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Services Marketing
Notes lost - have gone up astronomically. Marketing research has greatly helped service firms to
minimize such risks.
Growing customer expectations resulting in expanded markets: With changing socio-cultural
mores and sanskritisation (upward mobility of consumers in income and status) there is a
growing need of services.
Example: Cell phone service, which when it was introduced in India in the mid-nineties
was dismissed as socialites prerogative but which has more subscribers today than landline
communication.
Globalisation, on time communication through satellite television channels and the Internet,
and increasing foreign travels have exposed the customers to world class brands and service
concepts - and the Indian consumers want nothing less. Marketing research has helped many a
service provider in anticipating the quantum and the type of service product desired. Mall
concept is one such example, which have benefited from continuous consumer research.
4.1.1 Scope of Marketing Research in Services
Marketing research covers a wide range of subject from people issues to marketing processes
and the services environment. Some of them are:
Research of Services Environment like the Political and Socio-economic Factors: The studies of
the services environment factors would include the political, economic, socio-cultural, legal and
technological, etc. This analysis would give the service manager a guiding template for doing
business. They are those factors that no service manager can ever control or influence. He or his
service firm has to adapt to these environmental factors and deliver their service within their
framework.
Example: Metro Cash and Carry, the giant German retailer would have made a SLEPT
analysis before making its entrée into India, as foreign retailers have not yet been permitted to
function in a full-fledged manner. So it is now working under a very restricted format not
dealing with customers but with retailers and wholesalers. Its huge power (it is a $54 billion
retailer) has already raised fears from established players about the crushing competition.
Research into Customer Needs: This will help the service marketer to know his different needs,
especially his latent needs, and develop new service products.
Example: Gujarat based Lalbhais who are into textiles (Arvind denim) would have made
an attempt to find out the latent needs of the urban and upwardly mobile Indian parents for a
high quality pre-school institution, before venturing into Eurokids, their successful education
franchise.
Research into Customer Expectations: Expectations make a customer perceive the received offer
in a judgmental mode. This is due to the intangibility factor of the service offer. Variance
between the expected offer and the service receipt will generate problems, dissatisfaction, etc.
This particular research would enable service providers like Sahara Air to know customer
expectations and attempt to provide those services, bridging the quality gap.
Customer Perception Studies: Quality in service is as perceived by the customers. Thus perception
studies can be undertaken before or after the experience or consumption of the service offer.
This is the only way for a market-driven service firm to measure the quality of its offer.
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