Emily Miles

Marketing 505

March 6, 2012

Exam #1

In the following paragraphs I will attempt to show how the attributes of an online encounter do indeed match those of a service product, even if machine and not person produced. Over the past decade, online encounters have shown to be more effective, less costly and provide faster service from both a consumer perspective and also a provider perspective. However, online encounters also have some of the same management issues that have always been and most likely will always be. Looking at both processes, we can determine improvements and also similarities.
First, let’s examine the method of how services provided have changed over the years. Many years ago, when a person needed a product or service, they went to the store or the business office that provided that service. A meeting with a company spokesman was made and discussions were centered on what was needed and what price would be charged. After both parties were in agreement, some money and contracts may or may not have been exchanged. The main issues are that an agreement was made for some service to be performed at a future date. After the services were complete, the payments or the balance of the payments were also completed.
Looking at the total transaction, let’s review the process. The consumer had to travel to the business, meet with the provider and explain what was needed. This takes time, energy, fuel and hours out of the consumer’s day. Planning special trips to take care of regular day to day needs must be planned, worked into a person’s busy schedule and could be very frustrating if time was short on the day that the issue fell on. Most of the time if special parts were needed or had to be ordered, a few days of waiting were required to secure everything to complete the service. Lead time for all of the processes could be several days