A service is the action of doing something for someone or something. It is largely intangible (i.e. not material).

A product is tangible (i.e. material) since you can touch it and own it. A service tends to be an experience that is consumed at the point where it is purchased, and cannot be owned since is quickly perishes. Nature of a service : Inseparable - from the point where it is consumed, and from the provider of the service. Perishable - in that once it has occurred it cannot be repeated in exactly the same way. Variability- since the human involvement of service provision means that no two services will be completely identical. Right of ownership - is not taken to the service, since you merely experience it Services are all around us- as consumers we use services every day. The growth in the service economy is widely recognized and increasingly contributes to the economic development of many regions. Although the service sector accounts for more new job growth in developed countries, the dominance of the service sector is not limited to highly developed nations. Many services like tourism sector, contribute very heavily to developing economies also. By their very nature, services are diverse and therefore have often been difficult to define. However there have been many attempts to describe services and there is an overall recognition of what they are and how they contribute to marketing offerings and the economy. The service marketing mix is also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral part of a service blueprint design. The service marketing mix consists of 7 Ps as compared to the 4 Ps of a product marketing mix. Simply said, the service marketing mix assumes the service as a product itself. However it adds 3 more Ps which are required for optimum service delivery.

The product marketing mix consists of the 4 Ps which are Product, Pricing, Promotions and Placement. The extended service marketing mix places 3 further Ps which include People, Process and Physical evidence. All of these factors are necessary for optimum service delivery. Product The product in service marketing mix is intangible in nature. Like physical products such as a soap or a detergent, service products cannot be measured. Tourism industry or the education industry can be an excellent example. At the same time service products are heterogenous, perishable and cannot beowned. The service product thus has to be designed with care. Generally service blue printing is done to define the service product. For example a restaurant blue print will be prepared before establishing a restaurant business. This service blue print defines exactly how the product (in this case the restaurant) is going to be. Place - Place in case of services determine where is the service product going to be located. The best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the city. A place where there is minimum traffic is a wrong location to start a petrol pump. Similarly a software company will be better placed in a business hub with a lot of companies nearby rather than being placed in a town or rural area. Promotion Promotions have become a critical factor in the service marketing mix. Services are easy to be duplicated and hence it is generally the brand which sets a service apart from its counterpart. You will find a lot of banks and telecom companies promoting themselves rigorously. Why is that? It is because competition in this service sector is generally high and promotions is necessary to survive. Thus banks, IT companies, and dotcoms place themselves above the rest by advertising or promotions. Pricing Pricing in case of services is rather more difficult than in case of products. If you were a restaurant owner, you can price people only for the food you are serving. But then who will pay for the nice ambience you have built up for your customers? Who will pay for the band you have for music? Thus these elements have to be taken into consideration while costing. Generally service pricing involves taking into consideration labor, material cost and overhead costs. By adding a profit mark up you get your final service pricing. You can also read about pricing strategies. Here on we start towards the extended service marketing mix. People People is one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. If you have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a restaurant, your chef and service staff defines you. If you are into banking, employees in your branch and their behavior towards customers defines you. In case of service marketing, people can make or break an organization. Thus many companies nowadays are involved into specially getting their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer service with a focus towards customer satisfaction. In
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fact many companies have to undergo accreditation to show that their staff is better than the rest. Definitely a USP in case of services. Process Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer. Lets take the example of two very good companies Mcdonalds and Fedex. Both the companies thrive on their quick service and the reason they can do that is their confidence on their processes. On top of it, the demand of these services is such that they have to deliver optimally without a loss in quality. Thus the process of a service company in delivering its product is of utmost importance. It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the service product reaching the end customer. Physical Evidence The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element. As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better customer experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service. Take an example of a restaurant which has only chairs and tables and good food, or a restaurant which has ambient lighting, nice music along with good seating arrangement and this also serves good food. Which one will you prefer? The one with the nice ambience. Thats physical evidence. Several times, physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing. Imagine a private hospital and a government hospital. A private hospital will have plush offices and well dressed staff. Same cannot be said for a government hospital. Thus physical evidence acts as a differentiator.

Services in the Fashion Business

We identify the fashion business commonly with products and more specifically with apparel and accessories and it was difficult to identify fashion services. However, a more fundamental and view of the fashion business could be defined as a business where trends are core to the business, a business where following a trend or a change is more important than the utility. For such a purpose, we could include products which are purchased on the value they
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have owing to the common trend being followed. Thus the fashion business could include apparel, accessories, home dcor etc. Hence, understanding this more fundamental definition of the fashion business, we could say that the following services are essentially fashion services. 1 Styling: Services which help individuals / sets decide on what apparel will be appropriate t be worn towards a particular mood or situation 2 Custom Tailoring: Tailoring services for high fashion for example custom tailored Armani suits. 3 Interior design: people love to keep changing the dcor of their houses as per the latest trend. In that context home dcor is in the fashion business and interior design is a fashion service. 4 Hair styling: hair is an essential fashion trend and hair styling is a service which is hence fundamentally a fashion business service. 5 Spa/ Grooming services: Grooming/ spa treatments are also very trend specific and a lifestyle products. Hence such service would also fall in the fashion business services.

Services Marketing in the context of the fashion business

Given our identification of some fashion business related services, we will explore the 7Ps in the context of Services Marketing and Fashion business with respect to these examples of services so that the discussion may be more relevant and clear. If we look at the traditional 4Ps of marketing: Pricing: for services is more flexible, based on perceived value than tangible products. A significant amount of pricing freedom exists for fashion services as compared to fashion products.

Product: In the case of services, product refers to a specific service. For example a nail treatment at the spa could be called a product. 3 separate facial treatments could be called 3 products. It is common in marketing terms to promote certain service packages as products. Promotion: While service promotion essentially means the same both for tangible products and intangible services, the promotion methods may be slightly different for services than for products. For example, In the case of products, sample packs or trial packs can be easily used for promotion. However in the case of services, trial sessions have a greater marketing cost, and lower reach. However in services promotion through trials will typically find greater conversion rates than for products. Place: While the place is important in product marketing, place becomes even more important in case of services marketing, especially for services, and more specifically for fashion services. While there are services which can be delivered remotely, such a call center services, there are almost negligible services in the fashion business which can be delivered remotely, since experience is a key ingredient of the fashion services businesses. Hence for fashion services, the catchment area / target market is locally constrained. People: Services and specially fashion services, the people are a key for two reasons. One, as for normal services, the quality and expertise of the service provider staff has a major impact on the service quality. Two, only for the fashion business, people are key to trends. And people such as bollywood stars are key influencers. Hence, we can expand the definition of People in the context of fashion business service marketing to highlight the trend / fashion influencers. These could be both celebrities, but also ones age group or peers or neighbors or even the kitty party group of housewifes the crux / core of fashion means trend and trend is driven by some people following / imitating other choices.

Process: The Fashion business is about uniqueness and exclusivity and hence fashion services also exude exclusivity and uniqueness. Therefore fashion services must be able to replicate the exact same service experience each time the service is used by a customer. The ability to replicate / provide a consistent service experience can be made possible only by following stringent processes and attention to detail. The best example of this is McDonalnds being able to
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provide not only the same service experience, but also the same product across the globe with the same standards (even though the human tongue is very sensitive). In the context of fashion business A Shehnaz Hussein treatment across all the stores run by them is the same. This is achieved by following processes which are common across the centers. Physical Evidence: The Fashion business with its crux being about following trends is about inspirational products and services. Such inspirational products and services are high lifestyle products and for lifestyle products the physical evidence is very very important. We could say that physical evidence is exuded by the ambience of the surroundings and is more important in the fashion services business. For example you may get a good haircut at a local shop too, but if you get a haircut more luxurious surroundings, the overall experience is very different and this is what differentiates Fashion services. For the purpose of a greater exploration of the 7Ps in the context of Fashion Services businesses, we could explore the 7Ps for each of the examples of fashion business mentioned in Part B.

Styling Services Product In case of styling service, there is not much differentiation in terms of product. These are more of consulting services sold more on a time basis. Price Pricing for styling completely depends on the experience and reputation of the stylists. No variation across product types etc. Mostly pricing is dependent on the time the stylist is required to spend and the complexity of the brief. Promotion Word of mouth promotion reigns for stylists. This is a niche service and no volumes can be achieved. Styling agencies are essentially led by the reputed stylists.

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P2

P3

P4

Place

Location of the stylist is not important since these services are typically provided at the customer location.

P5

People

This is the most important factor. People - i.e. the reputation of the stylist and his team is critical to styling services marketing.
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Secondly the client list of the stylist is itself a great promotion and marketing tool for the service provider. Process P6 While good styling is a very subjective, hence there is no set process which is the best for styling. Hence, we can see that for this particular fashion service, process may not be so important after all. Physical Evidence Again, since all the services are delivered at the customer location, the importance of physical evidence is mitigated. However the P7 physical evidence in terms of the end product of those styling services is a powerful marketing method since it provides high publicity especially if it receives good reviews from critics e.g. movie critics and self styled fashion police.

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Custom Tailoring Product In case of custom tailoring service, huge differentiation in terms of product and product types is possible for both men and women. Price Since custom tailoring was / is reasonably common for day to day clothes, there were some pricing norms for specific products. i.e for

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shirt / blouse / trousers / blazers. With custom tailoring slowly dying out for day to day use, custom tailoring in the ultra luxury market i.e. custom tailored Armani suits pricing is completely dependent on the reputation of the designer. Promotion Custom tailoring attracts a very niche set of customers and hence promotion of such services is not very common as compared to other services. Place Location is an important factor, since the service requires several visits by the customer and hence customers usually prefer local service providers.

P3

P4

P5

People

The quality and skill of the staff is extremely important to provide the desired quality of end product.

Process P6

The process is important from a technical point of view, but otherwise the process value for tailoring may not be so significant as compared to others, since a majority of the tailoring process is not in the presence of the customer.

P7

Physical Evidence

The location and ambience at the tailoring front office does have an impact.

Interior Design Product In case of interior service, there is not much differentiation in terms of product. These are more of consulting services sold on the basis of volume of work involved. Price Pricing for interior design completely depends on the experience and reputation of the interior designor. No variation across product types etc. Mostly pricing is dependent on the volume and complexity of the location. Promotion Interior design services are typically able to leverage on word of mount promotion. However print ads and design fairs also help promote these services. Place The location of the company is not very important, apart from the fact that is should be visible and accessible to its target customers. Interior design services and products can be delivered at the customer location.

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P2

P3

P4

P5

People

More that people / staff , in the interior design business the display of past projects works more in marketing its services.

P6

Process

While good interior design is very subjective, hence there is no set process which is established.

Physical Evidence

Though, all the services are delivered at the customer location, the importance of physical evidence is significant. When the customer

P7

walks in the office of the interior designer, those interiors must display the capability of the interior designer which has a significant impact on customer decision making.

Hair Styling Product In case of hair styling service, there is not much differentiation in terms of product. Typically, the products may be defined based on

P1

age and sex. i.e child haircut, female haircut vs male haircut. There is some differentiation across hairstyles too, but in very speacilized cases such as streaking / coloring / perming and unique hairstyles. Price Pricing for hair styling completely depends on the experience and payment capacity of the customer segment being targeted. Hence

P2

hair styling ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 10000. There is a variation across styling products such as coloring streaking, perming, curling etc. Promotion A majority of the hair stylists depend on word of mouth promotion. However hair styling chain do carry out limited print media promotion. Place Location is extremely important. While hair styling / cutting is a need it is also a fashion statement. However, a majority of the

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P4

customers prefer to do this at a place nearby their place of residence in which case the location determines both the revenue and the customer segment for the hair stylist.

P5

People

The Quality of the staff at the hair stylist is critical to providing a satisfactory service experience.

Process

Hair styling in different places follow essentially the same basic process. However the customer experience is enhanced through

P6

add ons to the basic process such as addition of a hair wash or addition of a head massage to the hair styling process. Some frills in terms of the experience help differentiate in this business. Physical Evidence This is an reasonably important factor and the physical evidence must reflect a basic level of hygiene which is acceptable to the target customer segement.

P7

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SPA Services Product In case of Spa services, there are a huge number of separate services which have been productized. This productization helps increase revenue and provide specific services. Besides this multiple products have been collated to provide packages. Price The SPA services traditionally being associated with 5 star and luxury hotels are typically priced high. However now with SPA

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service outside the luxury hotels, more reasonable SPA services are also available. The range of premium demanded across SPAs can be huge. Promotion Word of mouth promotion reigns for SPAs. However promotion through special packages, print and digital media is alos popular with SPA chains picking up in the country, Place Location of the stylist is extremely important. It is extremely essential that the SPA is located close to its target customers, hence we see these being located in upmarket locations. People The general quality of the staff at the SPA does make a difference and there are training colleges which help groom manpower in this space.

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P4

P5

P6

Process

The process is essential for SPA services to ensure services experience across different locations.

Physical Evidence P7

This is one of the most important factors, since the customer visits the SPA not only for the treatments but for the experience provided through its ambience.

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