Service areas are retail spaces where actions, instead of goods, are purchased. These actions can include the simple use of the facility as well as specific human interactions.

A transaction can pay for someone to perform an action or simply for access to a facility. A human interaction is therefore not required in every instance.

Shops are identified by customers purchasing physical goods and taking them away. Ownership of a product and payment for a service are different transaction purposes, even when the same establishment accommodates both.