The Experience Economy

At the beginning of the new millennium, two authors put forward a book that can now only be deemed prescient. It is titled The Experience Economy. Their premise was simple: experience is what people crave and what they will pay for. Every business is a stage, and companies must design memorable events. Successful companies will create experiences that engage customers in an inherently personal way. The goal is not about entertaining customers, but engaging them.

They were absolutely right, and we are seeing the experience economy take root as never before.

Consider shopping malls. Dying? No, rebirthing. And the rebirthing of the mall is experience-driven. What some have called the “post-shopping” mall is perhaps most typified by the American Dream mall in the New Jersey wetlands outside of New York City. From an indoor ski hill featuring 5,500 tons of snow to the largest indoor theme park in the Western Hemisphere (called “Nickelodeon Universe”), the 3-million-square-foot American Dream mall has less than half of its space allotted to retail—the majority is set aside for “an incredible collection of unique experiences.” As the New York Times noted in its coverage of the mall’s opening, the “psychic center of American social life has shifted from buying things to feeling them.”

Even the interplay between online shopping and physical stores is becoming experience-driven. This is particularly true for Generation Z. “These connected souls value the experience of being connected…. And when they shop, they are looking for an experience in-store that is like, or connected outright, to the world they know online.” In fact, 98% of Generation Z shop in physical stores searching “beyond the ‘buy button’” for an experience that takes place in multiple dimensions.

This is why the latest entries into brick and mortar retail are, ironically, such companies as Amazon and Google. Even Apple is hard at work with a new set of retail stores that are designed almost entirely for experience. Their goal? Change “Meet me at Starbucks,” to “Meet me at Apple.”

But nowhere do people crave experience more than when it comes to spirituality. You think, “Well, of course.” It’s actually an interesting phenomenon; at least, in the West. Historically, people in the West have been “beliefs” people, so faith was largely about what a person believed. Not so much in the East. They have historically been “practice” people. So if those of us in the West tend to think our way into spirituality, those in the East tend to act their way into it. For them, experience is the gateway to belief. Read More

Also See:
10 Questions Churches Should Ask Their Generation Z Members