Experience based innovation: A typology of experience staging strategies

Some writers have claimed we are now in an 'experience economy', in which companies compete not by selling products, or even services, but by creating holistic customer experiences. These experiences are designed to target customers' emotional responses, to generate loyalty and positive word of mouth. This paper adds to the nascent body of research and literature on experience staging by demonstrating the methods used by several companies to design successful services and products. Following a brief review of the literature, the research method is described. This took the form of a multiple case study, involving 15 companies, from 3 different nations producing a range of offerings, from tangible to entirely intangible. Analysis of the case companies led to a classification of experience stagers along 2 dimensions - the centrality of the experience and the effort on experience staging. The experiences which the companies stage for their customers were also classified in order to present a typology of strategies for experience staging in a wide range of industry sectors. The paper describes the experience staging strategies of the case companies, which gives practical guidance, for managers whose companies could benefit from experience staging, from a range of industry sectors.