In modern society, most activities in the majority of the industries rely on services for their prosperity. The shift from goods to service has led to a transformation in the definition of both products and services. Services now form an integral part of the goods hence inseparable. Intangibility, inseparability, perishability, client relationship, customer effort, and uniformity are the six characteristics of differentiating services from products.
Intangibility; services differ from goods because unlike goods; they cannot be touched or seen. Services can only be experienced after purchase, while assets can be experienced before purchase (Kefalas, 2019, p. 41). In the aviation industry, flights cannot be touched but experienced while onboard during travelling. Therefore, tourism operators can only sell flight service in the form of tickets to clients.
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Inseparable; while goods can be manufactured and stored then supplied to retailers to reach clients, services cannot be separated from service providers. Clients have to visit service providers to experience services (Kefalas, 2019, p. 42). For example, the hotels at the airports cannot be sent to clients. They have to report to the facility to experience the services.
Perishability; services cannot be stored like goods for later sale. When sales are not made, it is considered as a loss. When the aviation industry has unoccupied seats during flights, the empty seats are regarded as a loss (Bandyopadhyay, 2016, p. 359). Instabilities in service industry thus lead to problems where variabilities are irregular.
Client Relationship; during service marketing, it is essential for companies to focus on building customer trust and relationship. Clients need to assured of the quality of service before purchase. The aviation industry builds customer relationship by informing clients of their best team at hand who will take them to their destinations. Such information influence customer trusts regardless of being their first time on board.
Customer Effort; helps in quality measurement of services. Customers help service providers identify their mistakes by offering feedbacks based on the purchased service (Leckie et al., 2019, p. 312). Customer effort also aids in gaging client satisfaction. Airlines can thus seek customer ratings to rate themselves.
Uniformity; quality of services varies based on the service provider. Therefore, inconsistency in service quality is inevitable in the service industry (Bandyopadhyay, 2016, p. 360). A tour operator may be slow at organizing his or her tour packages, thus leading to last-minute rush. The tour operator may, therefore, inconvenience clients by delayed flights.
References
Bandyopadhyay, N. (2016). Exploring service quality: A critical review of literature. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management , 13 (3), 358-377. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijicbm.2016.078838
Kefalas, S. (2019). Quality service in the hospitality industry: Achieving effective service processes and designs. Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism , 39-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12453-3_5
Leckie, C., Nyadzayo, M. W., & Johnson, L. W. (2019). Customer engagement and organizational performance: A service-dominant logic perspective. Handbook of Research on Customer Engagement , 311-328. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788114899.00022
