What Companies Are in the Consumer Services Field?
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Summary:
Companies in the consumer services field provide products and services to consumers. They include companies in various industries such as healthcare and technology. Some of the largest companies in the world, from Amazon to Apple and Pfizer, are part of the consumer services industry, offering goods and services you use every day.
A typical day for humans in the modern age might work as follows: You get up in the morning to the sound of your iPhone alarm playing your favorite song. You feel hungry and make yourself a bowl of Captain Crunch or perhaps an Eggo waffle. You then hop in the car you purchased a few months ago and stop for a quick Caramel Frappuccino at Starbucks. You head to work and browse the internet to see if those tickets you are looking at purchasing for your holiday in Puerto Rico have dropped in price.
After work, you head home in that same car, stopping by the local grocery store or Costco to do a bit of shopping and pick up your high blood pressure medication. And finally, before you arrive home, you stop by the Taco Bell drive-thru to buy the Cheesy Gordita Crunches you constantly crave. After you crawl into bed, you watch your favorite movie made by the Walt Disney Company. Although you might not be aware, you are interacting with or using products sold by various companies in the consumer services field.
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What makes up the consumer services field
Suppose you buy something online, eat out at a restaurant, or travel to an exotic destination. In those cases, you have most likely paid money to a company that would be considered part of the consumer services field. For example, you purchased the iPhone that you used to wake up from Apple, a huge technology company. The breakfast you ate was produced by a cereal company in the consumer services field, like Kellogg’s. The travel site you use to purchase tickets is involved in the travel sector. And so on.
This is unlike the basic industries field, which consists of companies that supply raw materials, or the transportation field, which consists of companies that move goods from one place to another.
11 representative companies in the consumer services field
Companies involved in the consumer services field encompass such a broad swath of industries that it’s easier to break it down by sector. The list below gives some examples of these industries.
- Media and entertainment
- Banking and finance
- Healthcare
- Leisure and recreation
- Personal care
- Restaurants
- Rental and leasing
- Education and training
- Technology products and services
- Hotels and resorts
- Travel and tourism
Obviously, the list of companies in this field could be endless. To keep it simple, here are some notable companies that are representative of the different types of companies in the consumer services field.
- Apple Inc.
- Costco Wholesale Inc.
- Prudential Financial Inc.
- Royal Caribbean Group
- Taco Bell
- Amazon
- Pfizer
- Starbucks
- Uber
- Expedia Group
- Great Clips
Apple Inc. (Technology products/services)
Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
Almost everyone in the world has heard of Apple. Even in remote regions of the Tibetan plateau, there are Buddhist monks using iPhones to play games in between meditation sessions. Apple started out producing personal computers in the late ’70s and ’80s. They now offer a vast array of products and services. Besides consumer products, such as computers and mobile devices, Apple offers a variety of additional consumer services. Apple Music and iCloud storage are examples of consumer service products available for Apple customers. The company is such a behemoth that they offer some of the best-paying jobs in various parts of the company around the world.
Costco Wholesale Inc. (Retail)
Headquarters: Issaquah, WA
Most cities in the United States will either have a Costco warehouse or will be located a short drive from a city that does. Founded in 1994, Costco changed the shopping paradigm with its “membership club” and massive wholesale stores. For a small fee of $60 a year, Costco offers its shoppers the opportunity to buy their groceries and products in bulk. There are many opportunities on both the individual store level and the corporate level for employment, including customer service representatives.
Prudential Financial Inc. (Insurance)
Headquarters: Newark, NJ
Prudential is an American Fortune 500 company that offers multiple services, primarily related to insurance. Prudential and its subsidiaries provide not only insurance but retirement planning and investment management as well. The company’s history dates back to 1875, and it has locations all over the world. There are plenty of employment opportunities at Prudential, particularly in sales.
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Royal Caribbean Group (Travel and leisure)
Headquarters: Miami, FL
Royal Caribbean is the world’s second-largest cruise line operator. Founded in 1997, Royal Caribbean was originally started to offer cruises for those looking to travel to the Caribbean region. Royal Caribbean ended up buying a multitude of other cruise companies around the world, and their portfolio of destinations now includes places such as Alaska and New Zealand. Royal Caribbean offers many well-paid positions on their boats for those who want to embrace a more nomadic type of lifestyle. Similarly, there are various positions in their corporate office.
Taco Bell (Restaurants)
Headquarters: Irvine, CA
Taco Bell is a Mexican food favorite all over the United States and has made headway in other global markets as well. In fact, Taco Bell in Shanghai, China is considered an upscale foreign restaurant that differs from the fast-food setup that exists in the U.S. The Shanghai Taco Bell even offers cocktails at their prime location in LuJiaZui. Here in the U.S., they just introduced an innovative drive-thru concept with a food elevator called Taco Bell Defy. Taco Bell is always looking for employees in both its store locations as well as its corporate headquarters.
Amazon (Consumer goods and services)
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Amazon has completely revolutionized the way people shop for consumer goods. At just the click of a button, people can order everything from groceries to sporting goods and have their items shipped in two days or even less. Originally conceived as an online bookstore by Jeff Bezos, Amazon offers many services in tandem with consumer goods, such as cloud computing, streaming video, photo storage, and more. For those who are tech-minded, working at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle might be a good fit.
Pfizer (Healthcare)
Headquarters: New York, NY
Pfizer is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company was established in 1849 by two German immigrants in New York. They provide various types of medication produced all around the world. In fact, they were one of the first companies to be approved using mRNA technology in their COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer also works with a pharmacy benefits manager to ensure their drugs are distributed to the proper pharmacies. With revenue north of $80 billion (2021), Pfizer is an absolute powerhouse in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Employment opportunities at Pfizer encompass everything from research and development to marketing.
Starbucks (Restaurants)
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
A tasty Caramel Mocha from Starbucks at 7 a.m., with two extra espresso shots, is known to bring those who are virtually dead in the morning back to life. Based out of Seattle, Washington, Starbucks is one of the most well-known brands in the world. They are constantly inventing different coffee-related drink concepts to serve their customers. For those with an urge to be a barista or who can crunch the numbers in Excel at headquarters, Starbucks can be a very good place to work.
Pro Tip
If you are looking to work at Starbucks and you support unions, you are in luck. Starbucks is one of the only companies in the consumer services field that has recently unionized. As of this writing, there are 200 Starbucks stores in the U.S.
Uber (Transportation/travel)
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Despite the controversy surrounding its founder and CEO, Travis Kalanaik, Uber is still a major player in the rideshare industry. Uber has changed the way people ride from point A to point B. This has been particularly beneficial in parts of the U.S. outside of major cities, where taxi service is limited. Driving an Uber, delivering for Uber Eats, or working at HQ can be a great experience for those that want to work for a modern transportation company.
Expedia Group (Travel, hospitality industry)
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Expedia Group provides a whole host of travel offerings and solutions either through the Expedia brand or their subsidiaries. Vrbo, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, and CarRentals.com are all brands for online travel solutions that are part of the Expedia group. If you are an avid traveler, you probably have used one of these websites at some point in your life. Expedia offers various employment opportunities in their corporate offices for those looking to work in the online travel industry.
Great Clips (Personal care)
Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN
Great Clips offers services to consumers in the form of inexpensive haircuts. Originally formed at the University of Minnesota in 1982, Great Clips now has more than 4,000 locations in both the U.S. and Canada. Their franchise system and marketing were revolutionary back in the ’80s. Great Clips can be a great place to work for those who know how to cut hair without nipping at the ears.
FAQ
What are consumer services companies?
Consumer services companies, from Amazon to Uber, offer products or services to consumers. The consumer services sector encompasses a large of amount of industries that make products you use in your everyday life.
What are examples of consumer services?
Personal care, banking and finance, consumer goods, restaurants, and travel are all types of consumer services.
Is consumer service the same as customer service?
No, customer service is about how well you are served by a consumer services company. Consumer service companies may or may not have good customer service.
What falls under the customer service industry?
Helplines in which people call to ask about products are considered to be in the customer service industry, where customer service skills are paramount. Typically, most companies in the consumer services field will incorporate some type of customer service team.
Is consumer services a sector?
Yes, and underneath this broad sector of consumer service, you have subsectors, such as retail and travel.
Is retail considered customer service?
No, retail companies are considered to be in the consumer services industry, although they may have customer service departments.
Key takeaways
- We constantly interact with companies in the consumer services industry every day of our lives.
- The consumer services field consists of a multitude of companies in different industries and sectors.
- Travel, retail, and personal care are some of the industries in the consumer services field.
- Just driving to work, you interact with the consumer services field in the car you drive, the beverage you sip, the prescription you pick up, the phone you use, and more.
- Consumer services is a different field than customer service.
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