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1.5 What is a service?

Early conceptualisations of services marketing focused on how services differed from tangible products. Some researchers at the time doubted that any differences existed. Today, services have been accepted as being different on many grounds, some of which are shown in Figure 1.3, and as having characteristics that distinguish them from tangible products.

Figure 1.3 Differences in goods and services

Figure 1.3 Differences in goods and services
Source: Perreault and McCarthy (1993)

Activity 1.4

  1. Write down what you think a service is now. Do this before reading ahead as you will learn more by comparing your definition to others in the following sections.
  2. How many service industries can you think of?

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