(a) Difference between Product and Service:
1. Tangibility: Products are tangible, i.e., they can be felt, seen, tasted, heard or smelled before they are purchased whereas services are intangible, i.e., they cannot be felt, seen, tasted or smelled before they are purchased. For example, a person wants to purchase a car. He/she can feel and see the car before purchase but a person going for a massage to the parlour, cannot feel the result before getting the massage done.
2. Variability: Services are highly variable but products are not. For example, if a patient wants to get his liver transplanted, the services given by a hospital situated in Delhi, which is equipped with all modern amenities for doing So, will be quite different from a hospital situated in rural areas of India.
3. Separability: Products are separable, i.e., products are manufactured, put into inventory, then through channel of distribution they reach the ultimate consumer. Thus, product is separable but this is not true in case of services, they are produced and consumed simultaneously. For example, a car is manufactured, put into inventory, distributed through their show¬rooms and then it is purchased by the customer but when a person travels by aeroplane, services of aeroplane (transportation) can be taken while it is flying, thus it is inseparable.
4. Perishability: Products can be stored whereas services cannot be stored. Thus, products are not perishable but services are. If a showroom keeps twenty scooters for sale during one month and they are not sold, they don’t perish. But if a passenger bus has to carry fifty passengers at one time and it carries only 30 then the service meant for 20 passengers perishes.
5. Homogeneity: Products are homogeneous in many respects. In case of standardized products, a product is a perfect substitute for another where it is impossible for an individual to distinguish one from another. Thus, if a person has to buy a Gillette shaving gel, he can pick any one lying at the store. But services are not homogeneous, they are heterogeneous. For example, if one wants to take medicine from doctor, he/she cannot choose any, but will choose the one which gives the best satisfaction.