The Physical Store Experience : A qualitative study on how in-store experiences influence store attractiveness

Abstract: Today, brick-and-mortar retailers are facing changes, as we are moving away from a service economy towards an experience economy. These changes reshape customers´ preferences. Reatilers have shown an inability to adapt to these changes, indicating that there is a need for further insights on the subject. To address this lack of knowledge, this thesis aimed at investigating the customer experience in brick-and-mortar fashion retailers in order to obtain knowledge about how experiential offerings create perceived value and customer satisfaction, which ultimately leads to store attractiveness.  This study focused on investigating the customer experience holistically, by using the "Experience Economy 4E construct" together with three dimensions of perceived experiential value as a theoretical framework. The application of this holistic approach to the customer experience has until now been relatively unexplored, which justify the purpose of this thesis.  This qualitative study was conducted by using six semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, the emprical data collection was analysed using a thematic analysis. This generated valuable insights to which aspects were considered to create positive as well as negative feelings, which consequently affect customer satisfaction and store attractiveness.  The result showed that experiential offerings from brick-and-mortar fashion retailers create perceived experiential value, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction and store attractiveness. Furthermore, the result indicated that educational experiences, esthetic experiences and social interactions are the primary value-creating sources.