The concept of service marketing has been well studied since the 1980s. Authors such as Grönroos (1990), Lovelock, Wirtz (2009), Hoffman and Bateson (2008), among others, refer to evolved marketing concepts focused on services. Thus, they start from its own characteristics such as inseparability, intangibility, heterogeneity and expiration (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012) to issues related to loyalty such as the concept of clienting raised by Huete and Pérez (2007). Quoting Grönroos (1990), there is a particularity within marketing that the author himself had already been questioning:
The marketing mix approach is considered too narrow, although it includes activities that are important and often fundamental components of marketing. Dixon and Blois (1983) have gone further in their critique of the 4Ps. They state that the marketing mix approach is not adequate to meet the requirements of the marketing concept. And they end by saying that ́...of course, it would not be unfair to suggest that far from being concerned with the interests of the customer (i.e., someone for whom something is done), the criteria implicit in the 4Ps approach are that the customer is someone to whom something is done! (p. 4)b. In line with this analysis we suggest, in a recently published article, that the marketing mix and its 4Ps constitute a production-oriented definition of marketing, not a market-oriented definition (Grönroos, 1989a).
In this sense, the author is critical of a vision based on production and not on service; in other words, focused on the product and not on the market and its requirements. On closer reading, the author does not seek to find a formula for understanding service from a marketing perspective, but rather to establish a possible order of other variables that are not limited to a totally business perspective.
Twelve years after Grönroos, Shaw and Ivens (2002) refer to this consumer experience as a tsunami within the business world, indicating a differentiation process that has been changing over three decades: quality in the 1980s; branding in the 1990s; and consumer experience since the new millennium. But why make these elements mutually exclusive, considering that together they can lead to a new business vision with respect to its consumers? Thus, in 2011, Skard, Nysveen and Pedersen made a study of the terminology related to experience, dividing it into customer experience, consumer experience, service experience, product experience, consumer experience, shopping experience and brand experience, showing a more complex model in which it is explained that brand loyalty is derived according to the satisfaction it causes and its personality. To build this, it is necessary to know the sensory, affective, intellectual, behavioral and relational concepts that the consumer and/or customer create when they live the brand experience.
What is interesting about the conclusions of Skard et al. (2011), is given by the technological advances that have significantly influenced the behavior of people as consumers and buyers, showing a new landscape where omnichannel stands out by having as characteristics: a) Creating a seamless customer experience (diffuse and integrated); b) consumer centricity with a simple vision; c) creation of experience and brand engagement; d) simultaneous use of channels; e) consistency of independent channels; f) Holistic and integrated; and g) the consumer journey (Lynch & Barnes, 2020).
These dimensions lead us to have an empathic vision of the consumer, who sees a company's proposal in an integral, personalized and adapted to his comfort. What Grönroos (1994) indicated years ago, makes sense now, given that the consumer is increasingly complex and diffuse, so the mission of marketing is becoming more challenging as it seeks to create pleasant experiences to gain consumer loyalty. It is up to companies and academics to determine what will be the differentiating factor of this decade we are living. For now, the omnichannel brand experience is what I would call this differentiating factor.
Works cited
Grönroos, C. (1990). Marketing y Gestión de Servicios. Madrid: Ed. Díaz de Santos S.A.
Lovelock, C., & Wirtz, J. (2009). Marketing of Services - Personnel, Technology and Strategies. Naucalpan de Juárez: Pearson Educación.
Hoffman, D., & Bateson, J. (2008). Service Marketing - Concepts, Strategies & Cases. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2012). Marketing. Naucalpan de Juárez: Pearson Ed.
Huete, L. M., & Pérez, A. (2007). Clienting - Marketing and services to make loyalty profitable. Madrid: Deusto.
Shaw, C., & Ivens, J. (2002). Building Great Customer Experiences. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Skard, S., Nysveen, H., & Pedersen, P. (April 2011). Brand and Customer Experience in Service Organizations: Literature Review and Brand Experience Construct Validation. Institute for Research in Economics and Business Administration, 9(11).
Danny C. Barbery Montoya
