 Hello learners, I welcome you to the second video where we are going to discuss some important aspects of services marketing. In the earlier video, we have discussed the concept of services as well as the differences between physical product and services. We have also discussed the reasons for growing importance of services. So in this particular video, we will focus on some important features of services marketing and the marketing mix for services marketing. So you are aware about the importance of services in the context of economic development, the contribution of services sector for the development of the economy. And you are also aware about the different types of services that we availed. Services are services of a doctor, services of hotel, restaurants, etc. So when we are availing the services from the marketing point of view, we have to understand certain important features or characteristics of services marketing. So when we will discuss these features, we need to compare it with the marketing of a physical product which will help you in understanding the features of this marketing, the services marketing. So number one is the intangibility. Intangibility means we cannot touch the services. So you are aware that physical products can be touched, this is tangible, but services are intangible, we cannot touch it. So when a particular service we cannot touch it, definitely it is going to be very difficult for the marketing people. How you market that? What will you show? In case of a physical product, for example, the television. You can show the television to your customer, where different companies are there, different televisions are there produced by the different companies. So the customer can see that, the customer can touch that. But in case of service, the quality of the service, we cannot have an idea without availing it. We cannot touch the service, we cannot touch the activities. So definitely in case of services marketing, we need some special strategies, marketing strategies to market the services. So we have to depend on customer's perception and customer's expectations. We have to build up customer's expectations. We have to meet up the expectations of the customer when we are going to market the services. So as these are intangible, we have to rely on the customer's expectations and how we can build up a good positive perception in the minds of the customers. So this is the intangibility feature which makes the marketing of services different from the marketing of physical product. Secondly, services are perishable. It means we cannot store it. So as services cannot be stored for future consumption, you have to generate it, you have to offer it, the consumer have to avail it at the same time. Suppose in case of a hotel, the rooms are lying vacant. So these rooms with the services that the rooms are provided by the hotel, we cannot store it for a future. Suppose during the off season, almost all the rooms are vacant in a hotel. So these rooms cannot be stored for a future period of time. Means for a peak season, we cannot store it. If it is a loss, it is a loss. If the room is vacant today, it is a loss for today because we cannot store it. We have to sell it, we have to offer it to a customer. If there is no customer, then the room will be lying vacant. So that vacancy cannot be stored. So if we are unable to sell it, it is a loss. It is a perishable product. But in case of physical product, we can store it. The television that we have given the example. So we can store it. If the customer is not in a position to purchase it, so we can store the television in our go down, in our shop. But the hotel cannot store the room for a future customer. So if we are not able to sell it, if we are not able to get a customer for today, it is a loss for today. So the service is perishable. Where is the physical product, we can store it for a future period of time. Thirdly, services are inseparable. It means we cannot separate the service from the service provider. We cannot avail the services of a doctor without the presence of a doctor. So the doctor need to be present, the doctor need to be examine us. And that will help us in availing the services of a doctor. So we cannot separate it from the service provider. But for the physical product, the manufacturer is sitting at a particular place, he is manufacturing, he is arranging the raw materials, he is arranging the transportation for transport the physical product. But services cannot be transferred, means doctor have to move to a place to provide his service. We cannot separate the provider of service and the service. But in case of physical product, we can separate the manufacturer and we can send it to some other places with the help of transportation and we can store it. So these characteristics are special for the services marketing. Then fourthly, it is the heterogeneity. Means services are very difficult to standardize. So suppose you are finding a doctor very good, you are satisfied with the services of the doctor. And that is why you are suggesting your friend that doctor is a good person, he is good profession, he is in a position to provide quality service to the patients. Your friend also visited the doctor but he or she finds the services are not up to the mark. He or she is not satisfied with the services of that doctor whereas you are satisfied with the services of that doctor. So it is very difficult to standardize, how you can measure the services. But in case of physical product, we have some standard, we can standardize each service. We can standardize the product. So the item that we are, the physical products that we are consuming have some standardization. We can avail services at this particular moment which cannot be standardized. But next time we are visiting the same hotel, we may not have the same services. So it depends on time to time and it is difficult to standardize. And therefore you will see that consumers read the services differently. So the example of a doctor is that or you can take the example of a hotel. Sometimes some people find the hotel very good, providing good food, good services, good accommodation. Somewhere some people will say that the services provided by a hotel, this particular hotel is not up to the mark. Then next is ownership. So when we consume a service, when we avail a service, we are not the owner of the service. But if we purchase a product, suppose we are purchasing a washing machine. So we are the owner of that machine. We can use it and we can resell it. But in case of services, we are not the owner. We can avail the services but ownership does not rest with us. The consumer can avail it, the consumer can fill it but the consumer is not in a position to resell it. So ownership of the service will rest with the service provider. Now another important feature of service marketing is the nature of demand. You will see during peak season, there is a great demand for hotel rooms but in some particular months of the year, the hotel rooms are like vacant. Why? This is the nature of demand. At a particular point of time, like during the puja holidays, view holidays, there is a great demand for hotel rooms. There is a great demand in the tourist spots. So two services, the two operators are working their night. But in off season, because of the decreased demand, hotel rooms are like vacant. Two operators are not so busy during the off season. So the demand fluctuates according to the season. A seasonal aspect is always associated with the services. So it is flexible. The services fluctuate according to the season. Now let us move to another aspect. That is the marketing mix for services marketing. You are aware that marketing mix is a composition of different elements. There is the policies, it is the marketing strategies that the companies frame for selling the goods. So generally when we discuss the marketing mix for a product, we are aware that generally we have four piece, product, price, place and promotion. These are the elements where the marketers frame the different strategies to take advantage of the market to face the competition in the market. So marketing mix is the marketing policy, marketing strategy comprising the different elements. When we will discuss the marketing mix in terms of services marketing, we have some more elements in the marketing mix. So as we are discussing the marketing mix for services marketing, let us start it with the first element product. So these are the elements also important for the marketing of physical product. So product, in case of a physical product, we can offer something. It may be a TV, it may be washing machine, it may be medicine, it may be anything which we can touch. But in case of services marketing, the services cannot be touched, intangible. So these are the activities, these are offered, these are the benefits or an idea that is marketed. So the product here will mean the activities, the benefits or an idea that is offered to the market that is targeted to a particular market segment. So to a particular group of customers, the idea will be marketed, the benefits will be given. So when we will discuss the first element product in terms of services marketing, it refers to certain activities, certain benefits which are targeted to a specific market segment. So you are availing the services of university. So this is the service, educational service provided to you and this is targeted to the people who are interested in real study. So the next element will be the price. Same with the marketing mix element for a physical product. So price means the charge, the amount paid by the customer. Where a consumer avails service, he or she have to pay some amount, you have to pay some fees. So when we visit the doctor, we pay some fees. When we avail the services of a restaurant, we take food there and we pay. So this is the price that is charged for the services. So all services will be offered against a price. Now if the price of the service is increased, the service may not be that much popular for that particular segment. So this is very price sensitive. Again another important aspect associated with this price element is that price is connected with the perception of the consumer. Generally high price means the higher quality of the service. So when setting the price, the marketers of any services need to be very cautious. How to build up a good perception, positive perception in the minds of the consumer. Place. The third element of marketing mix is place. So this is similar with the physical product, marketing mix for physical product. So place in case of the marketing mix of a physical product refers to the transportation, with the help of transportation we transport a particular product from the place of production to the place of consumption. But services cannot be transported. Services cannot be stored. Services are sold, services are created at the same time. So you know that the consumer have to take part in generating and in availing the service. And the marketing mix, the place element of the marketing mix for services refers that the consumer and the service provider need to be assembled at a particular point. So it cannot be transported to some other places. Then the fourth element of the marketing mix for services marketing is the promotion. Promotion means you have to promote your service by informing the consumers about the service. So without information, the consumers will not be able to avail it. If you are opening a restaurant, you have to inform your customers to advertisement through promotional materials. You have to provide that information. Without information, the consumers will not come to your restaurant. So when you will communicate the service that you are going to provide, you need to be communicated the strengths of your service. What makes you different from other service providers? You need to communicate that. The strengths of your restaurant have to be communicated to the consumers. So consumers availing the services will not accept it without any information. So you have to be focused on the promotional materials. What information you are going to provide to your consumers? So this is the promotional element for the service marketing mix. Now these are important. People. People is a special element in the marketing mix for the services. People here refers to the employees of a particular organization. The example, suppose the example of your restaurant. So you are opening a restaurant. Now the employees that you are going to appoint there will represent your organization. So employees need to be trained. They need to be customer oriented. They need to be motivated to serve the customers well. So the employees of a service organization are the contact points. So customer will first come and interact with your employees. So employees need to be customer oriented. So in service marketing mix, these particular element people have special importance. Without employees, without motivated trained employees, it is very difficult to satisfy the customers. Then the next important element in the service marketing mix is the physical evidence. You know that services are intangible. We cannot touch it. We just have a feel of the service. But to make the feeling of the services to a satisfactory level, we have some physical evidences. The ambiance of a restaurant. The restaurant that you are going to open. The ambiance of the physical facilities, the chairs, the tables, the comfortability of the environment is the physical evidence that is tied with the services. So the communication materials, the facilities will help in shaping the customer perception about the service generating organization. So customers will come to your restaurant again and again if you are providing a good atmosphere, a comfortable atmosphere, good food, good employees. And this will make the element of the marketing mix for services. And this will help you in framing strategies for the marketing of your service. Another important element in the marketing mix is the process management. Process management means the step by step procedure of performing a particular act. So you must be very cautious when we are providing the service to your customer. The quality of the service should not be varied. There must be some steps that need to be compulsorily followed by the employees. In case you are opening the restaurant, then you should be very careful about the process management. Where the plates are there, where are the vegetables, where are the other cutleries. So you need to be very particular about the steps that need to be taken when you are going to serve the food to your customer. So there is a step by step procedure that needs to be followed to provide the good quality service to the customer. So consistently following those steps will help you in keeping your service quality at a consistent level. So you can balance your service. So sometimes it may happen that there are more customers than your expectation in your restaurant. So in that case the process management will help you in following all the steps to satisfy that increased demand. You can easily supply the services to satisfy the increased demand if you have a good process management and efficient process management. So operation management will also help in managing the process, the managing the service quality for your organization. So these elements, all the seven elements of the marketing mix for services will help you in understanding the critical factors that need to be considered in framing the marketing strategies for services. The employees, the physical evidence, these are some special elements that are added for the service marketing mix. At the same time, the product element, the price, the promotion, the place, we have to take care of all these elements when we will design the marketing mix for services. So London, these are all about the special features of services marketing as well as the elements of marketing mix. We have discussed these factors. Hope this will help you in understanding the importance of services and how we can frame strategies for service providing organizations. Thank you very much. Thank you.