It's nearly a decade since Pine and Gilmore wrote about the Experience Economy. They saw services becoming commoditised and argued that differentiation could be achieved by turning retail into entertainment.
I recall that Banana Republic were one of their examples, but wonder if anyone still (or indeed ever) thought about shopping there as an experience. After all, do you want to experience retail or do you just want to buy something you like and to do so quickly?
Pine and Gilmore were right about the importance of the experience, but it's not about the spectacular. It's maybe even more about the small decidely unflashy things - from clear, engaging instructions through every aspect of interaction with the company before, during and after purchase.
People are starting to talk of customer experience as being the new marketing, but it's not. There's nothing new about it. It's not the latest thing. It has always been at the heart of marketing even if many people, including marketing directors didn't see it as such.
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