Page 49 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Services Marketing

Notes
Example: Mrs. Sharma knows what a credit card is and is also aware of a particular brand
in addition to other brands of cards.
The customer has definite decision-making criteria about the purchase of the service offer.


Example: Mr. Roy is very clear about the hotel that he would like to stay in for his
business tour. It should be close to the business district as also the airport; its tariff should not be
more than ` 2,000/- per day and it should have a conference centre.

The customer is competent enough to evaluate the service offer and also has definite evaluation
criteria.

Example: Mr. Kamath, a restaurant connoisseur, knows about food and its cost across
many restaurants and can instantly evaluate them by their menu, decor and service personnel.
He is well aware what a certain dish, perfectly cooked, tastes like and what it should cost in that
particular restaurant.

If all the above conditions are met, then the customer is knowledgeable, aware and confident.
He does not need to be highly involved with a purchase or transaction. The marketer also can
appropriately tailor his communication and marketing directed at the customer. If the three
differentiating conditions are present in two or more buying situations, then the buying situations
are the same. Thus more than the service product, it is the buyer’s decision-making ability that
differentiates one buying situation from another.
The three buying situations as elaborated by Howard and Sheth are:

Straight Re-buy or Routinized response behaviour: Here the customer comes for repurchase of
the same service product - say a bank draft. Here all the three conditions of differentiation are
met. He is aware of the service product category, as well as the brand. The purchase is of daily or
frequent necessity. He has low involvement with the purchase process. It would be the same
when he goes to the post office for stamps or to the xerographer for photocopying.
Modified Re-buy or Limited problem solving: In this situation, the customer does not meet one
or more of the differentiation criteria. He or she may be aware of the category or brand but not
the new version or form. Then there is a small amount of problem solving for the customer. For
instance, when Mrs. Subramanian goes for her weekly visit to the beauty parlour and asks for
her usual treatment, the assistant solicits her attention to a new treatment with newer products
and techniques. Mrs. Subramanian might then enquire about its core and peripheral benefits, its
usage and after-effects, if any, as also about the price.

Example: Mrs. Sen might go to her usual retailer to ask for her usual Liril soap. The
retailer might draw her attention to the new liquid Liril body soap. Mrs. Sen then might enquire
about the new version and form of the soap, its usage and dispensation methods and its price
and might wonder about its added social status benefits. Her problem solving is limited; she is
quite sure about her decision-making criteria as also her evaluation criteria. She only lacked
awareness of the product form, its added benefits from her usual cake of soap, and the price.
Extensive problem solving or Critical problem solving or New Task: A customer would be in
this buying situation when the offer is totally unfamiliar, and he is not clear either about his
decision criteria or his evaluation criteria. This is because of his lack of knowledge of the offer.
In this situation, two or three of the conditions aren’t met. This happens for most service offers
like a vacation, package tours, flights, insurance as well as major consultancy contracts. The
consumer is most of the time not aware of, say, the destination or its promises. Neither he is

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