"Genuine shopkeepers stimulate the five senses"
Experiences are sources of emotions and, as psychology has shown, these are the drivers of decision-making. We are increasingly choosing the services and products due to the experiences they offer us before, during and after we have purchased them.
20-06-2019 | Interviews
Joana Bonet
Journalist and expert in the sociology of consumption
The journalist and expert in the sociology of consumption, Joana Bonet, believes that one of Barcelona's great strengths lies in its shops, where there are great "salespeople", a key figure at a time when there is a paradigm shift in the sector. "As the 21st century progresses with a market flooded with products and off- and on-line services, material satisfaction is no longer enough. Unique experiences are required to set them apart", she emphasises.
"Genuine shopkeepers stimulate the five senses with an appealing narrative and have the right vocation to trigger emotions", she adds. Visitors to the city are increasingly demanding unique, multi-sensory and memorable experiences, or, in other words, experiences that create meaningful and unique memories. "Behind this", Bonet says, "is a shift towards a much more hedonistic way of shopping because the experience replaces traditional consumption as a factor for establishing a specific social status".
Bonet reminds us that shopping is the main activity for one in every three visitors to the city. That is why it is so important to understand the rules of so-called experiential marketing. Cities, with the help of their shops, enter into 'the experience economy', a concept associated with personal cultural identity, projecting values and attitudes to life, based on the concepts of French philosopher and sociologist Gilles Lipovetsky.
Joana Bonet has had a long career at the helm of women's magazines and cultural journals (she was editor of Woman and Marie Claire, to name just two, and she now edits the monthly supplement Fashion&Arts in La Vanguardia). She believes it is important to strip the word tourist of the negative connotations that are sometimes associated with it. And she reminds us of the money spent on shopping by visitors from Argentina, Russia, Korea and Israel, among others.
The strength of the Barcelona brand, associated with its creativity and enterprising spirit, helps the city compete with other major shopping destinations around the world. Barcelona's retail offer is "vast" and despite the presence of chains that are the same all over the world, the city retains its "genuine brand" further enhanced by the unique setting and architecture of many of its shops.