Perishibility of services |
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Term
| 1. Intangibility and Channel Management |
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Definition
| From a marketing mix standpoint, the service producer can attempt to use product strategy to tangibilize the service – that is, by attempting to associate the service with some image or object, it can be made more concrete. How the service is actually offered to customers – that is, the marketing channels through which it is sold – can provide the most direct and potent basis for tangibilizing the service. |
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Term
| 2. Inseparability and Channel Management |
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Definition
Because services do not exist apart from the provider of the service, the service and the channel providing it are virtually inseparable. All aspects of the marketing channel with which the consumer comes in contact are thus a reflection of the quality of the service.
Factors may include physical facilities (access, parking, external signs, appearance of the building, exterior, interior decor, lighting, climate control fixtures, cleanliness), people (dress, chewing gum, use of proper language, helpful, knowledgeable). In making services available through marketing channels, the inseparability of services from the provider means that the service provider does not have the “safety net” available to the product manufacturer, whereby the product itself can make up for poor distribution. If the channel does not do its job well, the service will not be received well by the customer. |
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Term
| 3. Difficulty of Standardization and Channel Management |
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Definition
| The basic message of the book’s write-up on this is that standardization of service levels is difficult. |
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Term
| 4. Customer Involvement and Channel Management |
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Definition
| Many services require a fair degree of customer involvement. A channel designed to provide services requiring customer input should attempt to facilitate customer involvement. Examples: mirrors in beauty shops, individual work-ups for fitness clubs, Vita-Stat machines that weigh and take people’s blood pressure in supermarkets and drugstores, etc. all involve customers in the services being provided. |
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Term
| 5. Perishability of Services and Channel Management |
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Definition
| The main implication of the perishibility of services for channel management is that the channel should be designed to maximize the sale of a service during its limited exposure to the target market. The reason is that unsold services cannot be packed up and put away to sell another day as is the case with most products. The channel must be designed so as to connect as efficiently as possible those providing the service with those desiring to obtain it. |
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Term
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Definition
| Due to the absence of intermediaries, the service provider interacts directly with the service user. |
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Term
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Definition
| The widespread use of business format franchises in many marketing channels for services is not surprising. It represents an attempt to deal with the difficulty of standardizing services. For the firm seeking to provide service at a high level of consistency on a large scale, franchising may provide the best opportunity to do so. |
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Term
| Customization of Services |
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Definition
| Many services provide a high degree of customization. The need for a high degree of customization in some services makes it more difficult to design and operate channels, which normally rely on standardized, routine and repetitive processes to operate efficiently. For services requiring a high degree of customization, small-scale channels consisting of local independent service providers are likely to continue to play a major role. |
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Term
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Definition
| The flows that “carry” the service through the channel are those of information, negotiation, and promotion. The variables related to the product flow in designing and managing a channel – such as bulk and weight, unit value and degree of technicality (chapter 6) do not have to be addressed. This simplifies the design and management of channels significantly, because in many cases these flows of information, negotiation and promotion can be handled electronically |
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