The Sweet Smell of Success: An Ethnography of the Waitrose Customer Experience

Abstract

Experiential marketing goes further than providing the consumer with just a product, it provides consumption experiences that evoke feelings of fantasy and fun.  Experiential marketing is widely recognised in the retail, hospitality and tourism industries, however lacks exploration in the grocery sector. As the grocery industry is driven by competitive low prices; it is argued that Waitrose can utilise experiential marketing to adopt a point of differentiation, in order to compete against the supermarket giants. This ethnographic study offers an insight and analysis into bridging the gap between experiential marketing theory and practice in the grocery industry. This phenomenological approach indicates that: the senses, nostalgia, heritage, authenticity and the peripheral identity are pivotal factors that must be adopted to generate compelling experiences for Waitrose consumers in store. By utilising grounded theory, a holistic framework has been proposed to transform experiential marketing theory into practice for Waitrose. This paper assists in bringing the concepts that establish the Waitrose consumer identity to life in a fun, creative and fantasising manner, through the power of the senses.