Service Positioning Choice of Service Channel Strategy

In the channel selection of service industry, the choice of service location is an extremely important aspect. No matter what channel type is used to obtain customers, the location of the intermediary, that is, where the service company should be, is very important. Banks, accounting firms, legal consulting companies, restaurants, dry cleaners and other service companies. Faced with the same location decision as the company that sells physical products.

1. Basis for selecting service location

Location is the decision made by the enterprise about where to operate and where the employees are. For services, the importance of location depends on the type and degree of interaction. There are three ways of interaction between service providers and customers:

Customers come to service providers, service providers come to customers, and transactions between service providers and customers are within reach. When customers have to find service providers, the location of service industry becomes particularly important. For example, the location of the restaurant is one of the main reasons why customers patronize. Therefore, choosing a suitable location has become a key issue. When the service provider can come to the customer, assuming that the customer is close enough to get high-quality service, the location becomes less important. Location is the least relevant when service providers and customers are trading at their fingertips. In this case, these places are equipped with effective postal and electronic communications, so they don't care about the actual location of service providers, such as telephone and insurance.

The importance of service industry location varies according to the type of service industry, but several problems are the same, which service providers must consider when making service location decisions, including:

(1) What is the market demand? If the service is not provided in a convenient place, will it lead to delays in the procurement or utilization of the service? Will the poor location lead customers to decide not to do the service themselves? Are accessibility and convenience key factors in choosing services (such as choosing banks)?

(2) What are the basic trends of service activities operated by service companies? Are the forces of other competitors infiltrating into the market?

(3) How flexible is the service industry? Is it based on technology or people? How do these factors affect the flexibility of site selection and relocation decision?

(4) Is the company obliged to choose a convenient place? (public services, such as health care).

(5) What new systems, procedures, processes and technologies can be used to overcome the shortcomings caused by past site selection decisions?

(6) What is the impact of supplementary services on site selection decision? Are customers looking for a service system or a service community? Does the location of other service organizations strengthen the location decision already made?

Because many service companies realize the importance of proper placement, they pay more attention to the application of systematic methods in service operation. Considering these problems comprehensively and systematically is helpful for service marketers to make correct positioning decisions.

2. Determination of service location

The importance of the location varies according to the nature of the service being promoted. For example, the positioning of emergency hydropower maintenance services in the on-site maintenance service industry has little to do with the customer's decision-making process.

Generally speaking, the service industry can be divided into the following three categories according to its location:

(1) Location-independent service industry

The location of some service industries is irrelevant, such as residential maintenance, automobile fault service and public utilities. Because these services should be implemented at the customer's site. Therefore, the location of service equipment is not as important as the specific location of service performance. However, the most important thing of this service is how to have high availability and accessibility when customers need it. In this sense, location is not just physical proximity. Of course, physical proximity is very important for some service companies, so it is necessary to develop branches to approach customers (such as advertising companies and architects). In order to make customers get services smoothly, an important factor is the transmission system, through which customers can get a quick response to their calls.

(2) Centralized service industry

Some services are often concentrated together, mainly due to two factors: supply conditions and tradition. In addition, the reasons for the concentration phenomenon are: due to the status correlation of some points, low demand intensity, customers' willingness to flow, the historical development of supplementary services adjacent to core services and unimportant demand orientation.

(3) Decentralized service industry

The location of decentralized service industry depends on market potential. Due to the characteristics of demand and service itself, some service industries must be dispersed in the market. But sometimes institutions can be centralized (such as enterprise consultants), but the service operation is decentralized (such as consultants visiting specific customers).