Services and Services Marketing

Services and Services Marketing..

Services have four distinctive characteristics that greatly affect the design of marketing programs. We will take these four characteristics one by one with respect to brand Puma.

1.  Intangibility- Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelled before they are bought to the customers. Puma try to demonstrate their service quality through physical evidence and presentation.

·        Place: The interior of any Puma store is very fascinating and eye-catching. Every category of product does have different sections in the store, so that the customers do not get addled while searching for anything.

·        People: You will always find sufficient number of attendees inside the store to answer your questions and help you out in anything. They will also inform you about their new upcoming collections.

·        Equipments: There are minimum of one or two computers in every Puma store. Also, credit card swiping machine is available in every store.

2.  Inseparability- Services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. Provider-client interaction is a special feature of services marketing. Puma believe in community relations and they do this by:

-      Creating awareness of their clients’ organizations.

-      Modifying the opinion and behaviour of target communities through tailored activities.

-      Meeting with the public to promote, educate, inform or secure feedback on issues.

-      Serving as a liaison between client and the target community to address any issue.

3.  Variability- Puma never miss out on recruiting the right employees and providing them with excellent training, regardless of whether employees are highly-skilled professionals or low-skilled workers. They always try to understand the customer and communicate clearly.

They also don’t forget to make a service blueprint for the customers which help them in maintaining a “zero defects” culture and devising service recovery strategies. They also keep the record for employee suggestion and complaint systems, customer surveys, and comparison shopping.

4.  Perishability-

Marketing strategies of Puma for improving Services

1.  Reliability- It is the single most important dimension of service quality and must be a service priority.

2.  Basic Service- Puma deliver the basics and do what they are supposed to do- keep promises, use common sense, listen to customers, keep customers informed, and be determined to deliver value to customers.

3.  Teamwork- This enables the company to deliver services with care and attentiveness by improving employee motivation and capabilities.

4.  Surprising Customers- Process dimensions such as assurance, responsiveness, and empathy are most important in exceeding customer expectations.

5.  Service Design- Develop a holistic view of the service while managing its many details.