I finally got Pine & Gilmore’s newer book, Authenticity, which motivated me to actually finish reading their other book, The Experience Economy. I really enjoy the straightforward way they present their material in the Experience Economy. They make the business case VERY clear, people are simply willing to pay more, a lot more for experiences than goods or services. They seem to have some good research to back up their numbers, and honestly my experience says it’s true, people are willing to pay more for experiences.
The first thing that I want to point out is that almost all the examples in the book, Disney, themed restaurants like Rainforest Cafe and others are not exactly cheap places to go to. For many middle-class Americans these kinds of experiences are not something that happens often, for the working class and the working poor, they are but dreams, or one-in-a-lifetime kind of events. Yet the authors continually push their business case, you can charge more for your experiences, they advocate again and again that businesses charge admission (perhaps not much, but something) to even come in, let alone shop or eat or what have you.
The question I have is: what about designing great experiences for the middle and working class? Is there no room for that? Also what do Pine & Gilmore think about the business that must exist to sell those commodities, good, and services? Should they all be sensorialized, and made into experiences?
I guess what I’m saying is that I would love to see a really great experience that doesn’t charge a lot. Is that even economically feasible the way Pine & Gilmore imagine it? I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’ll post again as I continue along.
To answer you, I think that public sector might play an important role in creating experiences for the non-rich. Maybe.
Nice blog!
I forget if it’s Lowe’s or Home Depot, but there’s a commercial running suggesting people should turn a three day weekend into a time to create memories (by using their products to build something, of course!)
I would think Chucky Cheese is a fairly cheap place in the vein of Rainforest Cafe.
How has the cost of experience changed over time? I don’t imagine Disney was ever cheap, but what about stuff like baseball games?
@Carlos-
I agree, the public sector needs to do that, but I wonder this: Certainly people are willing to pay more for experiences or goods that have been “sensorialized” and/or surrounded by experience, but can you do all that and still make it inexpensive? Or I guess if the public sector were to do that would it be a good use of resources?
@Matt
I would say that the Home Improvement thing is an attempt to market what they sell as experience, and I agree that those stores would be a good middle class example if indeed they truly fit into what Pine & Gilmore call the Experience Economy, but what about apartment dwellers? A lot less going to Lowes/HomeDepot, more Wal*Mart or someplace else.
Personally I don’t think that it fits the into that model at all even though it’s being marketed that way.
Chuck E. Cheeses may be a fairly good example, I would have to check on how much it costs, I haven’t been there in ages and ages.
Your last question is a good one, I’ll have to look it up… but do you think it would have gone up in comparison to others?