After-Sales Support and Costs

As with many products, services may also be bundled into a customized service package. In many industries, customized "augmented" solutions that include both product and service are offered. In business-to-business markets, such as in the mainframe computer industry, sales contracts often cover agreements on product maintenance, replacement, and so on.

By using a remote-control system that allows diagnosis and possible remedy of product defects from a distance, customers' after-sales costs may be reduced. Nashuatec uses such a system in the fax industry. The Web provides another opportunity in this direction. By transferring video images of a product performance, product failures may be detected.

After-sales costs can, to some extent, be customized by end users. Someone who buys a new car may decide to opt for lower energy costs by driving at an economical rate of speed. A company may manufacture a copy machine that is easy for customers to maintain and repair themselves. Service costs are thereby reduced and the customers' after-sales cost perceptions may be positively influenced.