Communicating through the service environment

Abstract

In service companies the product the customer receives in not bought off the shelf from a supermarket. The customer must enter a service location and it is within this environment that the product offering is made available. Contrary to physical goods producers, service firms often tent to own their own network of distribution and often make relatively limited use of intermediaries. With physical goods manufacturers the appearance of the factory would not normally be a concern of marketing but the same cannot be said in the case of service providers.