What is the difference between Goods Marketing & Service Marketing?

MARKETING includes identifying unmet needs; producing products and services to meet those needs: and pricing, distributing, and promoting those products and services to produce a profit. Marketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities discover that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others.

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. [1] The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to buy or sell goods or services.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably."[2] Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. Four Factors That Distinguish Services MarketingIt's been called "selling the invisible"-delivering intangible services as a core "product" offering. But invisibility, or intangibility, is just one factor that distinguishes services marketing from product marketing. Along with inseparability, variability, and perishability, these four characteristics affect the way clients behave during the buying process and the way organizations must interact with them.

The most basic difference between a good and a service is intangibility. This means that the service can't be heard, felt, touched, seen or tasted. This causes services to be very difficult to evaluate and also have good search qualities. Search Qualities are characteristics that are easily reviewed before a purchase occurs. This also makes it a challenge for marketers to communicate the benefits of the service. Many service oriented companies create a tangible representation to help their consumers understand what they are all about. For example, the doctor's office our ninja is considering for a checkup uses a photograph of vitamins to represent that their services will make you healthy. Another big difference is that product goods are produced, sold and then consumed, which is not at all how a service is delivered.

Services are impossible to separate in the purchase process. Can you imagine buying a haircut but not being at the salon to get your hair trimmed? Inseparability is the inability of the production and consumption of a service to be separated. One advantage to the inseparability is that consumers can give constant feedback. For example, our ninja can tell his barber exactly what changes he wants as he is getting his hair cut. One challenge for service companies is that they must be sure to have very well trained employees who are adept at providing excellent services. The quality must be consistent.

Services must be consistent and also reliable. Let us think about when our ninja goes for his weekly pizza run. He expects his pizza to be delivered exactly the same way and taste just as delicious as the previous week.Heterogeneity is also known as variability and is one challenge facing service oriented companies. It is when services have problems being standardized. The barber shop that the ninja used to go to gave him an excellent buzz cut for two months. Then the last two times he went for a cut, he ended up with a very poor result. This unintentional variability in service has now caused him to go elsewhere. Fast food companies spend enormous amounts of money creating quality, standardized food across all of their stores. For example, if you order a hamburger at a McDonalds in Texas or Maine, the burger should taste the same. The most important factor in maintaining no variability is through excellent training and set procedures.

The last characteristic of services is called perishability, which means that they cannot be stored, warehoused, or inventoried. It is not as if our ninja can order up six haircuts and store them in his hideout. This is a major challenge to a service provider as any service time that is not used equals a loss in revenue. For example, for every airline seat that sits empty the airline company is facing a loss in profit. The same concern exists for the barber shop. The ninja barber shop must keep their barbers busy cutting hair and not sitting idly by.

difference in goods and service marketing and service classification

1. 1. Services Vs GoodsServices GoodsIntangible TangibleHeterogeneous HomogenousProduced in Buyer Seller interaction Produced in factoryProduction, distribution & consumption takes All three are separate & independentplace simultaneouslyConsumers participate in production Consumers don’t generally participateCannot be stored Can be storedTransfer of ownership cannot take place Transfer of ownership does take place
2. 2. Characteristics of Services
3. 3. Classification of Services It is required to design & apply marketing techniques tocompletely satisfy the customer & increase profits & identifynew emerging services.Classifications can be done on following basis:• Classification by Industry• Classification by Target Effect• Skill level of service provider (Professional/ Nonprofessional)• Labor intensiveness (People-based/Equipment-based)• Degree of customer contact (High / Low)• Goal of the service provider (Profit /Nonprofit)
4. 4. Classification By Industrya. Entertainment industryb. Educationc. Telecommunicationsd. Finance & Insurancee. Transportationf. Public utilitiesg. Government servicesh. Healthi. Hospitability Industryj. Business servicesk. Telecommunicationsl. Trading
5. 5. Classification By Target Effect Based on Degree Of Customer Involvement: ( Lovelock)1. People Processing: Services aimed at physical care e.g. Healthcare, clinics, restaurant, hospitals, hair stylists, fitness centers2. Mental Stimulus Processing: Services aimed at mind of customer e.g. Education, information, entertainment, consulting, psychotherapy3. Possession Processing: Services aimed at physical possession & tangible assets e.g. repair & maintenance, laundry, repair services, landscaping, house cleaning services4. Information Processing : Services for intangible assets e.g. Banking, legal consultation, brokerage, financial services.
6. 6. Skill level of service provider•Teacher•Doctor•Engineer•Accountant
7. 7. Labor intensivenessMechanicElectricianLaborPlumberArtisan
8. 8. Degree of customer contactHigh Degree (Every day) – TV channels, mobileetc.Moderate Degree (Regular) – Teacher, Barber,washer man etc.Low Degree ( Occasional ) – Priest, Doctors etc.

Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. [1] The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to buy or sell goods or services.

There is a major difference between goods and services based on both tangible as well as intangible factors. Goods are basically objects or products which have to be manufactured, stored, transported, marketed and sold. Lays chips, BMW, Adidas are some companies manufacturing goods.

Services on the other hand are output of individuals and they can be a collective or individualistic action or performance by an individual. For example a barber or a chartered accountant are giving individual services. Airlines on the other hand have airplanes which is a product but travelling by airplanes is a service (airlines are one of the most competitive service sectors today).

Thus the difference between goods and services is based on tangibility. Where goods are tangible in nature, services are mostly intangible. The classic rules which defined services were intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability and variability. However, although the old rules are applicable even today, several new rules have been added to define the difference between goods and services.

Ghada Eweda has added the detailed answer and agree with her

Thank You for the invitation .. I will agree with the answers that really covered your question... Variety of correct info and opinions... Nothing to add !

There are five essential differences between services and goods. The first is that a service is an intangible process that cannot be weighed or measured, whereas a good is a tangible output of a process that has physical dimensions

Thanks for invitation

I am agreeing with my colleague’s answer 

Thanks

As usual Mrs. Ghada covered the question by her great answer

Full Agree with Ms. Ghada

         .

I agree with ms ghada answer