Characteristics of Service Marketing - Intangibility, Perishability, Inseparability, Variability - Essay Example

1. Introduction The revolution in technology and the growth the marketing world has witnessed in every frontier has made the concept of service marketing gain more relevance. Companies who deal in services are looking towards using the extended tools and techniques to ensure that they are able to market the product properly. Marketing has a tool for services have grown from the traditional 4 P’s of marketing to 7 P’s of marketing. The growth in 4 P’s further gets intensified as services have certain qualities which differentiate it from product. Dealing with humans whose behaviour is irrational further complicates the matter. Before moving on it is important to identify what service marketing actually means. 2. Services Marketing Service marketing thereby is a process which is much wider than marketing of products and includes people, process and physical evidence. (Palmer & Adrian, 2000) It is a process where the marketers’ looks into different aspect related to perishability, heterogeneity, storage and intangibility. Dealing with human, different culture and perspective makes marketers look towards service marketing with a different view to understand human behaviour. This has seen the growing dependence on organizational behaviour, psychology and other mechanism to understand service marketing. Service marketing is also defined as a process of marketing which is different from the traditional form of marketing products and focuses on appeal the customer has with the services. For example, while selling computers the shopkeeper uses the concept of service marketing to ensure that the customer is satisfied and purchases the same product again and again. (Service Marketing, 2011) 2.1 Characteristics of Services Marketing Service marketing demonstrates certain characteristics which are inherent in every service and cannot be separated. The characteristics of services marketing are as follows Intangibility: Services are intangible and cannot be seen. It can be felt by the person consuming it so it gets altered as different consumer has different preference making human behaviour irrational. Various studies in this direction present the different manner which can promote tangibility to services. (Services, 2011) For example, “it is seen that a Jain is offered Jain food so that his satisfaction level is high in case of airline industry”. (Chawla, 2003) Thereby concentrating on factors which will improve the tangibility of product ensures that service marketing is a more difficult concept than marketing of products. Another example which ensures that tangibility is provided to an intangible product is lip balm. (Palmer & Adrian, 2000) Lip Balm has managed this problem by taking step to convert intangibility into tangibility. For this the Lip Balm Company has looked towards having reminder calls to the customer to find their comfort level in its usage, time when the product is about to expire, development of new product and addition of new feature, and collecting regular feedbacks and updating about the developments. (Cook & Dave, 2004) This has given services a shape and ensured that customer satisfaction rises. Perish ability: Services cannot be stored and has to be consumed immediately. For example, while dining in a hotel the service of the waiter has to be consumed immediately while he is serving food though the food can be stored but services can’t be. This makes services more complicated and even measures to ensure quality fails sometimes. (Services, 2011) Inseparability: Services cannot be separated from the provider as in case of products which passes through different stages before being finally passed on to the consumer. For example, the taxi services can be consumed with the driver only and removing it will render services useless. (Services, 2011) Variability: Services differ on the basis of provider which makes them differentiate themselves from others. For example, McDonalds which demonstrates their process to manufacture creates a different perception in comparison to other stores which do not. Thus services get altered and has an importance associated with it. (Services, 2011) Using so many factors to identify services improves the importance being given to services. This was substantiated by a study which highlighted that services is much more than marketing of products and includes heterogeneity which needs to be looked after and extending the marketing mix of the product helps to take care of it. (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) 3. Need for Services Marketing The Human Resource manager suggests that 4P’s are all that the marketer needs to ensure successful marketing of services. This is true for products but when services are involved marketers need to demonstrate certain different traits as services have different characteristics in comparison to products. This increases the role of marketers and helps to identify different reasons for the need of service marketing. The researchers thereby have made people working in the field of service marketing understand human behaviour, culture, and the different dimension associated with services. The first factor which makes service marketing important is that “it’s very difficult to find out what customers prefer as their behaviour is irrational”. (Abraham, 2009) Marketers need to be very alert and even a slightest of information needs to be communicated else it will result in piling of huge stocks. This can be seen from the case of McDonalds in India. India being a culture sensitive country and high on religion favour companies which have these fundamentals. McDonalds entered the country with beef in its products and was unsuccessful as it went against the religious customs and culture. The company understood it and came again with a variant. They launched the vegetarian variety and removed beef from its menu. It even stopped using oil which contained animal fat. Thus the company by adopting different stance and understanding the human behaviour was able to mould its product in the service industry. Secondly, service marketing also gets altered due to the buying habits of the consumer. Suppose, a consumer comes alone he will purchase something what he likes. It will be according to his likes. “When he is with a group of friends he will be influenced”. (Perner, 2008) Service marketing thereby has its importance as it helps to understand the different factors which influence the buying habits. This will help the consumer as he will feel pleased and will want to visit again. This is an important aspect dealt in service marketing as the marketers tries to understand the people and deal with the changes in consumer preferences. Thirdly, culture has a bearing on service marketing. Companies who deal in services make it a point to ensure that culture is understood so that services can be better. A research shows that “people from different countries have different culture as a result of which their pattern of influencing other is also different there by suggesting that culture brings about a change in the way person behaves and this gets moulded by the group he belongs to”. (Ralston, Hallinger, Egri & Naothinsuhk, 2005) This makes service marketing gain more relevance as it needs to change their behaviour every time it deals with another person. For example it is evident in the airline industry where different cities providers mould their services like in Maharashtra it is seen that the crew knows the local language so that conversation is easy. This helps to provide good service. Fourthly, service marketing increases the importance of personnel selling. Personal selling will work for services because it will ensure direct communication with the customer which will help the customer to understand the product better and highlight all the benefits that will accrue to the customers who use it. (Hammann, 1993, p. 143) This will help to understand the customer wants and the changes the customer wants in the product which can be integrated in the product thereby improving the product (Herche, Swenson & Verbeke, 1996, p. 87). This is evident in hotel industry where changes in marketing through personnel selling have ensured that the quality of service improves. For example Taj hotels have been successful in it and have ensured that any changes in the process are accounted for. They have integrated the web and ensured that the queries are solved online. A back up team works on tirelessly to handle queries and also provide regular updates. (Kalyani & Babu, 2006) This is further added with a direct contact with the seller which facilitates the process of service marketing. Thus service marketing tries to engulf a lot more topics and presents the view on the basis of different factors which helps to improve the marketing aspect of the products and helps the company to grow its product. 4. Marketing Mix Marketing mix is an important aspect of every business as it helps to define a success of a business. Marketing mix is using different features and objectives of a product to ensure that the product goes down well with the consumer. The human resource manager presented similar views by suggesting the importance of 4P’s while marketing products but which changes and have an extension in case of services. 4.1 Marketing Mix for Products The human resource manager was correct when she suggested that 4P’s of marketing helps to improve the marketing aspect of products and services but services along with it require other aspects which need to be looked into. Products when marketed looks into the 4P’s of marketing. While marketing a product marketer concentrates on product, price, place and promotion. This is evident from an example of the airline industry. The airline sector is divided into luxury and business class depending on the income level in India. On the pricing front the airline sector is India has multiple price mechanism working according to the living standard. The aviation sector in “India offers premium pricing for the business class, value for money for frequent flyer and cheap value pricing for the price conscious customers and apex pricing”. (Justin, 2008) For promoting the services the aviation sector offers “advertising on television, radio, billboards, newspaper, hoardings, and public relations, personal selling, direct mail and internet”. (Justin, 2008) Finally on the place front we see that the aviation sector offers “internet, direct selling over the phone or personally at the counter and other means”. (Justin, 2008) 4.2 Marketing mix for Services The human resource manager while presenting her view for services was correct to a certain extent that 4P’s are essential in marketing but services is an extension of the 4P’s and is composed of 7P’s which includes people, process, physical evidence along with the 4P’s. This can be substantiated from the growth the aviation sector has witnessed by using the 7P’s which has enabled to understand the human behaviour and direct the services accordingly so that customer satisfaction is high. People in the aviation sector comprises of employees, customer and the company itself. Companies need to ensure that all this are under control so that proper management is possible. Physical evidence includes the quality of service being rendered by having employees who speak in the local dialect thereby improving understanding. (Kalyani & Babu, 2006) Process has also undergone change and includes the entire process from booking till the customer finally leaves the airport. Even a study in this direction showed that 7P’s help to improve the quality of service. A study conducted over 1014 passengers of the same flights showed the different features which help them to satisfy them. (Aksoy, Atilgan & Akinci, 2003) This study shows that difference in perception of customers makes different qualities have different importance. Thereby improving the marketing mix and including the different mix is helping to improve services and understand human behaviour in a better way. Another example which highlight the marketing mix for services shows that the 7P’s help to improve services. For example, Chun Po restaurant which is based in Australia and has been able ensure that the service they provide are world class. It highlights the fact that customer have a preference for the restaurant and those who have been a part of it are in a better position to speak about the quality of service offered by Chun Po. (Chun Po Chinese Restaurant, 2010) 5. Service marketing ensures efficiency in operation of departments Service marketing since it involves an extension of different marketing functions helps to improve efficiency in operations. The different departments due to extension in the marketing mix can bring together their feedback and help to improve the overall management process. For example, the promotion department in connection with the people department can understand the customer wants better which will help to mould the products as per the needs of the customers. Pooling the different resources together will benefit the companies as specialization from the different departments will result in better results due to coordinated efforts of all individuals. The working of the different department which has an extension of marketing mix ensures that all areas that could help to increase the value customer perceives. This helps to improve the efficiency of services and directing the efforts of the different departments helps to understand the intricacies of business which results in better functioning of the organization. This helps to ensure smooth transformation of services thereby enabling growth. 6. Studies supporting extended marketing mix There are various models and tools which shows the importance of an extended marketing mix in case of services. This theories and growth in service management is making organization look towards different ways to lure their customer and ensure that customer satisfaction remains high. One such model is the molecular model. This model helps to improve intangibility in services and helps to develop customer relationship. This model highlighted the manner in which service marketing which is an extension of marketing mix by using those extra chains and integrating the different learning’s from psychology, human behaviour and anthropology can improve the marketing of services. (Shostack, 1977) This model helps to identify the manner in which service marketing needs to be looked at and needs to cover a lot of topics which can shape the behaviour of the customer. (Shostack, 1977) The study helps to identify the different areas of 7P’s of marketing which needs to be emphasised on. This has made service marketing grow from the crawling out stage to walking erect stage. (Brown, Fisk & Bitner, 1994) This has been possible due to work carried out in different areas and different factors being considered while evaluating the marketing mix for services. The growth in service marketing has been possible due to the risk taking ability by researchers which helped to highlight the different areas which needs to be considered in service marketing. (Brown, Fisk & Bitner, 1994) A study which helps to draw on the importance of intangibility in services and using an extended marketing mix helps to understand the customer better. The study states that marketers are looking towards giving intangibility a form so that the problem associated with intangibility can be removed. (Miller & Foust, 2003) 7. Conclusion Service marketing is a much wider concept than mere marketing of products and using the extended 7P’s help to understand human behaviour better. The 4P’s of marketing works well in case of products but since services demonstrates different traits like perish ability, inseparability, variability and intangibility it requires special efforts from the marketers to ensure its smooth functioning. This helps to understand human behaviour and by integrating the efforts of different departments who work in their respective fields help to improve the overall efficiency. The growth in this model and being used is substantiated with the benefits different service industry like airlines, hospitality and others have benefitted. Also various tools and strategies supporting service marketing has further acted as a boost and created an area of specialization. The widespread growth in the marketing arena has been concentred by retaining customers for the future has been boosted due to dependence of service marketing. These is making organization lay special stress and create a special department which looks after the service aspect thereby strengthening the importance and manner in which service marketing is influencing business decision. Service marketing is thus an integral part of the marketing world and having an extended marketing mix ensures that even the smallest aspect which could influence the buyer buying habit is looked after. 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