PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

• The physical setting or environment in which a

firm delivers its services and interacts with
customers is known as physical evidence. It
involves tangible commodities that support
service performance and facilitates
communication involved in services.

• For eg – when a customer walks into a restaurant,

he expects for a decent ambience, good food and
certain level of hygiene to be maintained.
 NATURE OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
1. Allows judgements to be made
2. Tangible expression
3. Influence flow of the experience
4. Includes decision regarding marketing tools
5. Customer satisfaction
6. Perceived service quality
7. Communication tool
 IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
• ENHANCES PRDUCTIVITY
• DEVELOPING BETTER CUSTOMER PERCEPTION
• MANAGING BETTER SERVICE QUALITY
• RE-POSITIONING OF SERVICE
 TYPES OF PHYSICSL EVIDENCE
• PERIPHERAL EVIDENCE - Peripheral evidence is actually
possessed as part of the purchase of a service. It has
however little or no independent value. Thus a bank
cheque book is of no value unless backed by the funds
transfer and storage service it represents.

• An admission ticket for a cinema equally has no

independent value. It merely confirms the service.
Peripheral evidence ‘adds to’ the value of essential
evidence only as far as the customer values these
symbols of service.
• ESSENTIAL EVIDENCE - Essential evidence, unlike
peripheral evidence, cannot be possessed by the
customer. Nevertheless essential evidence may
be so important in its influence on service
purchase it may be considered as an element in
its own right. The overall appearance and layout
of a hotel; the ‘feel’ of a bank branch; the type of
vehicle rented by a car rental company; the type
of aircraft used by a carrier are all examples of
physical evidence.
ELEMENTS OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
1. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
• layout – the seating arrangement should be such that
the customer feel comfortable while sitting especially
in case they need to wait for a while to be attended.
• atmosphere – in most of the restaurants, beauty
salons and spa, light music is played to enhance the
service environment.
• ambience – many places have been converted into
hotels in india . This has been done to create the right
ambience and and luxury for the customer.
2. COMMUNICATION – in shopping malls, retail
stores and multiplexes the customer should be
provided assistance in order to locate the item they
want to buy.
3. PRICE
4. SERVICE PRERSONNEL
5. TANGIBLE PRODUCTS ACCOMPANYING SERVICE –
hotels offering drinking water ,chocolates etc
6. BRAND\ CORPORATE IDENTITY
GUIDELINES FOR PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
STRATEGIES
1. IDENTIFY THE STRETEGIC REQUIREMENT OF
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
2. DECIDE THE KIND OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
REQUIRED
3. CLARIFY THE ROLES OF EMPLOYEES AND
CUSTOMERS IN SERVICESCAPES
4. IDENTIFY AND ASSESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
OPPORTUNITIES
5. UPDATE AND MODERNISE EVIDENCE
 SERVICESCAPES
• The concept of servicescapes was developed by
booms and bitner. It gives great weight to
physical environment in which a particular service
is executed.
• Booms and Bitner defined a servicescape as "the
environment in which the service is assembled
and in which the seller and customer interact,
combined with tangible commodities that
facilitate performance or communication of the
service"
 TYPES OF SERVICESCAPES
1. SERVICESCAPE USE
• SELF SERVICE - customer performs most of the
activities and few if any employees are involved.
Eg mcd ,atm’s
• INTERPERSONAL SERVICES -
both customer and employee must be present in
the servicescape. Eg. Banks, hospitals
• REMOTE SERVICE - employee only; little or no
customer involvement with the servicescape. Eg.
Consultancy ,telecom
2. COMPLEXITY OF SERVICESCAPE
• Lean environment : simple; few elements,
spaces, and pieces of equipment .Example-
ATM , courier service
• Elaborate environment : complicated
servicescape; many elements and forms.
Example- restaurant, insurance company,
hospitals.
 ROLE OF SERVICESCAPES
• 1. Package:
• Similar to a tangible product’s package, the
service-scape and other elements of physical
evidence essentially “wrap” the service and
convey an external image of what is “inside” to
consumers. The service-scape is the outward
appearance of the organization and thus can be
critical in forming initial impressions or setting up
customer expectations – it is a visual metaphor
for the intangible service.
• 2. Facilitator:
The service-scape can also serve as a facilitator
in aiding the performances of persons in the
environment. How the setting is designed can
enhance or inhibit the efficient flow of activities
in the service setting, making it easier or harder
for customers and employees to accomplish
their goals.
• 3. Socializer:
• The design of the service-scape aids in the
socialization of both employees and customers in
the sense that it helps to convey expected roles,
behaviours, and relationships. For example, a
new employee in a professional services firm
would come to understand her position in the
hierarchy partially through noting her office
assignment, the quality of her office furnishings,
and her location relative to others in the
organization.
• 4. Differentiator:
The design of the physical facility can
differentiate a firm from its competitors and
signal the market segment the service is
intended for. Given its power as a differentiator,
changes in the physical environment can be
used to reposition a firm and/or to attract new
market segments.
 EFFECT OF SERVICESCAPE ON
CONSUMER BEHVIOUR
• UNDERLYING FRAMEWORK – the impact of
servicescape on customers and employees will
cause them to behave in certain ways depending
on their internal reaction to the servicescape
• BEHAVIOURS IN SERVICESCAPES
individual behaviour – positive or negative
social interactions – all scial interaction is
affected by the physical container in which it occurs
• ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS OF SERVICESCAPES
ambient conditions –lightening ,noise, music ,scent , color
spatial layout and functionality – ways in which machinery
,equipments are arranged ,the shape and sizes of those items and the
spatial relationship between them
signs , symbols and artifacts

• INTERNAL RESPONSES TO SERVICESCAPES

cognitive responses – beliefs, categorisation, symbolic meaning
emotional responses – some service env. Make customers happy
,excited while in others opposite happens.
physiological responses – smoke may make non smokers
uncomfortable, high pitch music
behavioural responses - positive approach or negative approach