Q.What are the different features of services?

Services differ from goods because they are intangible, inseparable from the provider, perishable, variable in quality, and involve no transfer of ownership.

A service is an activity that satisfies a want but has no physical form. The chief features of services are:

• Intangibility — services cannot be seen, touched, tasted or stored; they can only be experienced (e.g. a doctor's advice, a teacher's lesson).
• Inseparability — a service is produced and consumed simultaneously; the producer and the service cannot be separated (a haircut is given and received at the same time).
• Perishability — services cannot be stored for future sale (an unsold seat on a bus or an empty hotel room for a day is lost forever).
• Heterogeneity / variability — the quality of a service varies with the provider, time and place; it cannot be standardised like goods. …

Services are intangible, inseparable, perishable, variable in quality and involve no transfer of ownership — features that distinguish them from goods.

Services are activities that satisfy human wants directly but have no physical, material form (e.g. teaching, banking, transport, healthcare). They make up the tertiary sector of the economy. Their key features are:

1. Intangibility — services cannot be seen, touched, stored or measured physically before they are bought.
2. Inseparability — production and consumption take place at the same time; the service and its provider cannot be separated (a haircut is used while it is being given).
3. Perishability — services cannot be stored for future use; an unsold seat on a bus or an idle doctor's hour is lost forever. …