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Difference between product and service

Do you know the difference between product and service ? Although the two concepts are different, they have points in common and, often, the second can be found within the first. For example, when buying a car the consumer obtains a product, but beyond the basic components, it also acquires services.

To better understand the difference between product and service, it is worth thinking from the point of view of the consumer . When the customer asks “what does this do for me?”, It is a question about the products offered. And when the question is “what can you do for me?” Refers to the provision of services. Find out more about the similarities and differences between concepts right away.

Intangibility and inseparability are some of the characteristics that define the provision of services.

Understand the difference between product and service

The main difference between product and service is intangibility. When it comes to the sale of a product, you can quantify, because we are talking about something physical. But how to measure the delivery of a service? In an article published in Marketing91, marketing specialist Hitesh Bhasin explains that the time and effort used to deliver the best service possible are intangible, which explains this difference.

The author exemplifies that when buying a service, different from what happens when buying a product, the property is not transferred to the final customer. When you buy a car, it becomes yours. On the other hand, when hiring a travel service through an airline, you own only the ticket, not the airline. It is a very simple example, but it helps to illustrate what happens in each situation.

The perishable is also part of this difference. Products can be stored, taking up space in stocks and with a constant need to rotate, running out and losing deadlines. In the service this does not happen, because the value is generated simultaneously to the provision and consumption.

This item resembles another point of differentiation between the two: inseparability . While the products are produced, delivered and consumed in different stages, the service happens with the presence of the customer in the act of attending. This further enhances the brand’s challenges in promoting immediate customer satisfaction, which is essential for a good evaluation of service delivery.

Summarized list of difference between product and service .

 

1.- The products are tangible, that is, they can be touched and appreciated by the rest of the senses. Services are intangible.

2.- The products, in general, are standard offers and the services are heterogeneous and variable.

3.- The manufacture of products is independent of consumption. While services are produced and consumed at the same time.

4.- The products, in general, are enduring and the services are not.

5.- The companies, understood like productive centers, do not usually come in contact with the consumers. In the services, the contact is direct and continuous.

6.- Consumers do not participate in the elaboration of the products, something that happens in the production of the service.

7.- It is difficult to customize the product, while customizing the service is easy.

8.- The perception of quality of products depends on their internal quality levels. In services, external quality is as much or more important than internal quality.

 

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