Are Services different from products

Services and products have a number of differences andsimilarities.

You can touch a product, it has physical characteristics. Almost all products are made so the first one on the shelf is identical to the second one on the shelf.

Products are made by humans, services are performed by humans.

Services tend to be customized to the person or the situation. Whether it is a repair or a hair cut or preparing a tax return, there will be much greater variance from one service to the next. And of course, you can't touch a service.

However, the methods of promoting products and services are very similar - they both advertise, identify target markets, etc. The tenets of customer service hold true for both...although people are more likely to be upset if they are unhappy with their haircut as opposed to their can of tuna!