Creating and consuming experiences in retail store environments: Comparing retailer and consumer perspectives

This article investigates the substance of arguments about an experience-oriented economy and experience-seeking consumption in retailing. Employing a case study research approach '(n=7) and the Critical Incident Technique (n=252), we show how retailers as well as consumers relate to in-store experiences. The results point out that retailers' use ever more advanced techniques in order to create compelling in-store experiences to their consumers. In contrast, the depiction given by consumers reveals that their in-store experiences to a large extent are constituted by traditional values such as the behavior of the personnel, a satisfactory selection of products and a layout that facilitates the store visit. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.