What is Services? – Characteristics, Types, and Examples

Services are activities that satisfy the wants and needs of consumers. It is similar to what good is. The only difference is that the service is intangible, while the interest is tangible. These are intangible because they do not have a material form and are made in exchange for an economic benefit. They are also intangible because customers cannot physically acquire them since they are not material.

They can be enjoy the instant they are borrowed. On the other hand, the goods can be enjoyed for an extended time.

Characteristics of the Services

The Main Features of the Services Are

• They are intangible, which means they cannot be heard or touched, so they cannot be placed in store windows or stores. For this reason, buyers are not always sure to purchase and choose to investigate how good the quality of the service is.
• One of the most outstanding characteristics of goods is that they have a cycle, so they are first produced, then sold, and finally consumed. Services generally do not have this cycle, but are produce, sold, and consumed simultaneously. They are purchased.
• They are perishable since they cannot be save or stored anywhere, and most have an expiration date, like flight tickets.
• It can vary according to the human factor since they are not always provided in the same way.
• The clients of the services do not have the right to their property since they only agree to acquire a lease or service. After the service ends, the only thing that the client retains is the experience he live.

Types of Services

Public and Private Services

Private services: These are  offer by private companies that satisfy the wishes or needs of consumers in exchange for financial compensation. For example, the internet, personal security, or cell phone service.

Public services: These are offer by the State to help the population that requires them. For example, the police, fire departments, or hospitals.

According to Typology

Workshop services: It is the type of service offer by individual people who must be train in maintaining and repairing a good for example, a workshop for cars.

Maintenance services: They offer the possibility of repairing items for customers for example, mobile phones, televisions, etc. At an industrial level, it can be motorcycles or trucks.

Home services: The client hires them through the internet or telephone call with the aim of not leaving his home. For example, food delivery.

Rental services: are the kind of service people hire to solve a need for a specific time. For example, we rent a house, a dress, etc.

Examples of Services

• The food are found in any city, whether fast food stalls or high-end restaurants.
• The telecommunications it found in each country offer internet and cell phones to their customers.
• Distribution services: It is a broad sector specializing in transporting merchandise of all kinds.
• A hairdresser offers a service to its clients since its employees give them haircuts and all kinds of arrangements.
• The police, firefighters, and other organizations offer surveillance and security.
• Insurers offer insurance it of all kinds.
• Companies that provide electricity or drinking water.

Conclusion

The tertiary sector of the economy, usually known as the service sector, remains the third of the three economic segments in the three-sector model. The others are the leading sector and the minor sector.