Experience Economy and the Management of Shopping Centers: The Role of Entertainment

Abstract

This chapter applies the experience logic perspective to the retail industry by analyzing the role and the management of entertainment strategies in the shopping center format. The purpose is twofold: (i) proposing a conceptual classification of entertainment based on the existing literature; (ii) examining the influences of entertainment strategies on shopping centers’ market performances to provide suggestions in regards to the effectiveness of such strategies. After a short description of the shopping center industry, the study analyzes the changing role of the format occurring over the last decades and proposes a classification of entertainment that includes recreational services (food and leisure) and special events. Changes occurring in these areas of entertainment, alongside those concerning the market performance indicators of shopping centers (i.e., number of receipts, average amount of receipts, number of visitors who buy, visitors frequency), are explored by discussing the results of a qualitative study focused on 16 Italian shopping centers over a three-year period. Practical implications for shopping center managers are provided via empirical findings, while limitations of the study are underlined for suggesting future research directions.