Dimensions of intangible goods

Despite the ever-growing importance of intangible goods in today's economy, little is known about the underlying structural characteristics of intangible goods. This article will address this issue by analyzing some of the dimensions in which one intangible good can differ from another. Several dimensions are identified and they are grouped into three categories: buyer dimensions, seller dimensions and dimensions of the delivery process. These perspectives can be further subdivided into twelve different dimensions in total. This lends to a framework for analyzing intangible goods along the following dimensions: value determination, perishability, recipient, complexity of product use, externalities, specificability, customizability, substitutability, intensity in use, existence of a tangible equivalent, transfer mode and the options for tangible support.