Service Product Analysis - Importance of Servicescape - Essay Example

?Service Product Analysis Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Overview 3 Importance of Servicescape 3 The Purpose of Service Environment 4 The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees 5 References 8 Overview The physical atmosphere is considered to be a noteworthy and significant determinant that influences the satisfaction and the succeeding behaviour of a customer. This holds immense importance in the service industry as services are not just consumed for hedonic reasons but even for customers who interact with the physical settings for reasonable amount of time. There have been numerous studies done based on factors such as colour, background music, light, aroma, noise and smell among others. These factors might seem insignificant but when observed in depth, reveals the fact that they are capable of manipulating the level of satisfaction as well as the behaviour of a customer in a positive and in a negative way. Both the factors of behaviour and satisfaction isn relation to a customer hold huge importance in the service industry. Importance of Servicescape Servicescape is said to be the structure or the physical atmosphere that encircles the service. As the individuals present in this physical atmosphere also form and manipulate the atmosphere, so, the social atmosphere or environment is incorporated in the above definition too. A quite vital role is played by the servicescape in forming the expectations of the customers, differentiation in service, making easy the objectives of the customer along with the employees and manipulating the characteristic of the experiences of the customers. It is capable of manipulating the relationship objectives of customers who are important. It begins with drawing the customers to withholding and also in improving the relationship between the customer and the service firm. The appearance and structure of Servicescape assists in drawing customers towards the facility of the offered service. For instance colours, scent, signs and music could be made use to draw customers. After this the Servicescape would assist in providing experience to the customers and manipulate his or her level of contentment through the deliverance of the service (Swartz and Iancobucci 2000). Thus, it can be understood that servicescapes are not only a significant factor in shaping impression of a particular customer but is even a significant basis of fact while assessing along with the service organisation on the whole. It is quite important in the industry of hospitality where the customers interrelate along with the physical atmosphere compared to anything else. It implies that customers relate to the servicescape even before having an experience or understanding of the service. Therefore, it is a variety of environmental signs and physical elements which help persons outline a picture that is holistic regarding the whole servicescape (Donovan and Rossiter 1981) The Purpose of Service Environment Servicescapes which is also known as service environment narrates about the appearance as well as style of the physical environment along with other experiential components witnessed by customers at the sites of service organisations. For service organisations which discharge services of high-contact, the structure of the physical setting and the way in which jobs are carried out in the course of contact with the customers by the employees, together play an essential part in forming a specific corporate distinctiveness and outlining the characteristic of the understanding of the customers. This particular physical environment and its associated atmosphere have an effect on the behaviour of the buyer in few important ways. The environment serves as a medium of message creation by employing cues that are representational in order to correspond to the planned audience regarding the distinguishing characteristic and quality of the experience related to the service. It serves as a medium of attention creation in order to make the physical environment unique compared to its competing organizations and also to draw customers from aimed segments. The physical surroundings also acts as a medium of affect creation by making use of colours, scents, sounds and designs that are spatial in order to improve the experience of the service that is wished for. It also assists in intensifying a desire for particular services, products or experiences (Lovelock, Wirtz and Chatterjee 2010). The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees The outcome or result of physical design or environment along with components of decor on the employees and customers is identified by managers as well as has its mention in almost all texts of retailing, marketing and organisational behaviour. The capability of manipulating behaviours and shaping of an image by the physical atmosphere is specifically evident in service businesses such as restaurants, banks, hotels, hospitals, professional offices and retail stores. This is generally because of the fact that the service is produced as well as consumed at the similar time, the customer essentially is “in the factory”, frequently experiencing the complete service inside the physical capacity of the particular firm. The factory or rather the place of producing the service is not possible to keep hidden and might as a matter of fact construct a powerful impression on the perceptions of the customers regarding the experience of service. It has also been observed that the similar physical environment of the service organisation with which the customers interact and gets manipulated with might also affect the employees of the particular organization. Research in the field of organisational behaviour has revealed that the physical environment is capable of influencing the level of employee productivity, satisfaction and motivation (Bitner 1992) For instance considering the case of Nando’s, which is a popular restaurant in Australia, it can be said that although the restaurant is famous for its dishes but still it has taken considerable care regarding its physical environment. This is quite important as a customer after entering the restaurant has to place the order for the food and wait for it. Here, before deciding on the quality of the food a customer takes into consideration the ambience or the physical setting of the environment as an influencing factor. It is important for the customer to like and enjoy the physical environment of the place where he or she is in as this enhances the overall experience of eating in that particular restaurant. In this restaurant the order needs to be placed in the counter and then the person has to wait for the ordered food to be served by a staff of the restaurant. The process of waiting should be relaxing for the customer or else it might have a bitter experience owing to which one might not plan to visit the restaurant again. The decor and colours of the restaurant should be interesting and there should be music in the background in order to make it a relaxing experience. The restaurant offers the facility of self-help for cutlery and condiments which make it stand out from the other competitive restaurants apart from the food (Nando’s. 2011). From the above discussion, it is quite evident that servicescape is quite an essential issue and due to its increasing importance, the service industry is trying to implement the factors that would positively influence the degree of satisfaction, purchase behaviour and also would help in retaining the existing customers. Although implementing these factors calls for a huge investment and moreover once it is put into practice or rather the physical surrounding has been set up, it becomes quite impossible to change such factors. Therefore, a lot of detailed planning goes behind planning the physical environment. It can be mentioned that servicescape is among the most vital factors in the hospitality industry especially for hotels and restaurants as the customers even before consuming the service interacts with the physical environment. References Bitner, M. J. 1992. “Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees”. Journal of Marketing 56 (2): 57-71. Donovan, R. J. and J. R. Rossiter. 1981. Store Atmosphere: an environmental psychology approach. U.S.: Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. Lovelock, C., J. Wirtz and J. Chatterjee. 2010. Services Marketing. India: Pearson Education India. Nando’s. 2011. Our Restaurants. http://www.nandos.com/sections.html#Our%20Restaurants (Accessed August 27, 2011). Swartz, T. A. and D. Iancobucci. 2000. Handbook of services marketing & management. U.S.: SAGE. Read More