Products, Services, Solutions, what could be the difference?

Things sold to customers for money are often listed as one of the above. It is relatively easy to distinguish products from services:

• Products are physical are physical entities that are manufactured from raw materials and exchanged on a unitary basis for a fixed cost
• Services are non-physical entities that are often a result of the application of know-how, skills and technology to transform a given situation

The distinguishing element in the above definition is the physical, and non-physical nature of each entity

Solutions on the other hand take a less defined form. Marketing and branding has a hand int he common definition of "Solution". A solution can be understood to be a product, service, and often both that is delivered as a compound entity in response to, and with the objective of transforming a given situation to a desirable end.

A solution transforms/solves a problem, and the term has the connotation of responding to the specific needs of an existing problem. In comparison, a product or service implies that the entity is pre-packaged by the 'seller' without being in response to the specific needs at hand.