Retailing as Theater

With the increase in ways to shop though new technology and the amount of stores available nowadays, it makes it hard for U.S. malls to stand out. Stores have to turn to retail theming, which is "the quest to entertain means to many stores go all out to create imaginative environments that transport shoppers to fantasy worlds or provide other kinds of stimulation" (Solomon, pg. 348). The four types of retail theming are landscape, marketscape, cyberspace, and mindscape themes. 

"Landscape themes rely on associations with images of nature, Earth, animals, and the physical body" (Solomon, pg. 348). REI does a great job of landscape advertising in the majority of their ads. REI is a sports store, therefore they like to show consumers about all of the outdoor adventures REI could make possible for them.  This particular advertisement shows an intense rock-climbing type of landscape. 

"Marketscape themes build on associations with manmade places" (Solomon, pg. 348). The Paris hotel in Las Vegas would be an example of this, which represents parts of real Paris, France with the Eiffel Tower. 

"Cyberspace themes build on images of information and communications technology" (Solomon, pg. 348). An example of a cyberspace theme would be Groupon. Groupon uses this advertising tactic to grow the Groupon community. When existing users see this they will most likely refer a friend because it takes minimal effort and they will score $20 to go toward a product on Groupon, making Groupon's community to grow. 

"Mindscape themes draw on abstract ideas and concepts, introspection and fantasy, and often possess spiritual overtones" (Solomon, pg. 348). An example of a mindscape theme would be the Carneros Inn in Napa Valley, which offers Wine-themed health treatments.

Overall, retailers need to come up with ways on how to make shoppers choose their product/store over others. Therefore, Innovative merchants today use landscape, marketscape, cyberspace, and mindscape themes to make that happen (Solomon, pg. 348).