EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Services marketing is a sub-field of marketing, which can be split into the two main areas of goods marketing (which includes the marketing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and durables) and services marketing. Services marketing typically refers to both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) services, and includes marketing of services such as telecommunications services, financial services, all types of hospitality services, car rental services, air travel, health care services and professional services.

Services are (usually) intangible economic activities offered by one party to another. Often time-based, services performed bring about desired results to recipients, objects, or other assets for which purchasers have responsibility. In exchange for money, time, and effort, service customers expect value from access to goods, labor, professional skills, facilities, networks, and systems; but they do not normally take ownership of any of the physical elements involved.

In this assignment I will explain in depth about marketing service by taking the example of three well-known companies. These companies have been in the market for a long time and their experience in the marketing service can be used as a reference.

TABLE OF CONTENT

1.0     McDONALD’S   

          1.1     Company Background                                                    3

          1.2     Type of Industry                                                            4

          1.3     Type of Service Marketing                                              4

          1.4     Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies              4

         

2.0     TESCO

          2.1     Company Background                                                    6

          2.2     Type of Industry                                                            7

          2.3     Type of Service Marketing                                              7

          2.3     Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies              7

         

3.0     GOLDMAN SACHS

          3.1     Company Background                                                    10

          3.2     Type of Industry                                                            10

          3.3     Type of Service Marketing Strategies                               11

          3.4     Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies              11     
1.0       McDONALD’S

1.1              Company Background

McDonald's is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald. In 1948, they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.

A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. In 2012, the company had annual revenues of $27.5 billion and profits of $5.5 billion. According to a 2012 BBC report, McDonald's is the world's second largest private employer—behind Walmart—with 1.9 million employees, 1.5 million of whom work for franchises.

McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies, fruit, and seasoned fries.

1.2              Type of Industry

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises McDonald's restaurants in the restaurant industry worldwide. The company's restaurants serve a locally-relevant menu of food and drinks sold at various price points in approximately 100 countries.

1.3              Type of Service Marketing

One of the best ways to market an intangible is through word of mouth. A happy customer will not wait to be asked about a service from friends and will often want to share her experience and tell people why she likes the service. McDonalds sometimes use referral programs as an integral part of their marketing. They offer clients a cash bonus for each referral they send to McDonalds, offer them a free service for each lead or offer their friends a reduced rate on service if they mention the customer.

1.4       Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies

New market that McDonald‘s is trying to enter in the United States is the luxury coffee market, a market revolutionized by Starbucks Corporation. McDonald‘s has already begun its infiltration by introducing its own espresso drinks line: latte (hot/iced), mocha (hot/iced), and cappuccino. More than 7,000 stores nationwide currently sell the new beverages, and McDonald‘s plans to add espresso machines to the majority of its 14,000 stores nationwide by mid-2009. This aggressive addition is aided by the growing awareness of the economic recession and the new demand for low cost food items. ―We know our customers are looking for those affordable luxuries," McDonald‘s spokeswoman Danya Proud said. ―"We know our customers are visiting us, now more than ever, for many of our well known breakfast items, and we know our coffees continue to be a growing category."3 The new espresso line is integrated directly into the front counter menu, and simplifying the process by using English size names (small, medium, large) rather than Italian ones. McDonald‘s projects $1 billion annual revenue from its new espresso line.

McDonald‘s current strategies are distinctly different: specialty coffee and McCafe. One aims to start an in-store line of espresso drinks fully integrated with the current menu, while the other calls for the creation of a completely different restaurant. Note: although McCafe is the name of the McDonald‘s coffee and espresso line, here we will only refer to McCafe as the store.

The idea behind McCafe is to essentially enter the luxury coffeehouse business most well exemplified by Starbucks. By adopting a new brand, McDonald‘s is able to serve coffee and espresso drinks in a place the McDonald‘s image has not tainted. Much like previous McDonald‘s run restaurants such as Chipotle and Boston Market, McCafe will have different menus and décor.

Unlike McDonald‘s other brands, however, McCafe can be paired up with existing stores, either as a separate section or as a separate sales counter. Not only can the sales of the original restaurants be increased, but the restaurant may also benefit from a better reputation and increased popularity. This will definitely be true in the early stages of implementation of these stores, because people will get naturally curious. This is also when establishing McCafe as a worthy and cost-friendly substitute to current coffeehouses and dispelling a negative reputation as a low quality coffee brand will be important.

2.0              TESCO

2.1       Company Background        

Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. It is the third largest retailer in the world measured by profits and second-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. It has stores in 12 countries across Asia and Europe and is the grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 28.4%), Ireland, Hungary, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen as a group of market stalls. The Tesco name first appeared in 1924, after Cohen purchased a shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell and combined those initials with the first two letters of his surname, and the first Tesco store opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Barnet. His business expanded rapidly, and by 1939 he had over 100 Tesco stores across the country.

Originally a UK-focused grocery retailer, since the early 1990s Tesco has increasingly diversified geographically and into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, toys, petrol and software; financial services; telecoms and internet services. The 1990s saw Tesco reposition itself, from its perception as a downmarket "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap" retailer, to one which appeals across a wide social group, from its Tesco Value (launched 1993) to its Tesco Finest ranges. This was successful, and saw the chain grow from 500 stores in the mid-1990s to 2,500 stores fifteen years later.

Tesco is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalization of approximately £18.1 billion as of 22 April 2015, the 28th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

            2.2       Type of Industry

As one of the world’s largest retailers with over 500,000 operation and management staff, Tesco is currently serving millions of customers a week in their stores and online.

            2.3       Type of Service Marketing  

Social media are hard to escape, with millions of people sending texts and emails to friends when they see interesting items they want to share. They can also be an inexpensive way for smaller businesses with few advertising dollars to make an impact. A social media marketing strategy lets Tesco take advantage of free tools such as Facebook and Twitter to educate consumers and get them to spread the word to their network of contacts. With Facebook, for example, Tesco create a free business page that lets detail of the product. Place Facebook "Like" buttons on Tesco  website pages to encourage visitors to share what they find with friends. Send Twitter messages that give customers free tips. For example, a landscaper might tweet, "Watering your lawn more than once per week isn't necessary. Once a week for 30 minutes is all you need."

            2.4       Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies

Tesco manipulates with each element of service marketing to a great extent in order to offer competitive benefits to target customer segment discussed above with positive effects on the levels of sales.

Product

Range of products and services offered by Tesco have been consistently expanded during the last several years. Wide range of products and services offered by Tesco include food, clothing, financial services, consumer electronics and others. Tesco aims to achieve competitive advantage by offering an adequate balance of price and quality for its products and services.

Price

Tesco pricing strategy is developed according to its business strategy and the pricing strategy contributes to its competitive advantage. Specifically, Tesco pricing strategy is based on its marketing message of ‘Every Little Helps’. Tesco management aims to reduce the cost of purchase and operational costs through economies of scale and a set of other measures in order to pass the cost advantage to customer as the main brand value.

Place

Place element of the marketing mix relates to locations where customers purchase products and services and distribution of products to those locations. Tesco utilizes two channels to sell its products and services: online and offline.

Online sales channel is entitled as Tesco Direct and it relates to the official website of the company – www.tesco.com. Offline sales channels, on the other hand, relates to four different store formats – Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, Tesco Compact and Tesco Superstore.

Promotion

Tesco promotion strategy is consistent with its overall business strategy of cost advantage. As it has been discussed above, marketing objectives of Tesco include profit maximization in short-term and long-term perspectives and increasing the value of the brand image. This objective is achieved through media advertisements, sponsorships of events and charitable causes, point-of-sales marketing strategies, regular announcement of promotional offers and discounts etc.

Moreover, Tesco Clubcard can be specified as en effective promotional tool that contributes to the business strategy of cost advantage. Importantly, apart from contributing to the levels of customer loyalty through discounts on purchases, Clubcard is used by Tesco as an effective tool to collect valuable information about consumer behavior and this information can be used to further increase the value of the brand.

People

Importance of people element of the marketing mix is paramount in retail industry because incompetent sales assistants can compromise the effectiveness of other elements of the marketing mix.

           

Tesco aims to attract and retain highly competent employees through a set of programs and initiatives such as Colleague Priveledge card, Save As You Earn, and Buy As You Earn schemes (Share Our Success, 2014, online).

Process

Process element of marketing mix in relation to Tesco operations relate to the process of delivering the service and a set of relevant factors such as customer waiting times on the queue, the levels of helpfulness of sales assistants etc.

Tesco management addresses this vital element of the marketing mix by attempting to ensure the presence adequate numbers of sales assistants on shop floors at all times and responding to consumer queries and concerns in effective manners.

Physical evidence

As the last element of the marketing mix, physical evidence relates to tangible aspects of Tesco stores such as design of stores, packaging quality, size and quality of car parks, existence wheelchair access facilities etc. Physical evidence element of marketing mix is developed in Tesco stores in highly standardized formats, and they reflect visual elements of brand in multiple levels.

3.0              Goldman Sachs

3.1              Company Background

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment banking firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients.

Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in international financial centers. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in market making and private equity deals, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury security market. It is recognized as one of the premier investment banks in the world.

Former Goldman executives who moved on to government positions include: Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively; Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank; Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada 2008–13 and Governor of the Bank of England from July 2013.

            3.2       Type of Industry

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.

            3.3       Type of Service Marketing Strategies

Customers might be gun shy about trying a service if they aren’t sure what they are getting. Offering free demonstrations like what Goldman Sachs do helps ease their concerns and can result in immediate sales. For example, for their financial forecast training, Goldman Sachs offers live demonstration how they deal with stock and options. And for their public relations services, they always offer meet with a business owner, discuss his current marketing strategy and suggest PR initiatives he could try and outline the cost to do so.

            3.4       Implementation of Service Marketing Strategies

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs understands how critical profit is in attaining superior returns. In addition, profitability is also the major key in building their capital.

The firm also sees to it that the interests of their employees and their shareholders align in order to maintain harmonious relationship among the people they work with.

Goldman Sachs provides their financial services to their clients professionally.

This finance firm gives particular importance to their clients. The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs guides them to be always determined in achieving excellence in whatever they undertake. Despite the fact that the firm has heavy volume of activities, they make sure that they are outstanding with their services.

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs is one of a kind that it can guarantee an individual’s success. This is because it is an innovative finance firm that always looks for the most effective solution.

This firm provides a unique solution to any financial needs of every individual. It serves as the trend setter in the finance industry.

As a matter of fact, this firm has pioneered a lot of financial strategies and techniques that a lot of individuals and financial institutions still use today.

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs has become the standard in the finance industry.

Aside from the excellent financial strategy of Goldman Sachs, this firm also makes sure that they get to hire the best person for a certain job.

They select carefully their employees in order to make sure that they can handle the responsibilities that will be given to them. Goldman Sachs deals with activities that worth billions of dollars. However, they still find the time to select their employees one by one. They give a lot of attention to hiring the best people in order to become the best finance firm in the world.

Goldman Sachs is a proactive finance firm. They are particular with the preparation of vital matters ahead of time. Their advancements is another factor that contributes to the effectiveness of the financial strategy of Goldman Sachs. They are able to deal with any changes properly as they anticipate this kind of events.

They have excellent people who have the capacity to identify the best option for any crisis that may arise. They embrace their responsibility to provide excellent services to their clients from all parts of the world. These clients have varying cultures, perspectives and backgrounds. Even so, the financial strategy of Goldman Sachs is able to meet these various factors. Diversity is not an option for them, but it is something that guides them in everything they do.

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs is designed by a lot of intelligent and creative minds. This firm believes in the power of individual creativity, but it also encourages team effort.

They learned that teamwork is always the best weapon in carrying out their activities. Their techniques and strategies were developed because they work hard.

They always find innovative and effective ways to give the best financial service to their millions of clients. The firm discourages strongly people who focus on personal interests rather than the interest of the majority.

Dedication is one of the many great assets of Goldman Sachs. Their people always exert intense effort in everything they do. They understand the essence of dedication in achieving organizational success.

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs is designed to handle even large projects. The firm is composed of many outstanding people. This lets them carry out any project that they undertake. Being in the finance industry is a challenging venture.

It requires specialized knowledge and skills in order to be successful in this industry. With the help of the financial strategy of Goldman Sachs, individuals, corporations, and other financial institutions are able to manage their finances properly.

Goldman Sachs has financial strategies and techniques that can be applied in any circumstance in the world of finance. The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs is designed carefully to handle the changing needs of their clients.

In addition, a lot of things may happen in the finance world unexpectedly. Fortunately, Goldman Sachs has the ability to foresee those things, so their clients do not have to worry about their financial matters.

The financial strategy of Goldman Sachs has helped a lot of individuals from different fields. This outstanding financial firm has been providing excellent financial services to entrepreneurs, corporations, governments, and other financial institutions.

4.0              CONCLUSION

Services marketing strategy focuses on delivering processes, experiences, and intangibles to customers rather than physical goods and transactions. It involves integrating a focus on the customer throughout the firm and across all functions. All company functions – marketing, selling, human resources, operations, and R&D – must work together to create effective services marketing strategy. Rather than the traditional goods marketing focus on transactions and exchange, services marketing strategy is centered on the customer, usage, and relationships.

Services, which can be defined as deeds, processes, and performances, fall into several categories. Many services, such as hotels, transportation, and health care, are offerings in and of themselves and are the primary revenue-producing activities of the firms.

Another category of service is customer service, which includes the service provided in support of a company’s core products. Typically, customer service does not directly produce revenue but rather addresses customer requests, questions, and complaints, besides providing answers and solutions. Service can also be a value-add for manufactured products – many companies provide training, installation, and repair services for the goods they produce – often for a fee. Finally, many services are derived from or are provided by manufactured products such as cell phones, computers, software, and mobile phones. In early writings on services, scholars distinguished services from goods by noting that they were intangible, perishable, variable, and that the producer and consumer were inseparable. Recently, it has been suggested that these distinctive characteristics should not be viewed as unique to services but that they are also relevant to goods, that ‘‘all products are services,’’ and that ‘‘economic exchange is fundamentally about service provision’’. Although this view is rather abstract, it does suggest that all types of organizations can gain valuable insights from services marketing frameworks, tools, and strategies.

REFERENCES

Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1991). Marketing services: Competing through quality. New York: The Free Press.

Bowen D. E., & Schneider, B. (1988). Services marketing and management: Implications for organizational behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 10,43-80.

Evert Gummesson, ‘Lip Service – A Neglected Area in Services Marketing’, Journal of Services Marketing, No. 1, 1987, p. 22 (referring to an unidentified source).

Fryar, C. R. (1991). What’s different about services marketing? Journal of Services Marketing, 5(4), 53-58.

K. Douglas Hoffman and John E.G. Bateson, ‘Ethical Issues in Services Marketing’, Chapter 6 in Essentials of Services Marketing, New York: The Dryden Press, 1997, pp. 100–20.

Kotler, Philip (1 984). Marketing Management: analysis, planning and control.

New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.

Leonard L. Berry, ‘Services Marketing is Different’, Business, May–June 1980.

Onkvisit, S., & Shaw, J. J. (1989). Service marketing: Image, branding, and competition. Business Horizons, ?2(l), 13-18.

Regis McKenna, Real Time, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997.

Stauffer, David. The Power of Competitive Intelligence. Cambridge: Harvard

Business School Publishing, 2003.

The 4Ps classification of marketing decision variables was created by E. Jerome McCarthy, Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach, Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960.

Vessenes, Peter. “Cash Is King, but Marketing Is Everything.” Journal of Financial Planning 16, no. 12 (December 1, 2003)

Webster, C. (1992). What kind of marketing culture exists in your service firm? An audit. Journal of Services Marketing, 6(2),54-67.