WHAT IS SERVICESCAPE?

The concept of a servicescape was developed by Booms and Bitner to emphasize the impact of the physical environment in which a service process takes place. Booms and Bitner defined a servicescape as: "The environment in which the service is assembled and in which the seller and customer interact, combined with tangible commodities that facilitate performance or communication of the service" 1 SERVICESCAPES Servicescapes can be classified on two dimensions: Servicescape usage Complexity of the servicescapes I. The usage takes into account as to how organisations differs in terms of who the servicescape will actually have an effect on when they come in contact with the service facility-customers, employees, or both groups which gives rise to three situations: Self-service (customers only) Interpersonal services (both, customer and employee) Remote services (employee only) 2 II. The complexity of the servicescape has two environments: Lean (simple, few elements, few spaces, and few pieces of equipments) Elaborate (very complicated, many elements, and many forms) For lean servicescapes, design decisions are relatively straightforward, especially in self-service or remote service situations in which there is no interaction among employees and customers. For elaborate servicescapes, the full range of marketing and organisational objectives can be approached through careful management of the servicescape. TYPOLOGY IMPLICATIONS By locating itself in the appropriate cell of the typology as above, the organisation should answer the following: I. Who should be consulted in making servicescapes and other evidence decisions? (Accordingly, focus customer needs, employees, or group needs) II. What organisational goals might be

targeted through servicescape designs? (for self service, the marketing goals; for remote, the work-group needs; for interpersonal, both marketing and organisational goals) How complex is the set of decisions regarding the servicescape? (for elaborate, complex design, more resources of time and money, and people involvement) ROLES OF THE SERVICESCAPE I. Package. wrap the service and convey an external image. It extends to the appearance of contact personnel through their uniforms or dress and other elements of their out-ward appearances. II. Facilitator. Aiding the performances of persons in the environment. Make service a pleasure to experience from the customers point of view and a pleasure to perform from the employees. III. Socialising. Aid in socialising of both employees and customers by conveying the expected roles, behaviours, and relationships through office assignments, quality of furnishings and location in

organisation. IV. Differentiator. Exclusive positioning as differentiated from its competitors and signal the market segment the service it intends to provide. Use of colours, music. Price differentiation through variation of physical luxurious settings and sittings.