AMP 425 Week 4 Differentiating Between Services and Goods Marketing

Grand Canyon University

AMP-425: Customer Service

Customer Service

How do you feel when you have to go back to a company because the item you purchased isn’t working the way it was intended? Services are the individual output which is offered to the customer and this output can be individualistic or collective actions in performance by individuals. Customer services are the outcomes of applying mechanical or human efforts to objects or people. These services may be medical care services, counseling, child-care, salon or landscaping, etc.

Characteristics of Services

Services are different from goods. The following are the few characteristics of services compared to goods:

Perishable: Services are highly perishable as unlike goods they cannot be stored for future use. Airline seats, hotel rooms, etc. if left unoccupied for some reasons cannot be reclaimed. Goods can be stored, even the fresh vegetables can be used for 2-3 days, however, services cannot be (Rathmell, 1966).
Intangibility: Intangibility is the most differentiating characteristic of services from goods. Goods can be seen, touched physically and can be checked for quality. However, services cannot be touched or seen and thus, it becomes difficult to assess the quality (Rathmell, 1966).
Inseparability: It is a distinguishing characteristic of service. The service provider and service provision are inseparable from service consumer and service consumption. For example, a hairdresser must be physically present for offering his services for consumption (Rathmell, 1966).
Variability: Variability is another important characteristic of the services. The quality of the service may vary for different service providers or customers. However, the goods sold by a company will remain the same each time. Some customer may demand for a higher package service at a salon with increased facilities, and some may be satisfied at less expensive package with few less services in a single salon (Rathmell, 1966).
Non-ownership: Services do not provide ownership to the customers unlike a physical good. The customers only pay to use the service and do not obtain the ownership of that service. For example, banking services are to be used by customers for depositing money, taking grants, using credit cards or Cheque books, etc. (Rathmell, 1966).

Technological Changes in Customer Services

With the increasing use of technological innovations, customer services offerings have also changed to a larger extend. All small or mid-sized business gives importance to customer services to gain customer loyalty and improve business brand. Technology has anticipated customer needs by best serving them and ultimately improving the business efficiency.

Internet has changed the phase of the world. Now-a-days, smart phones are becoming the most important tool of delivering effective services. Numerous apps are there in the market and each organization provides its app with multiple services for the comfort of the customer. Booking travel tickets, movie tickets, paying bills, internet banking, home delivery of goods and food stuffs like pizzas, taking appointments from doctor or distance learning, are all examples of the technological changes in the services. Even there are self-service portals for the customers with easy guiding developed to improve the customer service through automated systems. The queries and questions of the customers are registered by automated systems which are quickly resolved by the means of internet or phone calls over larger distances (Bitner, Brown & Meuter, 2000).

Services follow a great characteristic difference from the goods and they are meant to be used at the time. Today, technology has changed the mode of providing service to a greater extend improving and making it more efficient process. Customers receive the services more effectively and proficiently by the service providers.

References

Bitner, M. J., Brown, S. W., & Meuter, M. L. (2000). Technology infusion in service encounters. Journal of the Academy of marketing Science, 28(1), 138-149.

Rathmell, J. M. (1966). What is meant by services?. The Journal of Marketing, 32-36.