Examine the various features of services.

The various features of services are as follows:

1. Intangibility: Services are intangible — they cannot be seen, touched, tasted or felt before purchase. They have no physical shape. For example, the service of a doctor or a teacher cannot be physically examined before being availed.

2. Perishability: Services cannot be stored for future use. They are consumed at the moment they are produced. For example, an unsold seat in a flight.

3. Inseparability: Services are produced and consumed simultaneously. For example, when you travel by taxi, the driver must be present.

4. Variability: Services can rarely be standardised. The quality of a service varies from one provider to another. For example, two haircuts by the same barber may not be identical.

5. No Ownership: When a customer buys a service, only the benefit of the service is enjoyed; ownership is not transferred. For example, a hotel guest gets the right to use the room but does not own it.

6. Heterogeneity: Because of variability, services are heterogeneous in nature; they are not uniform like products.