So, what is so unique about services? Let's learn about unique characteristics of service or service business. And of course we'll learn about the marketing challenges associate with each one of these characteristics. And there are five major characteristics of services. Let me first tell you what they are. And then, I will explain to you one by one later. The first is customer participation in the production or delivery process of the service. The second is simultaneity. The third is perishability. And the fourth is intangibility. And the last is heterogeneity. So, let's first talk about customer participation in the production or delivery process. In services, customers are present in the process, participate in the service delivery or production process or sometimes even co-create the services. In most cases, service production doesn't even start until customers arrived at the production site. Let's take this course that you are taking as an example. Yes this is an online course, so it is slightly different, but if this course was offered in an offline context, this course won't begin until you come to the class. Once you come to the class, now you can choose. Either you can be simply present in the course, or you can participate in the course by asking questions or by responding to questions that I will ask. And actively participating in the discussions. And further you can co-create a course with me. By giving me inputs on how the course project or assignments should be designed. Or by giving lectures yourself. These days student driven learning is becoming very important. That means that, students are now offering the lectures of course advised by the professor. So this is really about in services customers are present and participate, and co-create. The marketing challenges that are associated with the characteristic of the customer participation in the process are largely to. One is designing the role of customers and the other is designing servicescape. Designing the role of service customers refers to determining what roles customers should play at to what extent and at which stage of the process. If you were to take this course as an example as an instructor, I have to really think about what should be the role of students in this course? If this was an offline course, I would be really thinking seriously about whether I'm going to expect students to just come to class and listen to the lecture. Or should I design the course in the way that students come with all the questions and that I only spend the class time in answering their questions. Or I could design a way that it is a discussion questions where, students are given a topic for discussion and actively discuss and share their thoughts through presentations. Depending on how I design the course, student satisfaction with the course will vary widely. And according to research in services, in general, customer tend to be more satisfied with services when they play more active roles in the service production. And another challenge associated with the customer participation and the process is designing servicescape. Servicescape is the physical environment where the service is produced or delivered. And designing servicescape refers to creating a customer friendly, physical environment which you will positively affect customer senses such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. If it was only employees who were present in the process of the production, all the measures you have to care about is designing it in a way that employee productivity is high and employees happy with their physical environment. But in services, customers are also present in the production process. And therefore, managers have to really think about how every element of the physical design will influence customers. In retail for example, research shows that the in store music and the aroma in the store really affect the customer's shopping behaviors and satisfaction. Further, since services are intangible, which is another characteristic that I'll explain to you later, customers tend to use the physical environment as the clue for the quality of services. And therefore, designing servicescape services is very important.