What is a service exactly? This question is still being discussed by experts in the field. But in this article, let’s stick with the ‘daily use’ service concept. In general, when people are talking about a service, it means ‘doing something for someone else, in the broadest sense of the statement. Examples of this can be quite diverse, such as helping a neighbor with groceries, providing clients with a the option to chose from a variety of products, and even the inclusion of a decent user manual.

The World of Service Marketing

The difference between goods and services is determined by a couple of characteristics in the world of service marketing. The problem with these is that they could possibly apply to goods as well. So, the demarcation line between goods and services is not as easy to draw as one might think. This results in the development of a goods/service continuum. To find out where a product is placed in this continuum, a comparison between the material (goods) and immaterial (services) components will have to be made.

Basic Characteristics of Services

According to most marketing experts, three basic characteristics of services can be discerned. These in turn can be used to explain the conceptual differences between goods and services. These characteristics are:

1. Untouchable

As the most clear-cut characteristic of a service, the immaterial, or quite literally ‘untouchable’ nature, is often referred to. Basically, this means that services are not objects. One can’t wrap up a service, put a ribbon around it and take it home in a shopping bag, so to speak. In essence, services are immaterial, untouchable. A service can’t really be owned, it is experienced, waiting and perhaps participating in the achievement that eventually will be delivered.

Service providers often use goods (i.e. concrete products), but these are only a mean to be able to provide services (i.e. abstract products).

2. Direct Contact

Another feature that discerns services from goods is the contact between the provider and client. When providing a service, in whatever shape or size, contact is necessary, even if it is just to initiate the service providing process.

3. Co-production

The third characteristic of a service is the participation of the client in the service providing process. The aforementioned contact between provider and client implies that the latter has a role in the providing of the required service. In all this, the client thus has a double role: the one of user and the one of co-producer.