All services are essentially intangibles. The sale of a service does not give you an ownership of physical product. As we now know the definition of a service, lets move on and understand the nature of services
Intangibility is the basic nature of services.
Services need to be made or provided again and again. They are generally inconsistent because different customers have different expectation.
The production and consumption of services is inseparable. For example, ATMs may replace the banking manager for the front office activities like cash withdrawal and cheque deposit. But, at the same time, the presence of the customer, is required and his/her interaction with the process has to be managed.
Services cannot be stored. Basically, you cannot have an inventory of services. There might be goods that could be stored associated to the service, but the service itself will not be stored as it is intangible.
The major difference between a good and a service is that a good is produced whereas a service is performed.
Nature and Types of Services
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Nature of Services
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Types of Services
Services are diversified in three groups; Business services, social services and personal services.
Business services are the services used by businesses to conduct their business activities. This could banking, insurance, transportation, etc. Today, businesses are relying on specialised business services more than ever.
Social services are the services provided by NGO's to pursue a certain set of social goals.
Personal services, is a service wherein every customer will have a different need. Examples of personal services would be tourism, recreational services and restaurants.
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Meaning of Services
- Services are essentially intangibles. Their purchase does not result in the ownership of anything physical. For example, you can only seek advice from the doctor, you cannot purchase him.
- Services are all those economic activities that are intangible and imply an interaction to be realized between the service provider and the consumer.
- Services are the separately identifiable, essentially intangible activities that provides satisfaction of wants, and are not necessarily linked to the sale of a product or another service.
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Difference between Services and Goods
Basis |
Services |
Goods |
Nature | An activity or process. e.g., watching a movie | A physical object. e.g., video cassette of movie |
Type | Heterogeneous | Homogeneous |
Intangibility | Intangible e.g., doctor treatment | Tangible |
Inconsistency | Different customers having different | Different customers getting standardized demands fulfilled. e.g., mobile phones |
Inseparability | Simultaneous production and consumption. e.g., eating | Separation of production and consumption. e.g., purchasing ice cream from a store |
Inventory | Cannot be kept in stock. e.g., experience of a train | Can be kept in stock. e.g., |
Involvement | Participation of customers at the | Involvement at the time |
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Business Services
- Business services are the services used by businesses to conduct their business activities. For example, banking, insurance, transportation, warehousing and communication services.
- Today, businesses are relying on specialized business services more than ever.
