The total retail experience includes all the elements in a retail offering that
encourage or inhibit consumers during their contact with a retailer. Many elements,
such as the number of salespeople, displays, prices, the brands carried, and
inventory on hand, are controllable by a retailer; others, such as the adequacy of
on-street parking, the speed of a consumer’s modem, and sales taxes, are not. If
some part of the total retail experience is unsatisfactory, consumers may not make
a purchase—they may even decide not to patronize a retailer again: “Recently, I
was in a store and couldn’t find my charge card fast enough to apparently make