Experience Economy

Pine and Gilmore’s articles asks the question should we be charging customers for experience.  In relation to publishing this is of importance, as though customers visit high street book stores to browse through books or purchase coffee they then choose to buy their books online. As Pine and Gilmore point out there are many shopping experiences which charge for entry, such as festivals. In England for example the Taste Festival charges an admission fee to enter the grounds and thereafter you pay to taste the food or buy products. Can high street bookstores learn from this and develop a similar model?  Pine and Gilmore propose that before you can charge for the experience you must design an experience worthy of the price, so the book store must offer new services to the customer which allows customer participation. These services can be entertaining, educational, escapist, esthetic or all four.  Furthermore they must engage the senses, be memorable and be continuously updated to ensure repeat customers.

                                     

Pine, B.J. and Gilmore, J.H. (1998) Welcome to the Experience Economy.  Harvard Business Review, July/August, 97-10