Service marketing

Unlike goods, services have a number of features:

1. intangibility;
2. nonconservation (services cannot be stored for the purpose of subsequent sale);
3. inseparability from the source (means the need for constant contact with consumers and their needs);
4. inconstancy of quality (due to the influence of the human factor and largely depends on the qualifications of the employee).

When promoting services as a commodity, it is necessary to consider the importance of interpersonal communication between the seller and the buyer. This is confirmed by numerous studies, when it has always turned out that in the service sector more personal participation of staff, contacts and obtaining information from consumers is required than is necessary when selling goods.

There is an opinion that, due to its uncertainty or variability, the sphere of services requires government regulation to a greater extent than markets for other goods. Often government intervention in the functioning of the services market is caused not only by economic, political, but also social reasons. For example, the establishment of control or domination of any business structures in such segments of the services market as banking or health care can (in the opinion of the state) pose a real threat to national sovereignty and the security of a country. Therefore, in almost all countries, measures are being developed for state regulation of the services sector and the establishment of certain standards regulating the content of services and the quality of their provision. These standards are especially important in such service sectors as health care, education, telecommunications , and financial intermediaries in the stock and credit markets. ^[one]

The appearance of the first scientific papers on the marketing of services dates back to the fifties of the last century. The process of the development of marketing services is conventionally divided into three stages - “Crawling out”, 1953-1979. , "Scurrying about", 1980-1985 and "Confident Step" (walking erect), 1986-1993. The work on the systematization of scientific publications on the marketing of services carried out between 1953 and 1993 was carried out by American scientists Raymond Fisk, Stephen Brown and Mary Bitner. The original (English-language) notation for the periods of development of marketing services presented in this article are also proposed by them.

Crawling out, 1953-1979

The first stage of the development of marketing services has become a stage of risk and discovery. The beginning of the stage is marked by the appearance of the first publications on the marketing of services, the end - by the height of the debate on the differences in services and goods as two types of product in marketing.

For 27 years, 120 works have been published. Most of the well-known authors are John Bateson, Leonard Berry, Stephen Brown, Pierre Eiglier, William George, Christian Gronroos, Eugene Johnson (Eugene Johnson), Eric Langeard (Eric Langeard), Christopher Lovelock (Christopher Lovelock) - published their first and glorified their work during this period.

The main contribution of this stage to the development of marketing services is the identification of the characteristics of the service as a product in marketing. These characteristics — intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and non-persistence — created the foundation for understanding that marketing services is different from product marketing.

Hasty movement (scurrying about), 1980-1985

The first half of the 80s. is the period of "building bridges" in the marketing literature. Supporters of marketing services are beginning to win. In 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1985 with the sponsorship of the American Marketing Association (American Marketing Association, AMA) , the first service marketing conferences are held in the USA.

For 6 years 287 works were published. The main contribution of this stage to the development of marketing services is considered the elaboration of the conceptual foundations of issues related to service quality (service quality), service contacts (service encounters), and a description of the process of providing services (service blueprinting).

Today we can confidently assert that it was the developments carried out in 1980–85 that initiated the exponential growth of service marketing literature, which continues to this day.

Currently, the share of services in global gross product has exceeded 50% and continues to grow. In the economy of developed countries, services account for over 70-80% of GDP. The most dynamic development of computer software development and training in work on them, management consulting, engineering and equipment rental. Since the first half of the 1990s, the largest industrial companies in the world have received most of their income from the provision of services.

• Advertising legal services in the United States

• Raymond P. Fisk, Stephen W. Brown, Mary Jo. Bitner // Journal of Retailing. - 1993. - Vol. 69 (Spring).
• Information portal "Marketing services"