MKT 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Competitive Service

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Marketing
• Course: MKT 100
• Professor: Paul Gillespie

Document Summary

Service service is any intangible offering that cannot be physically possessed. A service is unique & marketed differently than a physical product. In a service economy, firms compete on how well they provide service to their customers in the form of customer service. Firms invest heavily in customer service to help satisfy their customers" needs & wants. Customer service specifically refers to human or mechanical activities firms undertake to help satisfy their customers" needs and wants. Some firms lie somewhere in the middle & include some service & some product or sell products with an embedded service element (e. g. restaurants). Many firms view service as a way or method of maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. The marketing of services differs from product marketing because of four fundamental differences unique to services. To help students remember these, think of them as the four i"s: intangible, inseparable, inconsistent (variable), & cannot be held in inventory (perishable)