Services are classified into two groups, ie services in consumer markets and services in industrial market.
1. Services in consumer markets
The following services come under this category.
a) Food services - Food services are offered by hotels, restaurants and catering services. Food is supplied in restaurants as well as delivered to customers’ residence. Catering agents supply food for occasions like wedding, engagements, birthday, conference etc.
b) Boarding and lodging services - These services are provided by hotels and lodges to the people who travel to distant places. Growing tourism has contributed to remarkable growth in boarding and lodging services.
c) Personal care services - These are the services provided to meet the personal care needs of customers like health, appearance, physical fitness etc. personal care service include service offered by beauty parlors, barbershops, gymnasiums, dry cleaners hospitals etc.
d) Entertainment services - These services include cinema, drama, dance, music, amusement park, cable,TV etc. There is an increasing tendency among the people to send more money on entertainment services.
e) Transport services - These include the services provided by railways, road transporting facilities, air transport such as flights and helicopters and water transporting services such as ships and boats.
f) Automobile services - These are services provided to the owners of automobile vehicles for their repair and maintenance. They are provided by units called service stations.
g) Communication services - These are services provided to help people to exchange4 information. These services include telephone, telegraph, e-mail, telex, fax etc. mobile phone and internet has revelutionalized the field of information communication.
h) Education services - Education service provide coaching to students in various desceplines and to prepare them for various examinations. These services are provided by schools, colleges and universities.
i) Insurance services - Insurance services are provided to protect people against the risk of loss of life and properties. Insurance companies sell various insurance policies in the field of life insurance and general insurance. They provide a sense of security to the policy holders.
j) Financial services - These are the services provided to the people to meet their varied financial needs. They are performed by various financial institutions like banks, NBFCs, Chitty companies, stock brokers, mutual fund companies etc. Their services include keeping of deposits, providing various types of loans, discounting bills, hire purchase financing stock broking etc.
2. Services in industrial market
The following services come under this category.
a) Financial services - Finance is essential for carrying out business operations. Companies require both short term and long term finance. This finance is provided by commercial banks, merchant banks and other financial institutions. Investment companies guide firms in investing in share and bonds.
b) Insurance service - All business units are exposed to variety of risks. Insurance companies provide necessary protection against risk such as fire, marine losses, theft, accidents etc.
c) Transport services - Business units require transport services for moving men and materials to the factory and men finished goods from factory. These services are provided by various transport companies by means of trains, trucks, buses ships aero planes etc.
d) Ware housing service - Warehousing services are required for keeping materials and finished goods until they are needed for use. Warehouse in public sector and private sector offer these services to the business units.
e) Advertising services - Advertising is the most commonly and widely used mode of promotion. Advertising agencies help the businessmen to plan and implement advertising campaigns. They also help to study the effectiveness of advertising.
f) Consultancy services - Consultancy services refer to advice given to management on various matters such as production, marketing, finance etc. Most of the business units especially small and medium sized depends on management consultancy firms to solve their problems.
g) Office services - Several types of services are required for the efficient functioning of business offices. These include Xeroxing, scanning, cleaning etc.
h) Engineering services - Engineering services include assistances given to business units in planning new projects, designing plants, construction of buildings, erection plant and machinery etc. therse4 services are provided by specialized engineers.
i) HR services - HR services considered as the most important asset of a business concern. Proper selection and training of man power is essential for organizational development. Selection and training is often entrusted to specialized recruitment agencies.
