Characteristics of services

Characteristics of services

Perishability

Services are intangible and they cannot be stored like physical products. Services are required to be produced at the time of consumer consumes the product or service. As soon as the consumer demands the service it needs to be produced and immediately consumed by the consumer. So in this way, services cannot be stored for a long time indicating its perishability characteristics.

Examples

1. When we watch a movie in the theater, we cannot store the entertainment service received from the theater and transfer it to any other person or customer. when you need that entertainment, the theater produces the entertainment allows you to watch the movie(access the service) and services get consumed immediately.
2. Moving the goods from one place to another place the transportation services produced when it is required or demanded by the customers alkaline. It is produced at the time of customers’ requirement and consumed immediately by the customers when transporting the goods from one place to another place. So it indicates the perishability of the services which is due to intangibility.

Inseparability

Services cannot be separated from the service providers or service producers.  Customers have access to the service. customers cannot be the owners of that service like the customers of physical products. In the case of the physical products the customers when buying the product can be the owner and separate the product from the seller or producer. Physical products can be sold by the customers to any other person. Whereas in the case of the services, it cannot be possible. Customers buy the service and consume it immediately due to which it cannot be stored and transferred to any other person. The customers have access to the service but not ownership from the service provider. Thus services cannot be separated from the service providers.

Examples

When a customer buys the telecommunications service or buys a data package from a telecommunication operator then the company allows customers to access the telecommunication services for a certain period according to the purchased package.  So the services cannot be separated from the service providers. In the case of physical products, the product is distributed through the distribution supply chain and made available to the end customers. Telecommunications services cannot be distributed but have access to service to the customers when customers buy.

Intangibility

In the case of physical products, there are many attributes of the product such as color weight size, and many other specifications. But in the case of services, there are no such attributes to the services. Intangibly indicates not having the physical features like the product.

Heterogeneity

Heterogeneity and inseparability are related concepts of the services. Inseparability of the services shows the services cannot be separated from the service providers whereas heterogeneity shows that uniform quality cannot be maintained all the time. This feature leads to difficulty in measuring the quality of services. Thus the standardization of the services is not possible effectively.

Services cannot be measured like physical products. In the case of a physical product, the measurement of the product or measuring the quality of the product through various methods can be possible. So the quality of the physical product is very easy to measure and evaluate. In the case of the services due to the unavailability of the physical features of the services, it becomes more difficult to measure the services. There are some techniques to measure the services but they cannot measure effectively as much as the product can.

Examples

1. Services provided in a restaurant cannot save all the time. It is very difficult to maintain the same quality all the time in the restaurant. The heterogeneity characteristic of services shows that due to variability characteristics, it is very difficult to maintain uniform quality all the time.
2. Services provided in saloons, and beauty parlours Are not the same in quality all the time. It becomes more difficult to maintain uniform quality for all the customers all the time.
3. Airline services are with time and company. Due to the heterogeneity characteristic of services, it becomes more difficult to maintain the same quality of services all the time in airline services and it is different in different companies.

Nature of demand

The nature of demand in the case of the product and the nature of demand in the case of the services are different due to their characteristics. Can you get up the product it is very easy to maintain the demand app due to satisfaction develop the customers is more. But in the case of the services, it is very difficult to maintain the demand all the time with the maximum satisfaction level of the customers.

Customers are satisfied by fulfilling their expectations and needs by offering specific features and qualities that are standardized in the case of physical products. The physical characteristics regarding quality specifications and features cannot be standardized and maintained in the case of the services. Hence it is very difficult to satisfy the customers by offering services as much as my offering product.

Examples

1. Fluctuations in the demand in case of the physical products such as electronics and FMCG are less as compared to the fluctuation of the demand in case of the health care services, airline services Etcetera. In the case of physical products electronics and FMCG, it is quite easy to maintain the demand whereas in the case of services, there are many more situations in which demand companies cannot maintain the same demand all the time by applying different strategies. But in case of the electronics and FMCG products it is very easy to maintain the demand and reduce the fluctuations in the demand.
2. In case of the transportation services also the demanded quantity cannot be the same all the time. The seasonal demand for product transportation may be the factor that affects more in increasing the fluctuation of the demand.
3. Demand for LED TVs can be increased by offering the expected features with some affordability. For instance, LED TV companies can increase the demand by offering advanced technology and features such as Google TV, QLED, and OLED features at affordable prices. Bud in case of the services such as healthcare services provided by hospitals it is not possible to enhance or boost the demand by increasing the diseases.