Page 43 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Services Marketing

Notes the buying situations faced by the consumers and the purchase process. Both of these are analysed
in this unit.

3.1 The Service Marketing Mix

The four traditional Ps of the marketing mix - product, place, price, and promotion are adequate
for marketing a product. However, they fail to cover the following aspects, which differentiate
products from services and are, therefore, important for services marketing.
The product element involves only tangible aspects and is therefore not appropriate for

services, which are basically intangible in nature.

Example: The strategy used to design and launch a new motorcycle model cannot be
adopted for launching a new service as a variant.
A part of the promotion of services usually takes place at the time of consumption itself.

This is not so in the case of a product. In fact, the people involved in service production
handle the promotion too in most cases.

Example: The way in which a waiter at a restaurant provides service to the customers is
a form of promotion of the service.
However, the promotion element of the traditional marketing mix does not take this difference
into consideration.

In the Indian scenario, the public sector produced most of the services until very recently

(it still produces many services like rail transport). Very often still, the end consumer pays
the standardized and subsidized price, and this aspect is ignored by the price mix.
The dual role played by service customers as co-producers and end consumers in the

production of service goes unnoticed by the four traditional Ps.
The four traditional Ps fail to capture the importance of distribution for services. In most

of the services, the production and consumption takes place at the same time; therefore,
the distribution channel is either absent or is very small.
Further, consumers are unable to perceive the quality standards of services before

consumption. On the other hand, marketers are not able to identify and measure the
elements of the marketing mix that can deliver quality service.

!
Caution The above problems faced by marketers have led to the addition of another three
Ps for marketing services, namely, people, process management, and physical evidence.

3.1.1 The Expanded Marketing Mix for Services

Services have special characteristics like perishibility, intangibility and inseparability, which
distinguish them from goods. People, process and physical evidence play a greater role in the
marketing of services than in the marketing of products.

Product

Marketers have identified three levels in developing the product element of the marketing mix
as far as services are concerned. The ‘core’ level aims to satisfy the important needs of the

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