Question

Services Marketing Differs from Product Marketing

Two national firms, the Prestige Hotel and Pro Fitness chains, strive to deliver quality service to their customers. To do so, they address the four core differences between services and goods. In the following scenario, you will be asked to categorize statements about the customer's experiences and the firm's marketing efforts by the core difference they represent.

Economies of developed countries like the United States have become increasingly dependent on services. For example, service industries like retail and information services account for about two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and the lion's share of U.S. jobs. The marketing of services differs from goods marketing because of the four fundamental ways in which services differ from goods: They are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable.

Satisfaction guarantee

Hard to convey value

Hotel stay

Off-peak rates

Use guest pass

Uses Flexipass

Managing Staff

Conflicting Experiences

	customer experience	marketing efforts
intangibility
inseparability
perishability
variability

Answer 1

Please see the table below. Reasons have also been mentioned along side in brackets.

	customer experience	marketing efforts
intangibility	Hotel stay (this is straight forward, hotel stay is an intangible customer experience, very difficult to quantify, but stays in the mind of the customer)	Hard to convey value (Intangible values are difficult to convey, marketing messages are not very focused)
inseparability	Use guest pass (inseparable customer experience, can't be used at any other hotel)	Satisfaction guarantee (services are inseparable, hence satisfaction has to be derived from overall level of services)
perishability	Use flexi pass (the validity is perishable, they are for limited period of time)	Use off peak rates (Again temporal, not permanent, can be offered only during off season or when occupancy is lower)
variability	Conflicting experiences (Some good as well bad experiences, lead to variation in the overall image)	Managing staff (Again variable, every one will have different aspiration level, some will be satisfied, some may not be)