Designing a memorable in-store customer shopping experience: practical evidence from sports equipment retailers

TLDR

Sports equipment retailers recognize the need for memorable shopping experiences through evocative environments and multiple touchpoints, yet academic attention to sports stores remains limited. The study aims to uncover the dimensions of in‑store customer experience from a sports retailer perspective and to explore how managers can design experiential stores as the role of sports equipment shops evolves. An exploratory design using semi‑structured interviews with retail managers of sports equipment stores was employed. The study identifies immersive design, sensorial ambience, social relationships, trialability, and real experience sharing as key dimensions, shows the store’s role is shifting from sales space to an interactive, engaging venue, proposes a model for designing such experiences, and recommends managers invest in passionate staff and technology to create authentic in‑store product and sports practice experiences.

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to detect the dimensions of the in-store customer shopping experience from the sports retailer perspective and to investigate how the role of sports equipment stores is changing. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study performs semi-structured interviews with retail managers of sports equipment stores. Findings This research reveals the importance of the dimensions of immersive design, sensorial ambient elements, social relationships, trialability and real experience sharing in designing a memorable in-store shopping experience in sports stores, and it highlights that the store's role in the sports context is transitioning from sales space to an interactive, immersive, engaging and convivial place. It proposes a model to design the in-store customer shopping experience effectively. Practical implications Sports equipment managers can make their physical stores as experiential as possible by investing in expert, passionate personnel and technology in order to create a real in-store experience of the product and the sports practice. Originality/value While sports equipment retailers acknowledge the importance of providing customers with a memorable shopping experience by creating an evocative environment and placing multiple touchpoints in stores, management scholars have paid limited attention to sports stores. This study explores the ways in which sports retail managers can design their stores effectively in experiential terms.