Pine and Gilmore (1999) suggest that in the Experience Economy, customers’ idea of a business being “better” increasingly includes differentiated offerings, such as experiences, along with goods and services.  The success (or failure) of many small businesses grows out of the decision to move beyond just selling a good to creating a customer experience (National Retail Federation, 2005). A retailer offering an educational wine tasting experience along with selling bottles of wine exemplifies added value.

Retail / Rural Tourism Still Pond Vineyard & Winery:  Arlington, GA “Educational” – Private wine tasting tour by trained staffs http://www.stillpond.com/

Experiential offerings address a higher level of customer value that can uniquely position and differentiate your business.  Creating value for the customer also creates value for your firm.  In this module, we will explain what a differentiation strategy is and how small businesses can add value to their offerings by enhancing them with experiences (Megginson, Byrd, & Megginson, 2006; Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2005).

Retail Open Book: Minneapolis, MN “Educational” – Customers can watch book printing and binding process http://www.openbookmn.org/