The role of servicescapes as touchpoints for different service settings

Servicescapes have been regarded as one of the most critical elements for the success of service businesses. The importance of servicescapes is specifically reinforced in hedonic services based on the findings of previous researches and practices. In this research, the key factors which lead to take different role of servicescapes among diverse services are identified. Service user motive (hedonic or utilitarian) is proven as a key factor as previous researchers had claimed. In addition, intangibility is also found as another key factor to make servicescapes to take different roles. Based upon the analyses of FGI, four roles of servicescapes such as enhancer, enricher, endorser, and enabler were discovered. Firstly, in hedonic and intangible services such as hotels, ski resorts, and airlines, the servicescapes take a role of service experience enhancer as the elaborated design of servicescapes boost the users' service experiences. Secondly, the servicescapes for hedonic and tangible services including restaurants, department stores and cinemas, play roles as an enricher for service experiences. Thirdly, for utilitarian and intangible services such as general hospitals, the servicescape works as a service experience endorser. Finally, for utilitarian and tangible services including gas stations or discount department stores, an enabler's minimum contributions are sufficient in designing servicescapes.