The marketing of services 599
to satisfy customers’ needs. In addition to the
four traditional elements of the marketing mix,
it is common to recognize the importance of
people and processes as additional elements.
Booms and Bitner also talk about physical
evidence making up a seventh ‘P’.
Decisions on one element of the extended
marketing mix can only be made by reference to
other elements of the mix in order to give a
sustainable product positioning. The impor-
tance attached to each element of the extended
marketing mix will vary between services. In a
highly automated service such as vending
machine dispensing, the people element will be
a less important element of the mix than in a
people-intensive business such as a restaurant.
A brief overview of the extended services
marketing mix ingredients is given below. In
the case of the four traditional ‘Ps’, emphasis
will be given to distinguishing their application
in a services rather than a goods context.
Products
A product is anything that an organization
offers to potential customers, whether it is
tangible or intangible. After initial hesitation,
most marketing managers are now happy to
talk about an intangible service as a product.
Thus, bank accounts, insurance policies and
holidays are frequently referred to as products,
sometimes to the amusement of non-marketers,
and pop stars or even politicians are referred to
as a product to be marketed.
Marketing mix management must recog-
nize a number of significant differences
between goods and services. A number of
authors (e.g. Kotler, 1997) have described a
model comprising various levels of product
definition. The model developed by Kotler
starts from the ‘core’ level (defining the basic
needs which are satisfied by the product),
through a ‘tangible’ level (the tangible manifes-
tation of the product), through to an ‘aug-
mented’ level (the additional services which are
added to the product). While this analysis is
held to be true of products in general, doubts
have been expressed about whether it can be
applied to the service offer. Is it possible to
identify a core service representing the essence
of a consumer’s perceived need that requires
satisfying?
If such a core service exists, can it be made
available in a form that is ‘consumer friendly’,
and if so, what elements are included in this
form? Finally, is there a level of service corre-
sponding to the augmented product that allows
a service provider to differentiate its service
offer from that of its competitors in the same
way as a car manufacturer differentiates its
augmented product from that of its
competitors?
Most analyses of the service offer recognize
that the problems of inseparability and intangi-
bility make application of the three generic
levels of product offer less meaningful to the
service offer. Instead, the product offer in
respect of services can be more usefully ana-
lysed in terms of two components: the core service, which represents the core
benefit; and
the secondary service, which represents both
the tangible and augmented product levels
(Figure 23.4).Sasser et al. (1978) described the core
service level as the substantiveservice, which is
best understood as the essential function of a
service. Gronroos (1984) used the term service
conceptto denote the core of a service offering.
Gronroos stated that it can be general, such as
offering a solution to transport problems (e.g.
car hire), or it could be more specific, such as
offering Indian cuisine in a restaurant.
The secondary service can be best under-
stood in terms of the manner in which a service
is delivered. For example, Little Chef and
Brewers Fayre restaurants both satisfy the same
basic need for fast, economical, hygienic food,
but they do so in differing ways. This is
reflected in different procedures for taking and
delivering orders, differences in menus and in
the ambience of the restaurants.