Perishability - Definition & Meaning
What is Perishability?
Perishability can apply to both goods and services. Perishable goods are those which lose their value/decrease in quality over time. It is more difficult to promote and distribute perishable goods as compared to other goods.
For example: Dairy products, groceries need to be delivered to consumers as quickly as possible and the price needs to be determined by the marketers by anticipating the correct demand.
Perishability is more common in services and hence also known as ‘Service Perishability’. Most goods can be manufactured and stored for future use. Whereas, services are mostly manufactured at the time when they are meant to be consumed. It cannot be returned, resold or stored for future use once it is delivered to the consumer. Perishability can greatly affect businesses as it is very difficult to maintain demand and supply. These services have ‘Zero Inventory’.
For example: Restaurants serving food cannot store the same food and serve on some other day. The food would perish and fresh food needs to be served by the restaurants. Similarly if an appointment needs to be cancelled, the same cannot be recaptured at the originally appointed time as it has perished. The appointment needs to be rescheduled.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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