services

Services are activities, performances, or efforts offered by one party to another in exchange for payment, with the aim of satisfying needs or wants. They are typically intangible and produced and consumed during interaction, often involve people or information, and may be delivered through digital platforms as well as face-to-face. Key characteristics are intangibility (no physical product to own), inseparability (production and consumption often occur together), variability (quality depends on individuals and context), and perishability (unutilized capacity cannot be stored).

Services can be categorized as consumer services (healthcare, education, hospitality) and business or professional services (financial services, IT, consulting, legal services). They are a major part of modern economies, and many firms pursue servitization—the addition of service components to products—to create value, differentiate offerings, and stabilize revenue.

Delivery relies on a mix of people, processes, and technology. Service design focuses on the customer experience and process efficiency; service quality is often assessed through dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles, and through customer feedback and metrics.

Economically, services contribute to GDP, employment, and trade, and they interact with goods in complex value chains.

Trends: digitalization, platformization, automation, and data-driven customization are reshaping how services are designed and delivered, raising issues of privacy and regulation.