Petrol Retailing: Service Delivery and Tangibility
In the fields of economics and marketing, a service is understood as the "non-material equivalent of a good ("Service," 1)." Service provision or delivery is defined further as an economic activity that does not result in ownership, and this is what differentiates it from providing physical or tangible goods. Service provision is considered to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets. Thus, the question of tangibility enters into any discussion of "services" and the "service delivery process."
At issue in this research study is the question of how service plays out in a specific field û petrol retailing û in the delivery of tangible goods and the difference between the delivery of services which is an intangible good. In the petrol retailing field, what is delivered is a tangible good consisting largely of the fuel that is needed to run a vehicle. Other tangible are often sold or delivered in petrol forecourts and the bricks and mortar buildings that often accompany these forecourts. Retailers of petrol may also deliver related products such as motor oil or the kinds of products that are sold in convenience grocery stores, drug stores, fast food outlets and even souvenir shops (Turcsik, 37). However, petrol forecourts do not delivery core services, but deliver a tangible product that can be understood as a distress purchase where there is limited discretion about the purchase of what is a core commodity for motoring.
It will be argued that in this instance, service will be understood as those processes by means of which tangible products are made available or accessible to the consumer. Other issues to be addressed will include how such commodities or goods are delivered, marketed, positioned, and perceived by consumers.
Services can generally ...