Citation:
Joe Peppard and Anna Rylander, Products and services in cyberspace, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 25(4), Aug 2005, p.335-345.
Abstract:
In the physical world, products and services are traditionally distinguished
from each other on the basis of tangibility and intangibility; indeed, services
are often described as intangible products. In the virtual world of the fixed
and mobile Internet, however, this distinction is no longer appropriate: both
products and services become intangible. This is essentially because the
Internet is not merely a technology but represents an entirely new medium for
conducting business, a fact that was overlooked by many of the early entrants
into this space. This medium is defined by information and fundamentally
different from the physical space where business has traditionally been
transacted. Consequently, the concept of products and services requires study.
In this paper we focus on business-to-consumer (B2C) markets and explore
consumer products and services in cyberspace, distinguishing them along a number
of dimensions.