Professional versus generic retail services: new insights

Abstract

The recognition of services as a distinct type of product requiring distinct marketing approaches is a relatively recent development in the literature. While scholars have examined decision‐based differences between the marketing of services in general and the marketing of tangible products, few have had as their primary focus differences in client behavior relative to professional versus other services. Thus produced is the impetus for the study reported here. Focusses on identifying strategically useful distinctions between consumer external search and evaluation activities for professional versus generic retail services. Examines the advisability of assuming that what occurs relative to the search and evaluation of tangible products or services in general will automatically be mirrored in an among‐services setting.