article notes

  250-350words content notes for EACH Article. SEE PDF (GOOD ARTICLE EXAMPLE) !   

  

Vandenbosch, M., & Dawar, N. (2002). Beyond better products: Capturing value in customer interactions. MIT Sloan Management Review, 43(4), 35-42

Hamilton, K., & A. Wagner, B. (2014). Commercialised nostalgia. European Journal of Marketing, 48(5/6), 813-832.

4/24/2020 onlinetext.html

file:///Users/matthewfisher/Downloads/MKTG064903-S20R-Article Notes The Metrics that Marketers Muddle-359053/Marina Hamagaki_504182_assignsubmission… 1/3

Article Notes 3

 

Bendle, N. T., & Bagga, C. K. (2016). The metrics that marketers muddle. MIT Sloan Management
Review, 57(3), 73-82.

Despite their widely acknowledged importance, some popular marketing metrics are regularly misunderstood and
misused. One major reason for marketing’s diminishing role is the difficulty of meaning its impact: The value marketers
generate is often difficult to quantify. The main goals of this article are to understand how these marketing metrics are
used and understood and to develop ideas to help marketers unmuddle their metrics. The authors conducted surveys
from managers from all functions across the business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.

 

5 Best Known Marketing Metrics:

–       Market share

–      

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

–      

The Value of a ‘Like’

–      

Consumer Lifetime Value (CLV)

–      

Return on Investment (ROI)

Market Share

Market share is a popular marketing metric. One reason for why manager value market share is that research
from the 1970s suggested a link between market share and ROI; however, the linkage may be less clear: the
studies have found it is often correlational rather than causal. The survey found that there were two ways
managers used market share: as an ultimate objective or as an intermediate measure of success. Increasing
market share is not a meaningful ultimate objective for maximizing shareholder value and stakeholder
management: If the aim is to maximize the returns to shareholders, increased market share offers no benefits
unless it eventually generates profits. In some markets, bigger can be better; however, economies of scale do not
automatically apply all markets.

Unmuddling Market Share:

The authors suggest a simple set of rules for the appropriate use of the market share metric:

–       Managers should not consider market share as the ultimate objective or as a proxy for absolute size.

–       Managers should evaluate it from the competitors’ and consumers’ point of view. If an increase in market
share is not going to get positive feedback from competitors and consumers, then an increase in market share
will not lead to a productive result.

–       Managers should analyze whether market share drives profitability in your industry. Companies with
superior products tend to have high market share and high profitability because product superiority causes both.

4/24/2020 onlinetext.html

file:///Users/matthewfisher/Downloads/MKTG064903-S20R-Article Notes The Metrics that Marketers Muddle-359053/Marina Hamagaki_504182_assignsubmission… 2/3

This means that the two metrics are correlated, BUT it does not necessarily mean that increasing market share
will increase profits.

 
Net Promoter Score (NPS)

This metric is used to measure customer loyalty to a firm. Companies among diverse industries have embraced
NPS as a way to monitor their customer service operations while NPS also has been seen as a system that allows
managers to use the scores to shape managerial actions.

One of the advantages of NPS is its simplicity: It is easy for managers and employees to understand the goal of
having more promoters and fewer detractors. However, there are weaknesses: E.g., in the net promoter literature,
a customer’s worth to Apple has been described as the customer’s spending, ignoring the costs associated with
serving the customer. It is also easy to imagine how to increase the net promoter score (such as making
customers happier) while destroying even to-line growth (by slashing prices). Another problem with NPS as a
metric is the classification system: The boundaries between scores of 6 and 7 (detractors and passives) and 8 and
9 (passive and promoters) seem somewhat arbitrary and culturally specific.

Unmuddling NPS:

The value of NPS depends on whether a manager sees it as a metric or as a system. The authors suggest that the
NPS metric cannot change the marketing performance. However, they advise using this metric as a part of a
system employed in evaluating the performance which might lead to a cultural shift within the organization.

 
The Value of a ‘Like’

This metric is used for measuring the social media capital of the company. New approaches are being developed
all the time and they have the potential to aid understanding of how social media creates value. It is measured as
the difference between the average value of customers endorsing the company and the average value of the
customers who are not endorsing the company. The majority of managers link between their social media
spending the value of a ‘like’. However, it does not mean that the cause of the differences in users’ value is
attributable to a company’s social media strategy. And the reason that social media strategy shouldn’t be seen as
the driver of value difference between fans and nonfans is because customers who are social media fans will
differ from nonfans for reasons unrelated to the company’s social media strategy.

Unmuddling the Value of a ‘Like’:

This difference between two groups of consumers does not suggest an effect of online marketing activity or lack
thereof. It should be investigated thoroughly by the managers. If the management is using the revenue to
measure customer value, then this marketing metric does not give a good estimate. However, if the company
does want to understand the impact of social media marketing, they should use randomized control experiments
to derive causal answers.

Consumer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Consumer lifetime value (CLV), which is the present value of cash flows from a customer relationship, can help
managers in decision making related to investment in developing customer relationships, as it is used to measure
the value of the current customer base. If the management is using the customer value in their decision-making
process, then CLV is a useful tool for them.

Unmuddling CLV:

4/24/2020 onlinetext.html

file:///Users/matthewfisher/Downloads/MKTG064903-S20R-Article Notes The Metrics that Marketers Muddle-359053/Marina Hamagaki_504182_assignsubmission… 3/3

The authors suggest that CLV calculations should not include the customer acquisition cost and the estimated
CLV should be compared to the estimated acquisition cost to derive conclusions. The bigger the difference
between the estimated CLV and the estimated acquisition cost, the better the acquisition campaign.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on investment is a popular and potentially important metric allowing for the comparison of disparate
investments. A critical requirement for calculating ROI is knowing the net profit generated by a specific
investment decision. According to the authors, there is confusion within management over the use of ROI.
However, as ROI is understood across disciplines, it is a powerful metric to communicate across the
organization.

Unmuddling ROI:

The authors advise that if a manager is assessing the financial return on an investment, then ROI is an
appropriate metric and can be calculated by dividing the incremental profits by the investments. Agribusiness
marketing managers who are passionate about establishing the credibility of the value created through marketing
should be thorough in their use of metrics. Most importantly, they should be able to understand the metric, its use
and what it represents.

Beyond Better Products:
Capturing Value in
Customer Interactions

S U M M E R 2 0 0 2 V O L . 4 3 N O. 4

R E P R I N

T

N U M B E R 4 3 4 3

Mark Vandenbosch &

Niraj Dawar

MITSloan
Management Review

P l e a s e n o t e t h a t g ra y a re a s re f l e c t a r t w o rk t h a t h a s
b e e n i n t e n t i o n a l l y re m o v e d . T h e s u b s t a n t i v e c o n t e n t
o f t h e a r t i c l e a p p e a rs a s o ri g i n a l l y p u b l i s h e d .

alk to the senior executives of any progressive company today and they will tell you

about its huge investments in innovation, bulging new-product pipelines, proprietary tech-

nologies and relentless drive to shrink time to market. They’ll also admit that these efforts

have not helped them outrun the competition. Although businesses are moving faster than

ever, competitors are constantly nipping at their heels, emulating new products, replicating

entire product-development systems and processes, and keeping pace on the same tread-

mill. New products may generate hefty returns, but the advantage is short-lived. These

days, a company’s rivals are likely to be world-class sprinters.

SUMMER 2002 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 35

In a world of mobile

talent, open markets and

brutal competition,

it’s increasingly difficult

to maintain an advantage

over competitors through

product innovation. As

a result, some companies

have figured out how

to outdistance rivals

through customer-focused

strategies that are

virtually imitation-proof.

Mark Vandenbosch and

Niraj Dawar

Mark Vandenbosch is an associate professor of marketing at the Richard Ivey School of Business,
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, and a visiting professor of marketing at IMD in
Lausanne, Switzerland. Niraj Dawar is the Nabisco Professor of Marketing at the Ivey School. Contact
the authors at mvandenbosch@ivey.uwo.ca and ndawar@ivey.uwo.ca.

Beyond Better Products:
Capturing Value in Customer Interactions

T

Eroding competitive leads are the result of forces that are

equalizing companies’ ability to innovate: the increasingly rapid

and free flow of information and knowledge, the movement to

global standards and the advent of open markets for compo-

nents and technologies. Today, a company such as Handspring

can appear and, within a few months, launch a hand-held orga-

nizer similar to the Palm Pilot in design, functionality and per-

formance. Thanks to open markets and open standards,

Handspring has access to the same product designers and man-

ufacturers that Palm uses.

This example is not the exception, and it raises profound

questions about the sources of sustainable competitive advan-

tage. If product parity is relatively easily achieved in today’s

world, customers will turn to new criteria when deciding to buy

one company’s products over another’s. We have attempted to

establish the nature of these criteria over the past three years by

collecting data from more than 1,500 senior executives in inter-

views and group discussions. In particular, we have focused on

this question: “Why do your customers choose to buy from you

rather than from your competition?”

Despite the vast range of industries represented by the exec-

utives, their responses were remarkably similar. They agreed

almost universally that offering great products, technologies or

services is merely an entry stake into the competitive arena.

Most spoke of the need to maintain an edge in the way their

companies interact with customers; that is, they recognized that

customers often value how they interact with their suppliers as

much as or more than what they actually buy. As the main driv-

ers of customer choice, the executives cited cost-oriented factors

like convenience, ease of doing business and product support, as

well as risk-oriented factors like trust, confidence and the

strength of relationships.

Although many managers realize the need to pay attention to

cost and risk factors that influence customer choice, our

research data indicate that companies are usually at a loss when

it comes to translating this conceptual understanding into prac-

tice. We did find counterexamples, however: companies that are

using one of five strategies to build competitive advantage

through their approach to customers. (For a quick overview

that also gives a sense of the range of companies involved in our

research, see the table “Five Strategies for Building Advantage

with Customers.”) These strategies are not easy to devise or

implement; they require creativity, imagination, hard work

(inevitably) and a willingness to take risks. But as we’ll demon-

strate, strategy by strategy, the rewards are more than worth the

effort. Before we turn to the strategies, we’ll take a closer look at

how perceptions of cost and risk affect customers.

Manipulating the Levers of Cost and Risk
When product improvements can be matched quickly by com-

petitors, companies have only two remaining levers available to

influence purchase decisions: They can reduce customers’ inter-

action costs or make the purchase and subsequent product own-

ership a less risky proposition. Fortunately, these levers provide

enormous and largely untapped potential to increase the gain that

customers expect from a transaction.

Start with the issue of lowering costs. A buyer incurs a variety

of costs in the course of learning about a seller’s products and

services, acquiring them, using them and finally disposing of

them. In addition, to extract value from the product, the buyer

must configure the product to his or her needs. That can be as

simple as chilling a beer before drinking it and as complex as

integrating a new organizationwide software system with the

existing IT infrastructure. Finally, when a customer buys a prod-

uct or service, he or she commits to a rigid seller-defined bundle

and forgoes the benefits of other potential bundles available in

the marketplace. For example, when someone buys a family

minivan, he or she obtains roominess and comfort but can

never, with that product, enjoy the psychological benefits that

come from driving a convertible. Most companies never attend

to such costs, but they are real. Managers who give thought to

ways to reduce these interaction costs will likely uncover innov-

ative ways of increasing customers’ gain.

In addition to the generally hidden costs that customers face

when they try to decide on a supplier, buyers also take on con-

siderable risk and uncertainty. They implicitly consider the

range of possible outcomes from the interaction and the likeli-

hood that such outcomes will occur. Can I trust the seller’s

promises? Will the product perform as expected? Will I be able

to implement it successfully? Will I lose money? Will the seller

be around for repair and maintenance? When potential cus-

tomers feel that the risk is high that their expectations will not

36 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW SUMMER 2002

To create value beyond products, companies have to recognize that tangible goods are rigid,
inflexible packages that impose an opportunity cost on the customer.

be met, they quite naturally choose not to buy. Many companies

have been in situations in which customers stick with the indus-

try leader’s product even though their new product is either of

superior quality or cheaper or both — in their calculus of risk,

customers prefer to wait until the new offering has been clearly

recognized as superior for some time before they make a switch.

Of course, the buyer can engage in due diligence to address

questions of risk, but due diligence costs time, effort and money

— in other words, it raises the interaction costs. For customers,

it is greatly preferable to buy from a trusted seller.

Some of the companies in our research have figured out cre-

ative ways to earn their customers’ trust. They’ve reconsidered

exactly what it is they are selling, they’ve leveraged strengths to

make customers’ lives easier, they’ve worked with other organi-

zations to provide an optimal (and unique) bundle of products

and so on. A review of the strategies they’ve followed can pro-

vide managers in almost any industry with new ways of think-

ing about building advantage with customers.

Unlock Economies of Interaction
All companies recognize the power of

economies of scale, scope and experi-

ence in producing better or cheaper

products. They should also recognize

their ability to leverage those same

economies in the process of interact-

ing with customers. Consider that

suppliers often have many interac-

tions of the same type with different

customers (scale), many interactions

with the same customer (scope), and

access to information that makes it

easier for them to gauge the risks

involved in an activity for a particular

customer (experience). To increase

their customers’ sense of expected

gain from a transaction, companies

can reconfigure their activities to

lower buyers’ interaction costs and

perceived risk. For example, a supplier

may be able to identify tasks that its

customers have in common and

decide that it can perform them more

cheaply or effectively. By taking re-

sponsibility for the tasks, suppliers can

save their customers time and money

and effectively lock them in.

Consider Master Builders’ recent

launch of its MasterTrac system. Master Builders sells chemical

admixtures that are used to improve the performance charac-

teristics of concrete; its customers include concrete producers

that have many locations and either a regional or national pres-

ence. Until the new system was put in place, managers at each of

the producers’ locations independently ordered and maintained

inventory of each type of additive to suit their local require-

ments. For Master Builders, this decentralized approach meant

that it had to ship many small orders of different additives at

infrequent intervals to geographically dispersed sites. The small

shipments were not cost effective, and emergency shipments

were often necessary when customers failed to anticipate their

needs correctly.

To meet this challenge, Master Builders developed a remote

tank-monitoring system for immediate and seamless inventory

control. The MasterTrac system consists of additive storage tanks

fitted with wireless sensors that, when queried, relay inventory

information to a Web site accessible to both Master Builders and

SUMMER 2002 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 37

Five Strategies for Building Advantage With Customers

Lower your customers’ costs by
taking on functions that are simi-
lar across your customer base.

■ Example: Chemical supplier
Master Builders

Explore new business models
when specific products do not
efficiently fulfill the benefit.

■ Example: Premier Auto Group
(Ford)

Coordinate or combine activities
with the customer to lower oper-
ating and transaction costs.

■ Example: Behind-the-scenes
automobile manufac-
turer Magna Steyr

Lowering Costs

Unlock Economies
of Interaction

Integrate Activities

Simplify the Route
to Benefits

Be the Nexus

Form the Future

Reducing Risk

Use your lower threshold of risk
to reduce the risks faced by your
customers.

■ Example: ABB’s tubular
products business

Reduce customers’ risk by
conducting tasks that are not in
their capability set.

■ Example: ICI Explosives

Integrate to improve the flow
of information and to make it
possible to make changes while
processes are still fluid.

■ Example: AXIS, manufacturer of
production machinery

Act as a conduit to bring related offers and complementary
systems to current customers. This lowers search, evaluation and
transaction costs. It also reduces risk as customers deal with the
same trusted source.

■ Examples: NTT DoCoMo, Intuit

Reduce your customers’ risk by working to create or define the
industry standard or by cooperating with key complementors
(or by doing both). This approach also lowers the lifetime cost for
customers, as their investments are protected.

■ Example: SAMSys Technologies, developer of radio frequency
identification technology

the customer. Using that information, Master Builders was able

to effectively manage inventory levels at individual locations on

nearly a just-in-time basis. Under the new system, the customer

realizes major savings from reduced inventory financing,

reduced order and payment processing, and reduced inventory

management time. Competitors that seek to win over the cus-

tomer now face a much harder task.

Suppliers may also gain a sustainable advantage by reducing

their customers’ risk, especially if they leverage their experience

and reach. Asea Brown Boveri found a way to do that in its

tubular products business. ABB supplies drilling pipe to ocean-

based oil- and gas-drilling rigs around the world. As wells are

drilled, pipe is threaded together and placed down the well.

Although the product requires some technological know-how

to manufacture, it is basically a pipe with threading welded onto

it. In 1999, ABB was the world leader in this market but was fac-

ing increased competition from low-cost welding shops.

Since oil rigs can be located anywhere in the world (from

Siberia to Vietnam to Chile), the industry convention was to

price the product at the factory gate. Drilling companies would

then take ownership and arrange to have the product delivered

to the rigs. Their headaches began at this point since delays in

getting the pipe to the drilling site were very expensive: Rental

prices for an ocean-going drilling rig are $150,000 per day.

Although the threat of delays was not ABB’s problem per se, the

company recognized an opportunity to shift the terms of the

business away from cost.

ABB’s managers knew that the greatest obstacle to on-time

delivery was in getting through the importation and customs pro-

cedures of the country where the drilling site was located. ABB was

uniquely positioned to take on that task for its customers. Because

of its many business units in various industries, the company had

a well-established presence in more than 100 countries, and its oil

and gas unit understood the import regulations worldwide for the

drilling business. For some key customers, ABB began offering

contracts for drilling pipe that included delivery to a rig — with

guaranteed delivery times. It essentially took on the risk of cus-

toms and importation delays. Even though ABB charged for these

deliveries at cost, the increased value to the customer in terms of

lower risk was much more significant.

Over time, ABB’s position as the market leader solidified

because competitors lacked the global reach and expertise

required to offer contracts that guaranteed delivery. ABB suc-

ceeded by looking at its interaction pattern with customers in all

its businesses and finding an area where its risk was lower than

that of its customers and competitors. ABB’s product hasn’t

changed, but the new way of offering it has increased its cus-

tomers’ expected gain from their purchases.

Simplify the Route to Benefits
It’s a given that companies must offer high-quality products if

they want to succeed. It’s also a given that the products them-

selves, even when they’re very good, rarely provide all the bene-

fits that customers are looking for. They must be combined with

other elements before customers can realize their full value. The

trick for companies is to redefine their offerings in ways that

make it easy for customers to get the benefits they seek.

The Australian division of ICI Explosives took an innovative

approach to helping its customers reap the benefits of one of the

most unglamorous products imaginable: pieces of rock. ICI, like

its competitors, had long sold commodity explosives to quar-

ries. The quarries used these explosives to blast solid rock into

aggregates of equal size. The customers’ challenge is to turn the

rock face into a product that can be sold; an ineffective blast will

yield large chunks of rock that are much harder to break down.

As such, designing a successful blast requires considerable

expertise and has a major effect on profitability. As many as 20

parameters affect the performance of the blast, including the

profile of the rock face, the depth and diameter of the drill

holes, and the weather. ICI, recognizing the risk that customers

face, began a program to quantify what had previously been

considered an art. Using computer models and experimenta-

tion, ICI engineers developed strategies and procedures that

narrowed the uncertainty of blast performance. Instead of sell-

ing this new expertise as an added service, however, ICI began

performing the blasts for the quarries and writing contracts for

“broken rock.” Customers are now billed for the amount of bro-

ken rock of a size specified in the contract that is produced from

a blast carried out by ICI.

The new contracts significantly reduce the business costs and

risk faced by customers in two ways. First, they turn fixed costs

(primarily quarry employees and drilling equipment) into vari-

able ones and second, they set the performance of a blast at an

acceptable minimum level. The customer pays only for the out-

come, not for the commodity that goes into creating it. ICI is no

longer simply a supplier of commodity explosives; it has

become an integral part of its customers’ business. The redefin-

ition of ICI’s role not only generated much higher margins for

the business, it also gave ICI a much more defensible competi-

tive position.

To create value beyond products, companies have to recog-

nize that tangible goods are what they are: rigid, inflexible pack-

ages that impose an opportunity cost — the cost of forgoing

alternatives — on the customer. Premier Auto Group, the lux-

ury arm of Ford that manages brands such as Jaguar, Land

Rover and Volvo, understands that its product offering may be

too much of a constraint for its customers. The unit is preparing

38 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW SUMMER 2002

to offer a new kind of automobile customization that is based

on usage. Customers will not purchase a car but rather a

“mobility contract” from PAG that will allow them to use a

sedan, a limousine, a sport utility vehicle or a convertible,

depending on the customers’ needs. Redefining the offering in

this way does not alter the fact that Ford will still make cars, but

it changes how customers will buy and extract benefits from

those cars.

Companies can systematically configure offerings that create

value by simplifying the route to the benefits that customers

seek. And suppliers can find a new source of competitive advan-

tage if they can better perform certain tasks or better absorb

related risks or costs than their customers can, all while pro-

ducing the same benefits.

Integrate Activities
It’s not always feasible to take on particular customer tasks alto-

gether. Companies can avoid the need to be wholly responsible

by taking a collaborative approach — that is, by integrating var-

ious activities with their customers as a means of lowering risk

and costs. The Internet has made such integration both possible

and, by many accounts, essential. Suppliers must be prepared to

offer an array of capabilities and resources that their customers

can draw on as needed; both sides must be willing to integrate

communications and form intercompany project teams.

A division of Magna International has integrated its activi-

ties with one of its major customers, DaimlerChrysler, to help

the automobile giant meet its production needs. Magna

International is one of the world’s largest and most diversified

automobile parts suppliers; it has 166 manufacturing divisions

and 31 product-development and engineering centers in 18

countries. Its initial success was driven largely by meeting the

needs of automobile plants that it served through small facto-

ries located near its customers’ assembly operations. Radical

changes in the automotive industry, however, have forced the

company to change as well. Product and model life cycles have

been drastically reduced; consumers are more fickle than ever;

and competitors are aggressive in their pursuit of market share.

Not surprisingly, demand for any given model of car is notori-

ously difficult to forecast, and automobile manufacturers need

to be agile enough to respond rapidly to changes in the market.

To help manufacturers attain such operational flexibility,

Magna International created Magna Steyr. This division is not

merely an arms’ length parts supplier. Instead, the parent com-

pany has brought together all the capabilities required to engi-

neer, design, produce and assemble entire vehicles. A few years

ago, Magna Steyr was able to solve DaimlerChrysler’s enviable

problem of excess demand for the Mercedes-Benz M-class

sport utility vehicle. Magna Steyr had already been involved

with DaimlerChrysler in the production of E-class Mercedes

sedans and the Jeep Grand Cherokee and was accustomed to

working closely with DaimlerChrysler engineers and regularly

receiving information on demand forecasts. So when at the end

of 1998 worldwide demand for the M-class SUV outstripped

total capacity at DaimlerChrysler’s plant in Tuscaloosa,

Alabama, Magna Steyr was called in to provide backup. Within

nine months, M-class SUVs were rolling off the Magna Steyr

line in Graz, Austria. Magna Steyr’s integration with

DaimlerChrysler was so seamless that the company might be

confused for a division of DaimlerChrysler. Yet Magna Steyr

has achieved this level of integration with each of its key cus-

tomers, including BMW (for the X5 and X3 SUVs) and Audi

(for the TT Roadster).

Having processes that are transparent to customers can have

advantages for all involved, as a small Italian manufacturer

recently demonstrated. AXIS specializes in the production of

machinery for the manufacture of electric motors used in the

automotive, domestic appliance, and power tool industries, and

it has a reputation for quality and technical expertise. But in a

mature and competitive industry, those strengths were proving

insufficient. Customers like Black & Decker and Philips were

increasingly concerned with their ability to reduce time to mar-

ket and meet peak-season demand and were, as a result, turning

a critical eye on their suppliers. In response, AXIS radically

changed its approach to project management by opening up the

entire process to its customers.

After AXIS’s managers had made that decision, a power tool

manufacturer contracted with the company to supply a new

production line for a nonstandard electric motor needed to

make a new product. The first challenge was to fit the new line

into the customer’s facility. Space was limited and labor costs

were a concern, so the line had to be relatively compact and

SUMMER 2002 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 39

By being the link between customers and the sellers of complementary products and services, a
supplier can increase the number of customer “touch points” and thus its claims on customer loyalty.

highly automated. Using a Web-based three-dimensional CAD

system, AXIS worked with the customer’s engineers to optimize

design concepts and help the customer create performance met-

rics under different operating circumstances and configura-

tions. After the basic concept was agreed on, AXIS engineers

designed the production line, sharing drawings, specifications

and other data in real time with the customer’s engineers.

Midway through the design process, the customer’s engi-

neers, seeing plans for a machine designed by AXIS, realized that

the machine’s capabilities enabled them to develop a more effi-

cient motor. An improvement on that order normally would

have been integrated into the next version of the product, but

now it could be built into the original design.

Once the production machinery design was completed and

approved, the documents were sent to the production team and

stored online in a folder open to everyone involved in the project.

Later, as the production team began work on building the line,

they realized that the engineers had been optimistic about the

amount of work needed to construct one of the peripheral

machines. To prevent triggering a slippage notice, they informed

the designers in both organizations and referred them to drawings

produced for an earlier project that might prove to be an adequate

fix. The designers studied the drawings online and agreed on the

changes. Production delays were minimized, and the customer

was able to get the product to market on schedule. Documents

from the production phase were also stored online and made

accessible to in-field maintenance people in both companies.

The sharing of information and business-process integration

at every step of the way were major factors in the customer’s

successful launch of the new product. The customer enjoyed

unprecedented control over the design and creation of the new

production line and is likely to return to AXIS for related needs

in the future.

Be the Nexus
A trusted supplier can turn itself into a market maker for many

products and services that it doesn’t actually produce — and

make money in the process. By being the link between cus-

tomers and the sellers of complementary products and services,

the supplier reduces buyers’ search and acquisition costs by “cer-

tifying” only qualified contacts. At the same time, the supplier

increases the number of customer “touch points” and thus its

claims on customer loyalty.

NTT DoCoMo is the nexus for many suppliers and cus-

tomers that produce and use mobile Internet products and ser-

vices. Its i-mode service, which had more than 28 million

subscribers in early 2002, is by far the most successful mobile

Internet service in the world. The foundation for i-mode’s suc-

cess is DoCoMo’s coordination of all aspects of the mobile

Internet experience: hardware, access, services and billing. Such

coordination lowers interaction costs and risks for customers by

making it easy to use the service while guaranteeing consistency.

In terms of hardware, for example, DoCoMo has worked

closely with suppliers like Sony, Panasonic and Fujitsu to stan-

dardize i-mode handsets. The company has simplified access

and use by building the service around a single portal that is

available only through i-mode-enabled phones and by making

it easy to navigate through 1,600 DoCoMo-certified sites from

the portal. Web sites are keen to be endorsed by DoCoMo and

are willing to adapt their offerings to DoCoMo standards for the

privilege of being able to reach millions of users — who, in turn,

get instant access to a critical mass of content and services.

Finally, billing and payment are also easy with i-mode.

Subscribers receive a single, itemized monthly bill, and because

they get only one invoice from a trusted source, they are more

apt to try new services than they would be through fixed-line

Internet connections, where payment and verification are

required for each site independently. By earning the trust needed

to occupy the center of the mobile Internet, DoCoMo is offering

value to hardware suppliers, content providers and millions of

i-mode users. In the process, it is building an impressive com-

petitive position for itself.

Intuit is another company that has leveraged its trusted posi-

tion to become a nexus, in this case for small-business software

applications. Intuit’s QuickBooks has an 85% share of the small-

business-accounting software market and a 98% customer loy-

alty rating. But the more interesting story is how Intuit has been

able to capitalize on its success with QuickBooks to capture an

ever bigger share of small-business expenditures on information

and data handling. Services such as QuickBooks Site Solutions

(an Internet tool that enables small businesses to create a profes-

sional Internet presence) and QuickBooks Online Payroll have

40 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW SUMMER 2002

A necessary strategy for any company developing a new technology is to seek ways to lower
the risks and costs even before a polished product is ready for a mass audience.

deepened its interaction with customers while reducing their

risk and cost. And on an annualized basis, these new services

generate four times and ten times more revenue per customer,

respectively, than the original QuickBooks software.

More recently, Intuit has opened up access to the application-

programming interfaces for the QuickBooks products. Third-

party developers are now able to create software applications

that are integrated into the QuickBooks platform. As a result,

specific types of small businesses — architectural firms, medical

groups and so on — can purchase customized solutions for

applications, such as project billing or record keeping, while

maintaining the same accounting core. Intuit’s move signifi-

cantly reduces the small business’s cost of obtaining these solu-

tions, since integration with its own internal procedures is

guaranteed. The QuickBooks seal of approval also reduces the

customer’s risk incurred in the selection of a new supplier or

software. By allowing third-party developers to trade on its plat-

form of trust, Intuit has placed itself at the nexus of suppliers

and buyers in the industry.

Form the Future
Companies often have to collaborate with other organizations to

help “form the future” — in other words, to shape businesses

and products that will change the way commerce happens. This

is especially true for new technologies in the networked econ-

omy, which are rarely the product of a single company. And what

any business today has to realize is that the customer’s sense of

risk is nowhere greater than when it is contemplating large cap-

ital outlays for a new technology. A necessary strategy

for any company developing a new technology, then,

is to seek ways to lower the risks and costs from the

early stages of product development onward — that

is, even before a polished product is ready for a mass

audience. Sometimes, as the story of SAMSys

Technologies indicates, that even means giving up on

your core product.

SAMSys is a small company with a radical vision

for the future of radio frequency identification

(RFID). The technology works like this: Objects are

tagged with semiconductors that emit radio frequen-

cies and can then communicate with one another

and with people. The range of potential applications

is staggering — for example, RFID could be used to

inventory entire warehouses at the touch of a button

or to get information about the contents of transport

trucks and containers without opening them. A

recent Accenture study found that RFID technology

could save $70 billion in the supply chain by reduc-

ing inefficiencies in inventory carrying costs, shrinkage and

labor. Despite its revolutionary potential, customer buy-in to

RFID has been slow. The hesitation has been caused by the lack

of universal frequency and protocol standards, as well as the

rapid evolution of tag technology.

SAMSys was an early entrant in the RFID industry, and by

1998 it had developed a complete solution of tags and reader

hardware. When the company realized that RFID adoption was

slow relative to its potential, it moved to boost sales in the

industry as a whole rather than focus on promoting its own

solution. It recognized that customers would value a tag reader

that was agnostic in terms of frequency and protocol so that

they could invest in any RFID system without fear of incompat-

ibility. To prevent obsolescence, the reader would also have to be

easily upgraded with the appropriate software. SAMSys decided

to develop such a reader, but it knew that to succeed it needed

to convince large players of its vision: tag suppliers, package

makers and RFID system users.

To influence tag suppliers like Texas Instruments, Philips and

Motorola, SAMSys had to position itself as a complementor

rather than a competitor. To do that, it took the bold step of exit-

ing the tag business and focusing entirely on making standard-

free readers. Even though the large tag suppliers had their own,

proprietary line of readers, they saw the SAMSys vision of uni-

versal readers as a way of decoupling their tag and reader prod-

uct lines and significantly growing the tag business. Texas

Instruments and Philips are now SAMSys’s alliance partners

rather than its competitors.

SUMMER 2002 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 41

About the Research

The research conducted for this article includes the following:

■ In-depth interviews with founders, CEOs and senior managers

of such companies as Algorithmics, AXIS, BMW, Cobalt

Networks, SAMSys Technologies, SC Johnson, McCain Group,

Nestlé, National Semiconductor, PMC-Sierra, E.piphany, QLT,

SüdChemie and J. Walter Thompson

■ Group sessions with senior management teams charged with

developing strategy at such companies as Cisco Systems,

Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, British Telecom,

Allianz, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, ABB, E.ON, Corus, Lafarge,

Master Builders, BMW, Nestlé, Canon, Euro RSCG, Deloitte

Touche Tohmatsu, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Tetra Pak

■ An extensive review of secondary sources, including case

studies and published materials from leading business

schools, consulting firms and the business press

SAMSys next focused on the package suppliers — the compa-

nies that make the packages that house the RFID tags. Over a

period of several months, SAMSys persuaded International Paper,

one of the largest packaging companies in the world, to enter into

a strategic alliance. International Paper now sees SAMSys’s RFID

solution as a way to add value to its paper-packaging products.

The alliance gives SAMSys access to standards-creating bodies and

to research consortia (such as the Auto-ID Center at MIT); more

importantly, it gives the company a credible platform for commu-

nicating with such potential customers as Procter & Gamble,

Revlon and Dell.

Finally, SAMSys, in collaboration with its partners, developed

a series of pilot projects to demonstrate the power of its standard-

free RFID vision. For example, SAMSys and International Paper

are running seven demonstration supply-chain projects — all of

which require different readers. SAMSys has created multiproto-

col readers that can be configured to fit each project. And a proj-

ect with Revlon on “smart shelving” caught the eye of

Wal-Mart, which is now testing SAMSys’s RFID technology.

SAMSys’s vision of a RFID future based on common readers

looks increasingly plausible.

Shifting the Traditional Mind-Set
As products from competing companies become increasingly

similar, differences in the way rivals interact with their cus-

tomers are becoming more and more important. There’s no

doubt in our minds that strategies built around reducing cus-

tomers’ interaction costs and risk are central to these differ-

ences; they offer a systematic way to tap into new sources of

customer value. Make no mistake: It is easy to underestimate

the difficulties involved in shifting a company’s focus from

products to customer interactions. Tactical marketing responses

can’t get the job done because they do the opposite of what is

needed, adding to interactions rather than streamlining them.

But the tremendous untapped opportunities for creating value

and establishing long-term advantage should, we believe, be

enough to convince any senior executive of the superiority of a

mind-set that starts with customers rather than products.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank Chris Barrow, Tony Frost and Rod White for their
helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper and Gavin Brown for
his assistance in data collection.

Reprint 4343
Copyright  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. All rights reserved.

42 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW SUMMER 2002

Reprints/Back Issues
Electronic copies of SMR
articles can be purchased on
our website:
www.mit-smr.com

To order bulk copies of SMR
reprints, or to request a free
copy of our reprint index,
contact:
MIT Sloan
Management Review
Reprints
E60-100
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307
Telephone: 617-253-7170
Toll-free in US or
Canada: 877-727-7170
Fax: 617-258-9739
E-mail: smr@mit.edu

Copyright Permission
To reproduce or transmit one
or more SMR articles by
electronic or mechanical
means (including photocopying
or archiving in any information
storage or retrieval system)
requires written permission.
To request permission to copy
articles, contact:
P. Fitzpatrick,
Permissions Manager
Telephone: 617-258-7485
Fax: 617-258-9739
E-mail: pfitzpat@mit.edu

MITSloan
Management Review

1. grey:

Commercialised nostalgia

Staging consumer experiences in small

businesses
Kathy Hamilton and Beverly A. Wagner

Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to develop a framework linking the concept of nostalgia and
experiential consumption, articulating the transformation of a mundane activity to a special experience,
using the context of the small business and afternoon tea.
Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a grounded theory approach and
draws on multiple methods of data collection including participant observation, in-depth interviews
with afternoon tea room managers, researcher introspection and consumer interviews.
Findings – By employing nostalgia cues through product, ritual and aesthetics, an idealised home can
be constructed emphasising belonging and sharing. The small business owner can be effective in
transforming an ordinary activity to an experiential event. Contemporary tea rooms do not replicate
tradition; they use it as a cultural resource to construct something novel.
Research limitations/implications – This paper demonstrates how the careful configuration of
the retail space can be a key success factor, not only for marketers in large flagship brand stores,
but also for smaller, independent and local businesses. The essential interplay between product,
ritual and aesthetics creates positive moods of belonging and sharing and may increase
satisfaction.
Practical implications – Understanding the emotional value of everyday experiences is a point of
differentiation in a crowded marketplace and may directly influence consumer loyalty. Staging
experiences is a key competitive strategy.
Originality/value – This paper is one of the few to empirically assess links between the nostalgia
paradigm and experiential consumption. Existing research has emphasised large retail spaces; in
contrast, the authors demonstrate how consumer experiences can be staged in smaller, independent and
local businesses.

Keywords Small business, Nostalgia, Retail, Home, Afternoon tea, Consumer experience

Paper type Research paper

Introduction
In this paper, we address the following research question: How do small businesses
stage consumer experiences through nostalgic references? Various authors have
highlighted the hedonistic, playful, enchanting, aesthetic and emotional side of
consumption (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Featherstone, 1990; Ritzer, 2005).
However, much of the research interest has focused on grand cathedrals of consumption
(Ritzer, 2005), emphasising large retail spaces that encompass spectacular themes,
advanced technological media and architectural sophistication; cost millions to build;
attract millions of visitors per year; and are often associated with a global brand such as
Nike or Coca-Cola (Hollenbeck et al., 2008; Kozinets et al., 2004; Peñaloza, 1998). In

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0566.htm

Commercialised
nostalgia

813

Received 30 May 2012
Revised 6 February 2013

Accepted 27 May 2013

European Journal of Marketing
Vol. 48 No. 5/6, 2014

pp. 813-

832

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0309-0566
DOI 10.1108/EJM-05-2012-0325

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EJM-05-2012-0325

contrast, drawing on a grounded theory approach, our contribution is to demonstrate
how careful configuration of the retail space can be a key success factor, not only in large
flagship brand stores, but also for smaller, independent and local businesses. By
focusing on the small business context, this paper discusses how “a theatrical approach
can perform the task of making the familiar become unfamiliar” (Anderson, 2005,
pp. 587-588). Using the context of afternoon tea consumption in the United Kingdom, we
illustrate how small businesses can transform an in-home everyday activity to an
out-of-home consumption experience.

Staging consumer experiences and retail theatre
Deighton (1992, p. 362) suggests that “marketing reveals itself as an intrinsically
dramatistic discipline”. A vocabulary of performance describes marketers who script
and provide the props and stage for consumers to enact various roles, culminating in a
kind of retail theatre. This becomes significant in an experience economy where both
goods and services are increasingly commoditised (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). Pine and
Gilmore (1998) suggest that staging experiences should be a key competitive strategy
for all companies so that experience design is as much a business art as product and
process design. They identify five principles to guide practitioners:

(1) theme the experience;
(2) harmonise impressions with positive cues;
(3) eliminate negative cues;
(4) include memorabilia to make the experience tangible; and
(5) engage all five senses.

Such principles are aimed at creating an experience or even entertainment for the
consumer (Verhoef et al., 2009; Baron et al., 2001) and, if successful, can have a positive
influence on consumer behaviour as well as economic value for the firm (Michon, Chebat
and Turley, 2002 cited in Ulrich and Bourrain, 2008).

Various researchers have developed this line of inquiry by focusing on large
spectacular themed environments. Peñaloza (1998) investigated the staging of consumer
experience in Niketown, where visitors are engaged in innovative displays and
immersed in the story of the brand. Brown (2001, p. 135) suggests that Niketown is the
“mother ship” monument to retromarketing with its mix of “merchandise and
memorabilia”. Kozinets et al. (2004, p. 660) focused on ESPN Zone Chicago, which they
describe as one of the most “elaborate themed retail environments ever designed” in the
form of a 35,000-foot entertainment and dining complex that provides a stage for
consumers to perform their own sports-related fantasies. Maclaran and Brown (2005,
p. 319) focused on the utopian marketplace of a festival shopping mall that offers a
“retreat for shoppers from the overtly mass-marketed nature of mainstream shopping”.
Many studies in this research stream emphasise that the physical environment is
important not only from a material sense but also a social sense (Aubert-Gamet and
Cova, 1998). For example, drawing on the case of American Girl Place, Borghini and
colleagues (2009, p. 124) describe an outlet that emplaces the brand in an experiential
world intertwining commerciality and domesticity as it facilitates intergenerational
bonding among female family members and creates family identity.

EJM
48,5/6

814

Critical reflection on these studies leads us to the proposition that staging an
experience involves transforming something ordinary into something memorable. For
example, watching a baseball game or purchasing sports clothes or a child’s doll
becomes a process of playful engagement with the retail environment. Early use of the
drama metaphor tended to view customers as an audience who were passively scripted
and staged by marketers (Goodwin, 1996). However, more recently, researchers have
highlighted the performative element of consumer behaviour (Deighton, 1992; Giesler,
2008) and the potential for co-creative practices (Kozinets et al., 2002, 2004). Thus, retail
theatre encourages subtle interaction between service provider and user; visual cues and
artefacts allow the consumer to play out symbolic narratives as part of the retail
experience (Healy et al., 2007). In this paper, we suggest that nostalgic references
facilitate symbolic narratives and the following section discusses nostalgia and its effect
on consumer behaviour.

Nostalgia
The concept of nostalgia has its origins in medicine where it was a pathological
condition associated with homesickness (Kessous and Roux, 2008). Its meaning has now
been extended to reflect nostalgia as a sociological phenomenon (Davis, 1979) and a
contemporary obsession with the simulacra of the past (Hines, 2007). Lowenthal (1985)
states that nostalgia is a universal catchword for looking back, an emotional state in
which people yearn for the idealised past. Although various definitions of nostalgia
exist, a common theme is the positive emotions associated with objects, places, people,
experiences and ideas from the past (Hirsch, 1992; Holbrook, 1993; Holak and Havlena,
1998; Holbrook and Schindler, 2003). For example, Holbrook (1993, p. 245) defines
nostalgia as “a longing for the past, yearning for yesterday, or a fondness for
possessions and activities associated with the days of yore”.

Hirsch (1992, p. 390) suggests that nostalgia is an “idealized emotional state” that is
manifested as individuals attempt to recreate a past era by reproducing activities and
using symbolic representations of the past. Consistent in the literature is that the
nostalgic experience filters the past and recall is selective through rose-coloured glasses,
indeed some of the memories are fantasy-like representing a utopian version of
yesteryear (Stern, 1992). Generally the negative content is screened out and is often
sentimentalised to create positive emotions (Holbrook, 1993; Holak and Havlena, 1992).
However, even though the emotion is predominantly positive, it may also be tinged with
sadness (Holak and Havlena, 1992). Researchers have highlighted the bittersweet nature
of nostalgia, indicating both positive and negative emotions; positive emotions evoked
by fond memories and negative emotions due to the realisation that one can never return
to this period (Davis, 1979).

There are both cognitive and affective dimensions to nostalgia (Werman, 1977). The
cognitive focuses on memories of the past and the affective, the emotions that these
memories evoke. Drawing on social identity theory, Sierra and McQuitty (2007) suggest
that both emotional and cognitive responses to the past are based on group membership
from that period and have the capacity to influence consumer behaviour. They confirm
a dual-process model of nostalgic decision-making where both cognitive (e.g. attitudes
to the past) and emotional (e.g. yearning for the past) simultaneously affect consumer
behaviour.

815

Commercialised
nostalgia

Davis (1979) highlights three nostalgic orders or levels of experience. First-order or
simple nostalgia pertains to beliefs that things were better in the past. Second-order or
reflexive nostalgia entails a thorough analysis of the past and a reflection on the
accuracy of interpretation. Third-order or interpreted nostalgia means that individuals
compare the nature and meaning of nostalgic feelings with present circumstances to
enhance their life situation. Second-order nostalgia attempts to analyse the past
critically, while third-order nostalgia analyses the nostalgic response itself.

Likewise, Baker and Kennedy (1994) identify three types of nostalgia, namely, real,
simulated and collective. Real nostalgia is personally experienced past, for example,
memories evoked from a particular song. Research has shown that by stimulating the
consumer’s memory, they can be made to feel the emotions they felt when they had the
original experience (Braun-LaTour and LaTour, 2005). Simulated nostalgia is indirect
and can be experienced through the eyes and stories of others. Collective nostalgia
relates to the past which represents a culture, a generation or a nation.

Warm memories that evoke nostalgic emotions are exploitable assets in today’s
marketplace. In this respect, consumers are increasingly presented as “yearning for
yesterday” (Davis, 1979) and the “remembrance of times past is a burgeoning business
in almost every country” (Lowenthal, 1985, p. 6). Marketers are striving for the
“commodified authentic”, a “sustained contradiction” that allows consumers to connect
“to a range of values roughly aligned with authenticity and yet also to be fully modern”
(Outka, 2009, p. 4). The following section outlines the context of our study as an example
of this “sustained contradiction”.

Research context: afternoon tea consumption in the UK

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will
cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you (Gladston, 1865).

The UK has a long-standing reputation for being a nation of tea drinkers, and tea
remains the most popular drink with a daily consumption of more than 165 million cups
(United Kingdom Tea Council). Cultural and social etiquettes, customs and traditions
surrounding the preparation and consumption of tea are numerous. Within this paper
we consider the distinction between private (in-home) and public (out-of-home) tea
consumption. Within the home, tea consumption becomes part of one’s daily routine (tea
can be drunk at any time of the day) and features at social occasions as a way of
demonstrating hospitality to visitors. In relation to public tea drinking, the most recent
trend is the popularity of afternoon tea. Afternoon tea is a meal in itself that follows a
ritualised script: food is served on a tiered cake stand, the bottom tier consists of
sandwiches, the middle tier is scones, normally with cream and jam and the top tier is a
variety of cakes. The food is accompanied with vast amounts of specialised tea (Plate 1).

Afternoon tea attracts a broad customer base and is regarded as an affordable treat.
The following comment from Gill Hesketh, head of marketing at Clipper’s Teas (cited in
Boughton, 2009, p. 38), highlights its experiential dimension:

Afternoon tea is about taking an everyday happening and making it a special treat. It’s about
serving a delicious combination of sweet and savoury with a superb tea, and about providing
your customer with an extraordinary experience of taste and style. Afternoon tea is not about
a snatched cuppa with a scone.

EJM
48,5/6

816

Clearly, afternoon tea is about transforming something that is consumed daily within
the home from an ordinary experience to something special.

Afternoon tea is regarded as a nostalgic activity; it developed as a social event in the
late 1

830

s and early 1840s (Pettigrew, 2001) but has been rediscovered and even

Plate 1.

817

Commercialised
nostalgia

reinvented by contemporary consumers. By combining elements of old and new in the
form of commercialised nostalgia, tearooms may be regarded as an example of
retroscape (Brown, 2001). Existing research on retroscapes has centred on large-scale
immersive environments. As Brown (2001, p. 146) suggests, retroscape developers are
“trapped on an extremely expensive treadmill of competitive conspicuousness […]
where thematic signifiers are evoked, evaluated, evaded and evicted in rapid succession,
only to be eclipsed by even more extravagant encapsulations”. Our focus illustrates that
“competitive conspicuousness” is equally important to the small business. In particular,
we reveal how tea room managers successfully employ nostalgic representations of the
idealised home to enhance the consumer experience.

As McCracken (2005, p. 32) suggests, the homey space can be “embracing” in terms
of a “descending pattern of enclosure” where the occupant is “protected from the outside
world by an intricate series of baffles and mediants”. In this way, McCracken (2005)
argues that the homey space has the same symbolic and psychological value as a
parental embrace, offering protection from both real and imagined dangers. This
strategy results in the transformation of afternoon tea from an ordinary in-home activity
to an out-of-home consumption experience.

Methodology
Our methodology was based on a grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1978, 1992) and
our interpretation was guided by the data (Goulding, 2005). The focus on the
transformation of afternoon tea from an in-home everyday activity to an out-of-home
consumption experience through nostalgic references in the marketplace offering
emerged inductively via the data collection and interpretation process.

Research on small business is increasingly conducted from an interpretive
perspective (Cope, 2005). In line with previous culturally oriented research on consumer
experience (Haytko and Baker, 2004; Borghini et al., 2009; Hollenbeck et al., 2008), we
draw on multiple methods of data collection over a two-year period. This included
participant observation in tea rooms, in-depth interviews with afternoon tea room
managers, researcher introspection and consumer email interviews. This was
supplemented by information collected from newspaper articles and websites. This mix
of data sources and methods encourages a holistic and in-depth understanding of the
afternoon tea phenomenon and ensures robustness of data collection and validity of
research findings (Sayre, 2001).

Participant observation was based in 14 afternoon tea venues in two UK cities. This
was driven by the rationale that immersion in the research context allows researchers to
“experience what is being expressed, listen to what is being said and witness what is
being done” (Healy et al., 2007, p. 756). In an unobtrusive way, researchers can “gain an
insider’s look into the living and authentic ‘world’ of their subjects” (Healy et al., 2007,
p. 757). Establishments were selected purposefully to capture a variety of afternoon tea
venues; some had historical significance while others were newly established, some
were licensed and others served afternoon tea associated with particular themes (such as
ice-cream or chocolate). Some venues were visited on multiple occasions. During visits
we engaged in informal conversations with waiting staff. Following each visit, both
researchers compiled extensive field notes covering a range of topics including the
selection of food and drink, the presentation of food and drink, the décor, behaviour of

EJM
48,5/6

818

staff and other customers and the ambiance. Photographs supplemented these notes and
provided visual documentation (Peñaloza, 1998).

Additionally, both researchers completed introspective reflections after each visit; a
useful approach for studying hedonic consumption experiences (Gould, 1991; Brown,
1998; Holbrook, 1995). Researcher introspection can be described as “an examination of
one’s own individual mental experiences […] private self-reflection on joys and sorrows
related to consumption” (Holbrook, 1995, p. 201). It has been argued that researchers
have difficulty accessing behaviours of others due to problems of “cognizance” (Caru
and Cova, 2008, p. 168). In other words, given the personal nature of experience,
researchers can gain more in-depth understanding through themselves than via other
informants. At this stage, there was no discussion or trading of thoughts until individual
accounts were complete. An on-going submersion in the personal experience meant that
introspection often evolved over a period of several days, as continual reflection on the
experience created a closer relationship between data and researcher.

The second phase of data collection involved interviews with the tea room
owner-managers. We used the Member’s Directory of the Tea Guild to identify potential
participants. The Tea Guild was founded by the UK Tea Council in 1985 and is
described as “a prestigious and unique organisation that represents and encourages
those outlets who are dedicated to both brewing and serving tea to the high standards
desired by the United Kingdom Tea Council” (www.tea.co.uk/teaguild). Initial contact
was via email when we described the nature of our research and asked the tea room
managers to answer several broad questions on their afternoon tea offering, its
popularity and customer base. We obtained 12 email responses from this request and ten
of these participated in follow-up interviews. Given that the sample was geographically
spread across the UK, interviews were conducted via telephone and arranged at a
convenient time for the respondent. Our respondents were based in both urban and rural
tea rooms and had varying levels of experience; for some it was a relatively new venture
to capitalise on the growing popularity of afternoon tea and others had long-standing
family businesses. The discussion guide was informed by phase 1 of the research and
covered topics such as business background, tea room aesthetics, customers,
promotional strategies, pricing, product and menu information and staffing. Some
respondents emailed us photographs after the interview to supplement their oral
descriptions. Telephone interviews lasted between 45 and 90 minutes and were
audio-recorded and transcribed.

We also collected additional data to support the customer perspective. One of the tea
room managers runs a “Tea Club” and helped us to negotiate access. This theoretical
approach to sampling (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) allowed us to access those who had
significant experience of afternoon tea, resulting in deeper insight. Ten tea club
members responded, via email, to four open-ended questions about their experiences of
taking afternoon tea.

To understand the phenomenon as a whole, analysis and interpretation required
on-going scrutiny of the data collected. We followed an iterative approach to
interpretation because the overlapping of data collection and analysis is considered to
improve both the quality of the data collected and the quality of the analysis (Patton,
2002). The process of analysis was thematic (Spiggle, 1994) and followed a constant
comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Each of the authors separately analysed
the data and then combined and refined their analyses. Initially analysis was at a

819

Commercialised
nostalgia

http://www.tea.co.uk/teaguild

descriptive level, moving towards theoretical explanation as time passed. We moved
between the data and the literature as analysis evolved, comparing our work with
existing material to gain deeper insight. This back and forth movement between the
literature and the data highlighted the broad scope of the afternoon tea experience.
Collectively the multiple concepts we discuss contribute towards the transformation
from an in-home ordinary event to an out-of-home consumption experience.

Findings: construction of the idealised home
An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses […] Whence could it have come to me, this
all-powerful joy? I was conscious that it was connected with the taste of tea and cake, but that
it infinitely transcended those savors (Proust, 1981).

There is something quite magic about this. I am not trying to be twee-it is about time out and
relaxing (Robert).

The afternoon tea experience is decadent with memories of a time gone by, it is log fires, and
cold winter days, or long summer afternoon sipping champagne in the garden, of taking tea
and catching up, its friends getting together, taking time out, its romantic (Beth).

Tea room managers unanimously agree that afternoon tea is increasing in popularity
and they report improved trade and “phenomenal success”. All of our respondents
employ positive, poetic vocabulary to describe the experience. For tea room managers, it
is “calming, good for the body and soul”; “comforting, quiet and polite”; “leisurely and
elegant”; “quaint”; and “a genteel civilised experience”. For consumers, it is “relaxing”,
“bliss”, “a joy”, “pleasure”, “refreshing” and “luxury break”. We present the findings in
relation to four key subthemes: product, ritual, aesthetics and belonging. The
overarching theme that filters through each of these discussions is the way in which
afternoon tea provides an illusion of the ideal home, a nostalgic representation that
transforms afternoon tea from a mundane in-home activity to a memorable out-of-home
consumption experience.

Product
Tea room managers emphasise a production process that focuses on freshness,
high-quality ingredients (often local suppliers) and preparation on the premises.
Although labour-intensive and more costly, many proprietors believe this is crucial to
the appeal of afternoon tea:

We strive to ensure very high standards of quality by sourcing from very good suppliers-and
our products are made from scratch in our kitchen […] Every morning I am baking bread and
making teacakes, scones and cakes. We do a variety of sandwiches and cut them into shape
and 4/5 different cakes, such as rich fruit cake, lemon drizzle cake, chocolate cake etc. It makes
a real difference. For example many places use scone mix to make scones and the results speak
for themselves. In our kitchen we take the time and effort to make scones using organic flour
and fresh butter, making them in the traditional, but labour intensive way of rubbing butter
into the flour and then adding fresh milk and so on. The result is a scone that has a great
buttery taste and when you eat it and it doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth. We know that
people are impressed because of the comments left behind in our visitors’ book (Steve).

This emphasis on fresh preparation is central to the idealised home. Time poverty has
altered the socio-spatial relations surrounding food consumption and we have

EJM
48,5/6

820

witnessed an increase in convenience and fast foods (Brewis and Jack, 2005). For many
households, finding time to prepare homemade food has become increasingly
challenging, creating a sense of nostalgia for an earlier era where traditional cooking
and fresh ingredients were commonplace. Tearooms have responded by providing
products reminiscent of this image of the idealised home. The time invested in acquiring
competencies associated with afternoon tea provision is undertaken by the tearoom
staff, liberating consumers from the labour associated with fresh food preparation.

For respondents, the emphasis on freshly prepared food also provided a point of
differentiation with coffee culture.

The reason that I decided to go down the route of a tearoom was because we seem to be
saturated with coffee shops, with Starbucks and Costa and they’re all very similar, they all
offer primarily coffee and if they do have tea it’s generally a tea-bag dumped in a cup. It’s not
done very well […] And the food is brought in, it’s pre-packed in a factory and it’s brought in.
It’s not made on the premises and it’s not particularly fresh, not in the way that we prepare
food. Our profit margins are less so it’s probably not as attractive a proposition to do as a chain
but I think customers are looking for more individual service and for products that are
homemade and a friendly approach. Whereas coffee shops are chains aren’t they? You go in a
coffee shop in one town and it’s the same as the next town and everything’s identical. There’s
no individuality and it’s not particularly authentic […] and it’s not very interesting really
(Sarah).

The wording of the menu in one tearoom draws attention to the personalised service “If
there’s anything that we’ve not covered and you would like it then don’t be afraid, just let
us know”. Here our owner-manager respondents point towards a dichotomy between
mass-processed food representative of coffee culture (in their view, inauthentic) and
freshly prepared food (in their view, authentic) offered by tearooms. Many tea room
managers agree that the personalisation available in tearooms has recaptured the
British public’s imagination, given the growing dissatisfaction with mass production
and the homogeneous nature of much of our marketplace offerings. Although afternoon
tea involves the transformation of a previously private activity into a commercial
experience, over-commercialisation is avoided and tea rooms “are made as individual as
they can be”.

Proprietors also emphasise the choice of tea blends they offer and many documented
their extensive range from around the world:

We have 20 teas on our menu and I could quite easily have 400. Our teas have been
specially tasted and tested so we have the best in each category. Our Darjeeling is the best
Darjeeling of that particular vintage of that year. My supplier is always sending me new
teas and improved teas and the tea is a massive part of the tearoom. This goes back to the
quality. It has to, all our teas are authentic, the best that you can get. It has not been
processed and made to last longer, it is exactly as it is (Beth).

We offer about 50 different types of loose tea, some are quite unusual such as real fruit teas and
also display teas. These are expensive and are actual flower buds, hand sown and as they
infuse the flower opens up […] This is our top end tea range and its very visually appealing
and also very good tea. We serve it in double walled glass teapots […]. They are really
impressive (Steve).

This choice far extends the range of teas that the average consumers would have
available in their homes. It represents a move away from simple commodification to a

821

Commercialised
nostalgia

level of luxury that would not necessarily be associated with tea drinking. Talk of
vintage blends, freshness (“not been processed” “actual flower buds”) and visual
presentation reinforces the transformation of afternoon tea from a quick drink to a
consumption experience.

Ritual
Afternoon tea has a ritualistic element and respondents describe it as “steeped in
tradition” and a “throw back” creating “memories of a time gone by”.

There is a ritual in it without a doubt. This stems from the history, ladies in waiting, in the
gentry and Royal family, would have this ritual of Afternoon Tea[1]. It is just something that
is in us all. Somewhere in our lives, we would have sat with our grandmother. There is very
much a ritual in it, even though we don’t realise there is a ritual. There is a comfortable,
comforting, homely, secure thing with it all (Alison).

Meaning is assigned to the experience based upon historical knowledge (Chronis, 2005)
and consumers engage with these connections with the past that contribute to both
personal and national identity (McDonald, 2011). For example, the ritual of taking
afternoon tea may be linked to the concept of gentrification due to its historical links to
Royalty, but at the same time, it may form part of personal history and be “homely” and
“comfortable”. In other words, afternoon tea can be both real and simulated (Baker and
Kennedy, 1994).

Alongside food quality, the presentation approach to afternoon tea is also important
(Plate 1). Tea room managers make efforts to ensure stylistic and visually appealing
presentation that stands out from other items on their menu, for example, one
respondent describes it as “a little bit of theatre” that engages the senses (Pine and
Gilmore, 1998).

The impact of afternoon tea is quite distinctive, people are really impressed and they often take
photographs. Customers get very excited with the presentation of the food. Afternoon tea is an
opportunity to show off the higher end of food, through the quality and the presentation. It is
very pleasing to the eye (Steve).

Tea room managers use various props to enhance the experience, for example, loose leaf
tea “served in silver teapots and food delivered on beautiful silver cake stands”,
“covering the table with a cloth and flowers” or investing in expensive china because
“you want to have it served in the nicest possible way.”

If you talk to anybody who had won an award for excellence [from the Tea Guild], they will all
be using china, bone china at that. It will all be white and it will be done in conjunction with
what the tea council are looking for in their judging criteria and so one would not have
packaged sugar but in a proper nice dispenser. We use Royal Dolton, Royal Dolton Stratford
which is the same crockery that they used on Concord so really good. It costs a lot of money to
do it, I’ll tell you. Once you’ve done it, it is worth it, you see people coming in and saying “that’s
lovely”, that’s what chuffs me about it (Stuart).

The presentation is central to the ritual and, in turn, there are certain etiquettes such as
high-quality china and accompanying tableware. Although expensive, just like the tea
itself, these “props” (Rook, 1985) are essential for the construction of the ideal as the
aesthetic appeal of the food transforms afternoon tea beyond the everyday to the
experience level.

EJM
48,5/6

822

Another element of the ritual relates to the behaviour of staff who help make
afternoon tea a gentrified experience. Emphasis is placed on “high service content” and
“thoughtful customer care” and staff are trained to devote time and attention to
customers. Tea room managers aim to provide a “perfect experience” by creating a
retroscape with a spell-like quality where consumers can take time out to be “served at
leisure” away from “a fast self-service orientated world”. Their attention to detail often
extends to engaging customers in small talk, encouraging them to prolong the stay,
tailoring the food selection to suit individual preferences and offering advice to help
customers decide from the extensive choice of tea that may be beyond their normal
repertoire:

We serve the tea at the table, we have a tea trolley, we talk to customers about the tea. All our
team are trained up to know all about the different teas and they encourage customers to take
something different instead of traditional breakfast tea. We ask them what they like and don’t
like and then get them to try different teas. You need a passion for it, I love what I do and
hopefully my staff share the same sort of passion, for giving the customers a really special,
calming and happy experience (Beth).

The fact that afternoon tea is based on table service is also important, as this allows the
work to remain out of sight. Consumers are removed from the production and are free
from the effort that would be involved in recreating afternoon tea in their own homes.

Aesthetics
In terms of physical environment, many tea room managers attempt a nostalgia
aesthetic as their central theme. For some this involves obvious visual cues and for
others, it is more subtle:

Very very classic reproductions, because again with the way my family has been involved in
the trade, I’ve got reproductions of grandpa’s old packaging from the 1920s in there and all
sorts of things up on the wall (James).

Last year there was a major refurbishment and the tea lounge was taken back to what it
originally looked like in 1906. They used a lot of old photographs; they opened up an old
cloakroom, found comfortable seating and couches (Caroline).

In these examples, managers promote the genuine historical significance of their tea
rooms.

In contrast, another prominent strategy related to the staging of the home, for
example, one participant observation site is a deliberately nostalgic anachronism of an
English breakfast room. It is clear that the décor is an intentional effort to create a feeling
of tradition and a past time, described in field notes as “like entering a Granny’s dining
room”. There is deep pink wallpaper with a hunting motif, and the room is filled with
wooden tables, each covered with a hand-embroidered table cloth and a bronze
candlestick (Plate 2).

This home-like aesthetic is also evident in another participant observation site in a
more opulent fashion. A wood fire burns in the grate of a grand fireplace, surrounded by
carved wooden panels and a large gilded mirror centred above the mantelpiece. On the
opposite wall, from floor to ceiling, is a wood and glass cabinet filled with bottles of
vintage whisky. The room is crowded with brown leather chairs and settees, and the dim
lighting is supported by candles on each table (Plate 3).

823

Commercialised
nostalgia

This demonstrates that it is not only large spectacular themed environments that have
aesthetic appeal (Kozinets et al., 2004; Diamond et al., 2009), but such strategies can be
equally applicable on a smaller scale. While previous research has considered themed
environments that globalise the brand (Hollenbeck et al., 2008), this study offers an
alternative approach of more localised contextualisation. Indeed, smaller environments
may be more appealing to “nostalgic hedonists” and their quest for uniqueness and
pleasure (Guiot and Roux, 2010). Drawing on Outka (2009), we suggest that these
carefully staged environments deliberately construct the security of the home so
that the consumer becomes the beneficiary of the maternal homelike comfort, but
does not have to produce and maintain the comfort. In line with Aubert-Gamet and
Cova (1998), the aesthetic environment is important from a social perspective as will
be discussed in the following section.

Belonging

[…] the chance to meet up with the people who you love and enjoy the simple pleasure of
taking afternoon tea (Alison).

Exposure to nostalgic references can satisfy consumers’ need to belong (Holak and
Havlena, 1998; Loveland et al., 2010). Afternoon tea is not just about the self, rather it is
a social activity, a shared consumption ritual (Gainer, 1995). The experience provides
space and time to talk; as the tea flows, so too does the conversation. Field notes reveal
that part of this involves people watching, looking at faces, imagining lives and catching

Plate 2.

EJM
48,5/6

824

snippets of conversation. By watching others we catch a part of local culture, benefit
from free entertainment and see life.

Findings suggest that the afternoon tea experience unlocks a door to a flood of
childhood memories for sharing, reinforcing the emotional component of nostalgia
(Holak and Havlena, 1998). Introspections and consumer interviews disclose
personal memories of family members who used to (or still do) make similar types of
treats:

My grandmother was from Newfoundland and my grandfather came from Liverpool. My
grandmother had a beautiful tea set and we used to make everything by hand ourselves and
bake everything the day before. It was a real event. We would watch one of those great black
and white movies too, it was grand (consumer interview).

In my head I have an enduring picture of my grandparent’s room and my grandfather drinking
tea. The memory is so vivid bringing with it smells, colours and textures of that country home
(researcher introspection).

Similar to Borghini et al. (2009), images of the home encourage new forms of reflection on
family. Consumers may be moved emotionally and transported on a nostalgic journey as
memories are evoked by the settings, colours, lighting, food, artefacts, objects and other
aesthetic codes. The design and combination of product, ritual and aesthetic have the
effect of creating “personal idiosyncratic memories” (Costa and Bamossy, 2003, p. 255)
of friends and family, motivating consumers to share these stories, thereby creating a
sense of belonging in the present. This is attractive because consumers do not have to

Plate 3.

825

Commercialised
nostalgia

choose between the past and the present; all desires are united in one complete
experience (Outka, 2009).

Many of our consumer and proprietor informants agreed that taking time out is
important to the experience. As one manager explained, “you cannot have a sense of
urgency or rushing these people”, a sentiment that is reinforced in our introspective
accounts.

We eat slowly […] we want to make it last as this is not an experience that one gets to enjoy on
a regular basis. It’s a feeling of contentment that just outside the doors the city is buzzing with
people, those working in the nearby offices and shoppers racing up and down the busiest
shopping street. In contrast as if captured in a spell we are cocooned in an oasis of calm for a
few hours.

This may be interpreted as a form of time indulgence, a self-gift (Mick and DeMoss,
1990) to calm the mind and ease away tensions. The combination of high-quality,
homemade indulgent food meets our body’s need for “pampering the soul” (Warde, 1997,
p. 78) and the aesthetically appealing environment offers mood regulation (Arnold and
Reynolds, 2009). Afternoon tea could therefore be described as “a rich tapestry of
hedonic activity which provides the customer with real emotional benefits” (Healy et al.,
2007, pp 756).

Conclusions
We demonstrate that small business marketers striving to create an experiential
environment can employ a strategy of commercialised nostalgia that embeds values of
belonging. Consumption spaces staged to evoke personal and collective memory
intermingle in collaborative and interactive processes to create a valued and often
deeply moving (nostalgic) experience (Figure 1). We link the experiential view of
consumption within the nostalgia paradigm. Merging these two streams of thought puts
theorists and practitioners in a better position to extend understanding in this area and
to develop appropriate strategies in this realm of business. Within our research context,
we have demonstrated the relevance of Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) five design principles:
theme the experience (nostalgia), harmonise impressions with positive cues (product,
ritual and aesthetics), eliminate negative cues (discussed later), make the experience
tangible (use of nostalgia staging props) and engage all five senses (a culmination of
home-like sensory cues). This is important given the scant attention paid to the influence
of nostalgia cues in the retail context (Ulrich and Bourrain, 2008).

Previous work has focused on immersive leisure environments, global brands,
flagship stores and large-scale multi-sensory, interactive, theatrical experiences
(Hollenbeck et al., 2008; Ritzer, 2005). We suggest that small business owners can be
equally effective in constructing consumer experiences that transform an ordinary
activity to an experiential event. Activities such as afternoon tea allow the past to be
re-accessed, albeit in a contemporary way. By remaining the same, yet also evolving,
they become more attractive to customers (Balmer, 2011). In this sense, contemporary
tearooms do not simply replicate tradition, they use it as a cultural resource to construct
something novel. Whereas well-known coffee chains are critiqued for “propagating a
soul-numbing aesthetic homogeneity” (Thompson and Arsel, 2004, p. 634), tearooms can
remain outside this hegemonic consumptionscape.

We have profiled small business owners who employ nostalgia via the construction
of an idealised home through product, ritual and aesthetics. This is in line with Davis’

EJM
48,5/6

826

(1979) first-order nostalgia that sentimentalises and celebrates the past. Marketers
present a utopian version of the past; this is an illusory representation but appealing;
consumers do not question its accuracy. Similar to Pine and Gilmore (1998), negative
cues are deliberately eliminated by the owner-manager, for example, the labour
associated with production, the maintenance of the homelike environment and the
efforts involved in gaining necessary competencies are all invisible.

Such an approach can allow for the surfacing of consumer emotions, and drawing on
Sierra and McQuitty’s (2007) dual-process model of nostalgic decision-making, our
research reveals that affective responses become more important than cognitive
responses to the past in some situations. Some argue that the artificial environment in
restaurants and cafes restricts “authentic social participation”, as the need for civility
and manners can repress true emotions and, instead, emotions are commodified through
ritualised conventions (Finkelstein, 1989 cited in Lupton, 1996, p. 99). We would argue
that it is possible for the consumer to express real emotions during the dining out
experience and that these real and personal emotions mask the inauthenticity and
staging of the nostalgic codes. The real and the simulated are deeply intertwined and,
indeed, it is futile to attempt to make a distinction between the two; consumers do not
stop to question the authenticity of their emotions. Although the consumer is aware that
the context is staged through lighting, furnishings and artefacts, they still welcome any
opportunity that serves the purpose of mood regulation and escapism that is afforded to
them by the artificial separation “from the bustling and commercial public sphere”
(Outka, 2009, p. 113).

Figure 1.
Engagement in

experiential consumption

827

Commercialised
nostalgia

Appreciating the link between nostalgic references in the marketplace offering and
consumer emotional response has important marketing implications. The essential
interplay between product, ritual and aesthetics creates the positive moods and pleasure
and may increase satisfaction. From this we can deduce that managers who use
emotion-evoking elements such as nostalgia may improve the consumer experience.
Retailers who wish to create such spaces need to understand the emotional value of
everyday experiences and consider ways to facilitate consumers’ personal and social
experience. This supports Desai and Mahajan (1998), who found that such emotions
play a crucial role and directly influence consumer loyalty.

It has been suggested that marketing is one of the biggest challenges for small
business owners (Huang and Brown, 1999). In line with Fillis (2004), this study
reinforces how creative marketing enables the smaller firm to gain competitive
advantage despite limited resources. This offers a stark contrast to high-cost solutions
and its success calls to mind Goulding’s (2001, p. 578) suggestion that some people view
the present as “volatile, intimidating, pressurizing and impersonal, a society where
machines have taken over artisan skills”. Our focus illustrates how familiar experiences
can be made special through personalisation and dedicated interaction between staff
and consumers.

The nostalgic references can persuade and influence consumption preferences and
patronage because it satisfies consumers’ needs in a hedonic and aesthetic sense (Joyce
and Lambert, 1996). Nostalgic cues evoke nostalgic thoughts and may be a powerful
opportunity to position the service offering.

Finally our study demonstrates the value of researching small business
environments and we encourage future lines of enquiry in this domain. It would be
useful to extend the study into different cultural contexts. This would help to explain
how traditions and customs from one culture are taken up and adapted in others.
Afternoon tea is not the only context where retailers exploit nostalgia. Future studies
concentrating on other industries such as home cooking, sewing and knitting classes,
sports or local produce retailers and farm shops would offer an interesting comparison.
Research in these contexts could provide greater and more generalisable understanding
of the role of nostalgia in the consumption experience.

Note
1. The generally accepted legend surrounding the invention of afternoon tea is as follows: Anna

Maria, wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford, is said to have experienced a “sinking feeling”
mid-afternoon and as a result, she requested some food to fight the hunger. This soon evolved
into a social occasion, as the Duchess began to invite friends to join her.

References
Anderson, A.R. (2005), “Enacted metaphor: the theatricality of the entrepreneurial process”,

International Small Business Journal, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 587-603.
Arnold, J.M. and Reynolds, K.E. (2009), “Affect and retail shopping behaviour: understanding the

role of mood regulation and regulatory focus”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85 No. 3,
pp. 308-320.

Aubert-Gamet, V. and Cova, B. (1998), “Servicescapes: from modern non-places to postmodern
common places”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 37-45.

EJM
48,5/6

828

Baker, S.M. and Kennedy, P.F. (1994), “Death by nostalgia: a diagnosis of context-specific cases”,
Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 169-174.

Balmer, J.M.T. (2011), “Corporate heritage identities, corporate heritage brands and the multiple
heritage identities of the British Monarchy,” European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45 No. 9,
pp. 1380-1398.

Baron, S., Harris, K. and Harris, R. (2001), “Retail theater: the ‘intended effect’ of the performance”,
Journal of Service Research, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 102-117.

Borghini, S., Diamond, N., Kozinets, R.V., McGrath, M.A., Muniz, A.M. Jr. and Sherry, J.F. Jr.
(2009), “Why are themed brandstores so powerful? Retail brand ideology at American girl
place”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85 No. 3, pp. 363-375.

Boughton, I. (2009), “Afternoon Delight”, Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Vol. 199 No. 4790, pp. 38-40.

Braun-LaTour, K. and LaTour, M.S. (2005), “Transforming consumer experience when timing
matters”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 19-30.

Brewis, J. and Jack, G. (2005), “Pushing speed? The marketing of fast and convenience food”,
Consumption Markets and Culture, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 49-67.

Brown, S. (1998), “Romancing the market: sex, shopping and subjective personal introspection”,
Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 783-798.

Brown, S. (2001), Marketing the Retro Revolution, Sage, London.

Carù, A. and Cova, B. (2008), “Small versus big stories in framing consumption experiences”,
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 166-176.

Chronis, A. (2005), “Our byzantine heritage: consumption of the past and its experiential benefits”,
The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 4/5. pp. 213-222.

Cope, J. (2005), “Researching entrepreneurship through phenomenological enquiry”, International
Small Business Journal, Vol. 23 No. 2. pp. 163-189.

Costa, J.A. and Bamossy, G.J. (2003), “Retrospecting retroscapes: form and function, content and
context”, Brown, S and Sherry, J.F. (Eds), Time, Space, and the Market, M.E. Sharpe, New
York, NY, pp. 253-270.

Davis, F. (1979), Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia, Collier Macmillan, London.

Deighton, J. (1992), “The consumption of performance”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19,
pp. 362-372.

Desai, K.K. and Mahajan, V. (1998), “Strategic role of affect-based attitudes in the acquisition,
development and retention of customers”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 42 No. 3,
pp. 309-324.

Diamond, N., Sherry, J. F. Jr., Muniz, A.M., McGrath, M.A., Kozinets, R.V. and Borghini, S. (2009),
“American girl and the brand gestalt: closing the loop on sociocultural branding research”,
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73 No. 3, pp. 118-134.

Featherstone, M. (1990), “Perspectives on consumer culture”, Sociology, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 5-22.

Fillis, I. (2004), “The internationalizing smaller craft firm: insights from the marketing/
entrepreneurship interface”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 57-82.

Gainer, B. (1995), “Ritual and relationships: interpersonal influences on shared consumption”,
Journal of Business Research, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 253-260.

Giesler, M. (2008), “Conflict and compromise: drama in marketplace evolution”, Journal of
Consumer Research, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 739-753.

Gladston, W. (1865), available at: www.quotegarden.com/tea.html (accessed May 2012).

829

Commercialised
nostalgia

http://www.quotegarden.com/tea.html

Glaser, B.G. (1978), Theoretical Sensitivity: Advances in the Methodology of Grounded Theory,
University of California, San Francisco.

Glaser, B.G. (1992), Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis: Emergence vs. Forcing, Sociology Press,
Mill Valley-CA.

Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1967), Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative
Research, Aldine, Chicago.

Goodwin, C. (1996), “Moving the drama into the factory: the contribution of metaphors to services
research”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 9 pp. 13-36.

Gould, J.S. (1991), “The self-manipulation of my pervasive, vital energy through product use: an
introspective-praxis approach”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 194-207.

Goulding, C. (2001), “Romancing the past: heritage visiting and the nostalgic consumer”,
Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 565-592.

Goulding, C. (2005), “Grounded theory, ethnography and phenomenology: a comparative analysis
of three qualitative strategies for marketing research”, European Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 294-308.

Guiot, D. and Roux, D. (2010), “A second-hand shoppers’ motivation scale: antecedents,
consequences, and implications for retailers”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 355-371.

Haytko, D.L. and Baker, J. (2004), “It’s all at the mall: exploring adolescent girls’ experiences”,
Journal of Retailing, Vol. 80 No. 1, pp. 67-83.

Healy, M., Beverland, M.B., Oppewal, H. and Sands, S. (2007), “Understanding retail experiences –
the case for ethnography”, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 49 No. 6,
pp. 751-778.

Hines, S. (2007), “Post-postmodernism and the archive: uncertain identities and forgotten
legacies”, Afterimage, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 20-25.

Hirsch, R.A. (1992), “Nostalgia: a neuropsychiatric understanding”, Advances in Consumer
Research, Vol. 19, pp. 390-395.

Holak, L.S. and Havlena, W.J. (1998), “Feelings, fantasies and memories: an examination of the
emotional components of nostalgia”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 42 No. 3,
pp. 217-226.

Holak, S. and Havlena, W.J. (1992), “Nostalgia: an exploratory study of themes and emotions in the
nostalgic experience”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 19, pp. 380-387.

Holbrook, M.B. (1993), “Nostalgia and consumption preferences: some emerging patterns of
consumer tastes”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 245-256.

Holbrook, M.B. (1995), Consumer Research: Introspective Essays on the Study of Consumption,
Sage, London.

Holbrook, M.B. and Hirschman, E.C. (1982), “The experiential aspects of consumption: consumer
fantasies, feelings, and fun”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9, pp. 132-140.

Holbrook, M.B. and Schindler, R.M. (2003), “Nostalgia bonding: exploring the role of nostalgia in
the consumption experience”, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 1479-1838.

Hollenbeck, R.C., Peters, C. and George, M.Z. (2008), “Retail spectacles and brand meaning: insight
from a brand museum case study”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 84 No. 3, pp. 334-353.

Huang, X. and Brown, A. (1999), “An analysis and classification of problems in small business”,
International Small Business Journal, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 73-85.

Joyce, L.A. and Lambert, R.D. (1996), “Memories of the way stores were and retail store image”,
International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 24-33.

EJM
48,5/6
830

Kessous, A. and Roux, E. (2008), “A semiotic analysis of nostalgia as a connection to the past”,
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 192-212.

Kozinets, V.R., Sherry, F.J., DeBerry-Spence, B., Duhachek, A., Nuttavuthisit, K. and Storm, D.
(2002), “Themed flagship brand stores in the new millennium: theory, practice and
prospects”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 78 No. 1, pp. 17-29.

Kozinets, V.R., Sherry, F.J.; Storm, D., Duhachek, A., Nuttavuthisit, K. and Deberry-Spence, B.
(2004), “Ludic agency and retail spectacle”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31,
pp. 658-672.

Loveland, K.E., Smeesters, D. and Mandel, N. (2010), “Still preoccupied with 1995: the need to
belong and preference for nostalgic products”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 37 No. 3,
pp. 393-408.

Lowenthal, D. (1985), The Past is a Foreign Country, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Lupton, D. (1996), Food, the Body and the Self, Sage, London.
Maclaran, P. and Brown, S. (2005), “The centre cannot hold: consuming the utopian marketplace”,

Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 311-323.
McCracken, G. (2005), Culture and Consumption II, IN University Press, IN.
McDonald, H. (2011), “Understanding the antecedents to public interest and engagement with

heritage”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45 No. 5, pp. 780-804.
Mick, D.G. and DeMoss, M. (1990), “Self-Gifts: phenomenological insights from four contexts”,

Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 322-332.
Outka, E. (2009), Consuming Traditions: Modernity, Modernism and the Commodified Authentic,

Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Patton, Q.M. (2002), Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Penaloza, L. (1998), “Just doing it: a visual ethnographic study of spectacular consumption at Nike

Town”, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 337-465.
Pettigrew, J. (2001), A Social History of Tea, The National Trust, London.
Pine, J.B. and Gilmore, J.B. (1998), “Welcome to the experience economy”, Harvard Business

Review, No. 4 pp. 97-105.
Proust, M. (1981), Remembrance of Things Past, Random House, New York, NY.
Ritzer, G. (2005), Enchanting a Disenchanted World, Sage, London.
Rook, D.W. (1985), “The ritual dimension of consumer behaviour”, Journal of Consumer Research,

Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 251-264.
Sayre, S. (2001), Qualitative Methods for Marketplace Research, Sage, London.
Sierra, J.J. and McQuitty, S. (2007), “Attitudes and emotions as determinants of nostalgia

purchases: an application of social identity theory”, Journal of Marketing Theory and
Practice, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 99-112.

Spiggle, S. (1994), “Analysis and interpretation of qualitative data in consumer research”, Journal
of Consumer Research, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 491-503.

Stern, B.B. (1992), “Historical and personal nostalgia in advertising text: the fin de siècle effect”,
Journal of Advertising, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 11-22.

Thompson, C.J. and Arsel, Z. (2004), “The Starbucks brandscape and consumers’ (anticorporate)
experiences of glocalization”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 631-642.

Ulrich, R.O. and Bourrain, A. (2008), “The influence of nostalgic memories on consumer
exploratory tendencies: echoes from scents past”, Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 15
No. 4, pp. 277-287.

831

Commercialised
nostalgia

Verhoef, C.P., Lemon, K.N., Parasuraman, A., Roggeveen, A., Tsiros, M. and Schlesinger, L.A.
(2009), “Customer experience creation: determinants, dynamics and management
strategies”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85 No. 1, pp. 31-41.

Warde, A. (1997), Consumption, Food and Taste, Sage, London.
Werman, D.S. (1977), “Normal and pathological nostalgia”, Journal of the American

Psychoanalytic Association, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 387-398.

Further reading
United Kingdom, Tea Council, www.tea.co.uk/ (accessed September 2011).

About the authors
Kathy Hamilton is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her
research is aimed at understanding and theorising consumer culture and has been conducted in
various different contexts. Kathy’s work has been published in a range of journals including
European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Sociology, Marketing Theory
and Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Kathy was co-organiser of the ESRC seminar series on
“Nostalgia in the 21st century”. Kathy Hamilton is the corresponding author and can be contacted
at: kathy.hamilton@strath.ac.uk

Beverly Wagner is a Reader in the Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde. Her
research interests are related to aspects of contemporary consumer behaviour. Beverly is
co-organiser of the ESRC seminar series on “Nostalgia in the 21st Century”, which aims to
encourage dialogue between different disciplinary approaches in order to promote further enquiry
into the uses of nostalgia in contemporary culture.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com
Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

EJM
48,5/6
832

http://www.tea.co.uk/

mailto:kathy.hamilton@strath.ac.uk

mailto:reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without permission.

Commercialised nostalgia
Introduction
Staging consumer experiences and retail theatre
Nostalgia
Research context: afternoon tea consumption in the UK
Methodology
Findings: construction of the idealised home
Product
Ritual
Aesthetics
Belonging
Conclusions
References