Explain briefly the problems faced by the service marketing.

Problems in Marketing Services:

1. High contact service:

2. Low contact services:
3. Single or specific outlet services:
4. Remote services:
5. Self-services
6. A service cannot be demonstrated.

7. Sale, production and consumption of services takes place simultaneously.

8. A service cannot be stored. It cannot be produced in anticipation of demand.

9. Services cannot be protected through patents.

10. Services cannot be separated from the service provider.

Challenges faced by the Service Industry

It is a challenging task to manage a service or product industry. These challenges however are different
and unique for each industry. Some of the challenges that are faced while managing, growing and
making profit from a service industry are discussed below, these factors do not readily apply to the
product industry.

Services are intangible and so customers cannot see or hold them before they buy it. Buyers are
therefore uncertain about the quality of service and feel they are taking a risk. The buyer is unable to
conceptualize and evaluate a service from beforehand. From the seller's perspective he finds it
challenging to promote, control quality and set the price of the service he is provide. Unlike products the
intangible nature of service causes difficulties to both client and the firm.

Defining and improving quality in the service industry is a major challenge. Unlike products very often
services are produced and consumed simultaneously. As a result service quality management faces
challenges that the product industry never ever comes across. In the product industry the manufacturer
gets ample opportunity to test his products before they reach the market. In case of a quality issue the
problem is taken care of during the quality check and customer satisfaction is taken care of. However
during service production, the customer is right in front. To guarantee customer satisfaction in this
scenario is a major challenge.

In case of the service industry the customer first needs to develop trust in the service organization
before he buys their services. The client often gives more importance to the amount of faith he has on
the service organization than the services being offered and their value proposition.

Service industry faces competition not only from fellow service industry but also from their clients who
often question themselves whether or not they should engage a service at all!
Most of the product companies have dedicated sales staff while in the service industry the service
deliverers often do the selling. Coordinating marketing, operations and human resource efforts is a
tedious task.

2,Write a short note on product marketing

The process in which the marketing activities are aligned to promote and sell a specific product
for a particular segment is called product marketing. The marketing of economic activities,
offered by the business to its clients for adequate consideration, is known as service marketing.
In a product marketing, only 4 P’s of the marketing mix are applicable which are product, price,
place and promotion,

3.Define price. State types of pricing policies

Price is the amount of money paid or payable to acquire a product and its accompanying
services.
(i) Classification of pricing policies on the basis of price levels.
(ii) Classification of pricing policies on the basis of flexibility.
(iii) Classification of pricing policies on the basis of specialty.
(iv) Classification of pricing policies on the basis of geographical locations of buyers and sellers.
(v) Classification of pricing policies on another basis.

4.Explain the chief characteristics of specialty goods.

The chief characteristics of specialty goods are:
(i) The specialty goods have some unique characteristics or brand specifications.
(ii) These goods are purchased by consumers only due to some unique characteristics or brand
specifications or loyalty.
(iii) Specialty goods are purchased by consumers after a deep and careful study of merits and
demerits of the specialty products available in the market.
(iv) Brand loyalty also influences the consumers to purchase these goods.
(v) The, consumers of these goods have to make special efforts for the purchase of speciality
goods.
(vi) Specialty goods are widely advertised by the manufacturers to distinguish them from those
of rival products and to enable the consumers to identify them easily.

5.Discuss the factors affecting customer perceptions.

Customer perceptions of value, quality, and satisfaction are influenced by four important factors.
They are service encounter, service evidence, image, and price.

6.Write short note on zone of tolerance

Zone of Tolerance
It is the gap between customer’s desired service expectations and the adequate service
expectations This zone varies for each customer and for the same customer it differs
in different situations. Customers view reliability as the core dimension of any service
transaction and are not ready to compromise on reliability. Therefore, their zone of tolerance on
the dimension of reliability is narrow. It is also narrow when customers have various service
alternatives available.

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