Service Industrialization And The Role Of The Experience Economy In The Italian Large-Scale Food Retail Industry

Service literature and marketing gurus are nowadays underling two relevant trends which are taking place in the current economic scenario. On one side, the presence of the service industrialization era characterized by efficiency-focus and on the other side the increasing relevance of the role of the experience in the definition of the service strategies as a tool to guarantee the establishment of profitable long-lasting relationship with the target based on customization and individual focus.The general scene is the service economy, fragmented in the different service industries among which the large-scale retail one. Historically, this industry has been witness of process of innovation oriented towards cost-cutting solutions due to the strong competition which has always dominated the sector. However, recently many players have realized the need to adopt a different perspective in order to exit from price wars and negative competition, based on the identification of a more focused orientation in the development of the service operations. The consequence has been the identification of two opposite approaches characterized by determinants and specifications completely different:"service factory" and "service theatre". In particular, the first one resembling a model much more oriented towards standardization and efficiency with respect to the second one, characterized by higher flexibility and customer responsiveness in the development of the service operations. Nowadays, in the large-scale retail industry in Italy, these two trends are coexisting and a clear example is provided by Esselunga with its stores located both in Milan:one in Via Rubattino and the second one in Via Solari. Managers have designed these points of sales, in terms of store strategy, differently according to the identification of a clear orientation:factory and theatre. However, customers on their side have a different perception of the shopping experience in the stores analyzed. As a matter of fact, this work, thanks to the empirical studies conducted considering the point of sales as the unit of analysis, shows two different interesting patterns. First of all the presence of converges in the eyes of consumers of elements characterizing the two opposite approaches:customers evaluate relevant variables belonging to different models despite their interpretation of the purchasing process in the store. Moreover, the statistical analysis conducted underlines the absence of a clear understanding of the store orientation identified by the managers. Customers show difficulties in the definition of significant differences in the store planning strategy, underling the presence of rumors in terms of store communication which have to be addressed. Therefore, the increasing need to better orient and differentiate the store strategy, balancing appropriately the multiple variables shaping the service setting according to the cultural and social characteristics of the specific target located in the store area.