SERVICE MARKETING

SERVICE MARKETING

HISTORY OF SERVICE MARKETING
Service marketing is a sub-field of marketing which can be split into the main areas of goods marketing (which include the marketer of fast moving consumer goods FMCG and durables) and services marketing. Services’ marketing typically refers to both business to business (B2B) service include marketing of services telecommunication service, financial services all types of hospital services and professional services. The range of approaches and expression of marketing ideas developed with the hope that it be effective in conveying the ideas to the diverse population of people who receive it.

Services are economic activities offered by one party to another, often time based, performance bring about desired results to recipients, objectives, or other assets for which purchasers have responsibility, in exchange for money for money, time and effort. Service customers expect value from access to goods, labour, professional skill, facilities, networks and systems, but they do not normally take ownership of any of the physical element involved.

DEFINITION OF SERVICE MARKETING
The world economy these days is increasingly characterized as a services economy. This is primarily due to the increasing importance and share of services sector in the economies of most developed and developing countries. In fact, the growth of the services sector has long been considered as indicative of a country’s economic progress.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines services as activities, benefit and satisfaction which are offered for sale or are provided in connected with the sales of goods.

Adrian Palmer (2008; 78) define services marketing “as the production of an essentially tangible benefit, either in its own right or as significant element of a tangible product, which through some form of exchange to satisfied an identified need”. This definition recognizes that most products are in fact a combination of goods elements and service element. In some cases, the service element will be the focal element of the services (e.g. hairdressing management consultancy) while in other cases the service will simply support the provision of a tangible goods (e.g. a loan facility provided to support the sales of new car).

Services have grown dramatically in recent years, services now account for close to 68% of the gross domestic product of Nigeria. Services are growing even faster in the world economy, making up to 64% of gross world product. Service industries vary greatly. Government offer services through courts, employment services, hospital, military services, police, fire services, postal services and educational services. Private no-for-profit organizations offer services through museums, charities, churches, colleges, foundations, hospital e.t.c. A large number of business organization offer services; airlines, banks, hotels, insurance companies, real-estates firms, retailers e.t.c.

NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICE
A company must consider four (4) special services characteristics namely; intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability.

1. SERVICE INTANGIBILITY: This means that services cannot be seen, tested, felt, heard, or smelled before they are bought, for instance people undergoing surgery cannot see the outcome when paying for the operation or passenger traveling cannot promise that they and their luggage will arrive safely at the intended destination.

To reduce uncertainty, buyers look for “signal” of service quality, they drew conclusions about quality from the place, people, price, equipment, and communications that they can see.

2. SERVICE INSEPARABILITY: It means that services depends on who provide them as well as when, where and how they are provided. For example some hotels, say Transcorp Hilton have reputations for providing better services than the others. Still, within a given Transcorp Hotel, on registration counter employee may be cheerful and efficient, where as another standing just few meter away may be unpleasant and slow even the quality of a single Transcorp Hilton employee’s service varies according to his or her energy and frame of mind at the time of each customers encounter.

3. SERVICE PERISHABILITY: Means that service cannot be stored for later sales or use. Some doctors change patients for missed appointments because the services value existed only at that point and disappeared when the patient did not show up. The perishability of services is not a problem which demand is steady. However, when demand fluctuated, service firms often have difficulty.

References

Christopher Lovelock and Jochem Witz (2011), Services Marketing People, Technology, Strategy. 7th Edition Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Prentice Hall Pg 22-23

Lovelock, C. Gummenson, E. (2004): Whither Services Marketing: In Search of a New Paradigm and Fresh Perspectives. Journal of Services Research 7 (1) 20 – 40.

Learn Marketing Net: For Marketing Learners Globally.

Kotler and Armstrong (2010): Principles of Marketing 13th Edition, Pearson Education USA.

Michael Et al (2007) Marketing (14th Edition) McGraw Hill/ Irwin.