The service product is an offering of a commercial intent having features of both tangible and intangible seeking to satisfy new wants and demands of the consumer, hospital industry is action oriented and there is a lot of interaction with the customers. The service products of the hospitals have the following features:
- Quality level
Supporting services play an important role having the quality of Medicare. These services, which include laboratory, blood banks, catering, radiology and laundry, in a true sense determine the quality of services made available by medical and paramedical personnel.
- Accessories
This is a very good way of segmenting customers. Many hospitals provide additional services such as catering, laundry, yoga sessions, cafeterias, etc. for the customers who are willing to pay extra. Hospitals have different wards-General and special. Certain hospitals provide services for the family members of the patients –when they are not the same-city for accommodating and catering.
- Packaging
It is the bundling of many services into the core service. E.g. Apollo hospital offers a full healthcare checkup to the patients.
- Product Line
Hospitals through their services offer many choices to the patient and cover a wide range of customer needs. For example: Apollo has a dental department, cardiology department etc. and within the dental department it has dental surgery, root canal, etc.
- Brand name
Hospitals, to differentiate themselves and their services from others use a brand name. The intangibility factor of the service makes it all-important for the hospitals to do so.
Government Hospitals:
This as a product is fairly good. In some hospitals like J.J. hospital, Mumbai they provide quality services at cheaper rates and also is technically well equipped. But most of the government hospitals in spite of government grants do not provide quality service. Hence it is perceived as of low quality.
Private hospitals:
Private hospitals like BombayHospital, Apollo are well equipped and the services provided are of good quality but they charge huge price for it. Hence the middle-income group perceives them as elite class hospitals.
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