SERVICES
MARKETING
CHAPTER 3
Consumer Behavior in
SERVICES
Consumer problem
Time Deficiency

For many customers, all types of shopping
have become “drudgery or worse” Faced
with dilemma, consumers have choices.
They can continue to do all these tasks for
themselves, or the can decide to employ the
services of professionals or friends and
relatives to help them out.
The antidote to this time deficiency
is found in many new services and service
features that recover time for customers.
Innovative new services pet sitting, plant
watering, mail packaging, wedding advising, baby
proofing, even health form preparation-are
emerging to deal with tasks that used to be
performed by the household but now can be
purchased by the time buying consumer.
Conventional services such as retailing,
banking and restaurants are also adding peripheral
services to make shopping easier, increasing their
hours to suit customer schedules, reducing
transaction time, improving delivery, and providing
merchandise or services at home or work.
Increased used of internet is also saving the
time for customers. With the web and home
delivery, many shopping tasks can be
carried out by customers without even
leaving the house and at any time of the day
or night.
SEARCH, EXPERIENCE,
AND CREDENCE
PROPERTIES
There are three types of properties identified by
economists for identifying goods and services.
1)
Attributes that a consumer can determine
before purchasing a product. Search qualities
include color, price style, fit, feel, hardness and
smell etc. Goods such as automobile , jewelry ,
clothing and furniture etc are high in search
qualities because their attributes can almost be
completely determined and evaluated before
purchase.
Attributes that can be judged only
after purchasing or during consumption.
Experience qualities include taste and
entertainment etc. Goods and services
such as vacations and restaurant meals
etc are high in experience qualities
because their attributes cannot be known
and assessed until they have been
purchased and consumed.
A Third category credence qualities includes
features that the consumer may find impossible to
evaluate even after purchase and consumption.
Examples of offerings high in credence qualities
are appendix operations or brake relining on
automobiles. Few consumers possess medical or
mechanical skills sufficient to evaluate weather
these services are necessarily and performed
properly even after they have been prescribed and
produced by the seller.
CONSUMER
CHOICES
Following are the steps involved in
consumer buying decision process:
1) Need recognition
2) Information search
3) Evaluation of alternatives
4) Purchase decision
5) Post purchase evaluation
1) Need recognition:

The process of buying begins with the recognition that a
need or want exists. Maslow gives the concept of five need
categories arrange in a sequence from basic lower level
need to higher level need.
re biological needs such as food, water, and sleep.
The recognition of these basic needs is fairly straightforward.
Include shelter , protection ,and security.
c)
Are for affection , friendship and acceptance . Social
needs are important in every culture but are particularly
important in east.
d)
Are for prestige, success, accomplishment and self
esteem. Food, safety and belonging are not enough for
many people particularly in western culture. Individual also
seek to look good to others and to feel good about
themselves because of what they have accomplished.
Involves self fulfillment and enrichment. Consumers
desire to live up to their full potential and enjoy themselves.
Some people purchase experiences such as skydiving,
jungle safaris, and bungee jumping for the pure thrill of the
experience, a need quite different from the others in
Maslow’s hierarchy.

The second step in consumer buying decision process is
information search. Once they recognize a need, consumers
obtain information about goods and services that might satisfy
this need.
When purchasing goods, Consumers collects
information about products and services from personal
sources (like friends or experts) and non personal sources (
such as mass or selective media and web sites) to gain
information about goods and services. Seeking information is
a way of reducing risk, helping consumers feel more confident
about their choice. When purchasing goods , consumers
make generous use of both personal and non personal
sources because both effectively convey information about
search qualities.
When purchasing services, on the other hand,
consumers seek and rely to a greater extent on
personal sources for several reasons.
ass and selective media can convey
information about search qualities but can
communicate little about experience qualities . By
asking friends or experts about services, however,
the customer can get information vicariously about
experience qualities.
non personal sources of information may not
be available in services.

Although some degree of perceived risk probably
accompany all purchase transactions, more risk
would appear to be involve in the purchase of
services than in purchase of goods because
services typically are more intangible and, non
standardized and usually sold without guarantee
and warranty.
1)
The intangible nature of services and their high level of experience
qualities imply that services generally must be selected on the
basis of less pre purchase information than is the case of products.
ecause services are non standardized , there will always be
uncertainty about the outcome and consequences each time a
service is purchased.
3)
There is much perceived risk in services because there is no
guarantee or warranty in services like in goods
any services are so technical or specialized that consumers
possess neither the knowledge nor experience to evaluate weather
the services are good or not even after they have consumed the
service.

The third step in consumers buying decision process is evaluation of
alternatives . After identification of alternatives the consumers will
evaluate which alternative is the best one .The did cost and benefit
analysis for making a choice.
The evoked set of alternatives (that group of products a
consumers considers acceptable option in a given product category )
is likely to be smaller with services than with goods.
reason involve the differences in retailing between goods and
services . To purchase goods the retailers shop in retail stores that
display competing products in close proximity, clearly demonstrating
the possible alternatives . To purchase services on the other hand,
The consumers visit an establishment (such as bank , a dry cleaner ,
or a hair salon ) that almost always offers only a single brand for
sale.
continued
A
reason for the smaller evoked set is
that consumers are unlikely to find more
than one or two businesses providing the
same services in a given geographic area,
whereas in goods they find numerous retail
store contains identical products.
4) Service purchase

The fourth set of consumer buying decision
process is decision and use. There can be
two types of decisions , weather to buy or
Not buy . If your decision is not to purchase
then your buying decision will finished at this
stage but if your decision is to purchase
then their certain other decisions related to
this purchase i.e. warranty and guarantee,
mode of payment ,delivery related
information. After that you will use the
product.
5) Post purchase
Evaluation:
Attribution of dissatisfaction:
when consumers are disappointed with
purchase because the products did not fulfill the
intended needs, did not perform satisfactorily or
were not worth their price. They may attribute their
dissatisfaction to a number of different sources,
among them the producers, the retailers, or
themselves. Because consumer participate to a
greater to extent in the definition and production of
services, they may feel more responsible for their
dissatisfaction when they purchase services than
when they purchase goods.
continued
Brand loyalty:
The degree to which consumers are committed to
particular brands of goods or services depends on a
number of factors. The cost of changing brands
(switching cost), the availability of substitutes, and the
perceived risk associated with the purchase, and the
degree to which they have obtained satisfaction in the
past. Because it may be more costly to change brands
of services, because awareness of substitutes is limited,
and because higher risk may accompany services,
consumers are more likely to remain customers of a
particular companies with services than goods.
The role of culture in
services
Culture :
Culture is a set of symbols and traits created by
society and handed down from generation to generation.
The symbols may be intangible ( attitude, belief, values,
language) or tangible ( tools, housing, products, works of
arts ). Culture is learned, shared, and transmitted from
generation to generation. Culture is important in service
marketing because of its effects on the ways customers
evaluate and use services. It also influences how
companies and their services employees interact with
customers. Culture is important when we consider
international service marketing, taking the services from
one country and offering them in other.
Elements of culture
1)
Values and attitudes Differ across Cultures:
Values and attitudes help to determine what
members of a culture think is right, important and or
desirable .Because behaviors including consumer behaviors,
flows from values and attitudes, service marketers who want
their services adopted across cultures must understand
these differences.
2)
Manners and customs:
Manners and customs represents a culture’s views of
appropriate ways of behaving. It is important to monitor
differences in manners and customs because they can have
a direct effect on the service encounter.
Continue
3) Material culture:
Material culture consists of the tangible products of
culture. What people own and how they use material
possessions vary across world . Cars , houses , cloths , and
furniture are examples of material culture. In Japan there are
small houses because of the largest population. Japanese use
small cages in the zoo for the animals and the people is USA
uses large cages in zoo. If a US person visits the zoo in Japan
so they will feel that this is a mistreatment while Japanese
think that this small cage is enough for the animals
.
4) Aesthetics :
Refers to cultural ideas about beauty and good taste.
These are reflected in music, art, drama, and dance, as well
as appreciation of color and taste.
Continue
5) Educational and social institutions:
Both kinds of institution are affected by, and
are transmission agents of, culture. The structure
and functioning of each are heavily influenced by
culture .Class room participation varies substantial
across cultures. Japanese students are used to
listen to lectures, taking notes and asking questions
at the end of lectures. Spaniards are used to huge
undergraduate classes ( Hundreds rather than
dozens) they tend to talk to their friends even if the
instructor is talking. Likewise the health care and
patient /doctor interaction also varies across
cultures.
Difference in the service
experience in united states and
Japan
Authenticity: In Japan “every clerk has the same type of
smile…the smile is not natural ,”and ‘everything is done
according to manual.” In united states, clerks “ act
independently,” and “ there is more variation in treatment.”
Caring : Caring or concern is the most important dimension in
Japan. The “customer is God.” In United states , sales clerks
are always answering , “ I don’t know,” and “ they don’t seem
to care.
Control: control is very important to Americans .In Japan , on
the other hand ,they give the controlling interest to the clerk.
"control is not important in Japan.
Courtesy: is very important in Japan . If we find something bad
about a service like , for example , they didn't apologize for
spilling water , we never go back there again .” courtesy is
very important in Japan.
continued
Formality :
Formality is the requirement for all service.
Treatment in the United states is much more
informal.
Promptness:
In the US the sales clerk and the customer
expect to have a nice little chat. In Japan, many
people would prefer a sales clerk who is quick but
unfriendly.