The marketing of services 589
which to judge quality. While some services
(such as restaurants) are rich in such tangible
cues, other services provide relatively little
tangible evidence (e.g. life insurance).
Intangibility has a number of important
marketing implications. The lack of physical
evidence which intangibility implies increases
the level of uncertainty that a consumer faces
when choosing between competing services.
An important part of a services marketing
programme will therefore involve reducing
consumer uncertainty by such means as adding
physical evidence and the development of
strong brands. It is interesting to note that pure
goods and pure services tend to move in
opposite directions in terms of their general
approach to the issue of tangibility. While
service marketers seek to add tangible evidence
to their product, pure goods marketers often
seek to augment their products by adding
intangible elements such as after-sales service
and improved distribution services.
Inseparability
The production and consumption of a tangible
good are two separate activities. Companies
usually produce goods in one central location
and then transport them to the place where
customers most want to buy them. In this way,
manufacturing companies can achieve econo-
mies of scale through centralized production
and have centralized quality control checks.
The manufacturer is also able to make goods at
a time which is convenient to itself, then make
them available to customers at times which are
convenient to customers. Production and con-
sumption are said to be separable. On the other
hand, the consumption of a service is said to be
inseparable from its means of production.
Producer and consumer must interact in order
for the benefits of the service to be realized.
Both must normally meet at a time and a place
which are mutually convenient in order that the
producer can directly pass on service benefits.
In the extreme case of personal care services,
the customer must be present during the entire
production process. A surgeon, for example,
cannot generally provide a service without the
involvement of a patient. For services, market-
ing becomes a means of facilitating complex
producer–consumer interaction, rather than
being merely an exchange medium.
Inseparability occurs whether the producer
is human – as in the case of health care services- or a machine (e.g. a bank ATM machine). The
service of the ATM machine can only be
realized if the producer and consumer interact.
In some cases, it has been possible to separate
service production and consumption, espe-
cially where there is a low level of personal
contact. This has happened, for example, in the
banking sector, where many banks have
replaced local branches (where there is face-to-
face interaction between producer and con-
sumer) with centralized telephone call centres
(where interaction takes place through the
medium of the telephone).
Inseparability has a number of important
marketing implications for services. First,
whereas goods are generally first produced,
then offered for sale and finally sold and
consumed, inseparability causes this process to
be modified for services. They are generally
sold first, then produced and consumed simul-
taneously. Second, while the method of goods
production is to a large extent (though by no
means always) of little importance to the
consumer, production processes are critical to
the enjoyment of services.
In the case of goods, the consumer is not a
part of the process of production and, in general,
so long as the product which they receive meets
their expectations, they are satisfied (although
there are exceptions, for example where the
ethics of production methods cause concern, or
where quality can only be assessed with a
knowledge of production stages that are hidden
from the consumer’s view). With services, the
active participation of the customer in the
production process makes the process as impor-
tant as the end benefit. In some cases, an
apparently slight change in service production
methods may totally destroy the value of the