Conflict for Sale
Setting the Retail Stage for Post-modern Servicescape Interactions
InteractionSpaceThemed ServicescapesKenneth BurkeRetail TheatreManagement of enterprisesFöretagsledningManagementBusiness and Economics
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between space and consumer interaction at WEEKDAY, a contemporary fashion retail store in Malmö, Sweden. The thesis is based on a qualitative case-study and has a social constructionist approach. In order to understand the interaction taking place between consumer and environment we conducted observations guided by Kenneth Burke?s Pentad.The retail servicescape at WEEKDAY is conceived as a metaphorical stage where drama unfolds, analysing and defining the retail space using Kenneth Burke?s pentad of dramatism. We concentrate on the use of two terms of Burke?s pentad, the scene and the act, almost exclusively as we investigate how the scene stimulates the act. To collect our data we conducted 72 observations of consumers at the WEEKDAY store in Malmö. Our analysis revealed that consumers at WEEKDAY are validated by co-producing their own experiences. Difficult to predict, the consumers invoke moments of drama, more specifically, carnival, into their life through interaction with the scene on the stage of the retail theatre. Rebellious in nature, the carnival encourages the consumer to rethink the rational and traditional values and norms they bring inside the servicescape with them.