The experiential economy is forcing stores to transition from the former 4P's marketing model (Product-Price-Promotion-Placement) to the 4E's model (Experience-Everywhere-Exchange-Evangelism), which can be quite challenging. Soft Surroundings is a retailer moving ahead, one example being its embracement of the second E (Everywhere), "Everyplace instead of Place." Starting as solely a catalog, Soft Surroundings has added JGA-designed stores and ecommerce as means of shopping for its customers, forming a seamless transition between the three. The physical, intimate stores that feel more like homes especially give the catalog/online customers a new opportunity to be immersed in an oasis of calm and serenity.

Retail marketers must now turn the chore of buying products into a personal experience for shoppers. This E - "Experience replaces Product" - is showcased nicely by McCormick World of Flavors, McCormick's first experimental retail destination. During the run of this innovative space, shoppers enjoyed hands-on activities like Guess that Spice, a game that tests your sense of smell; Flavorprint, an interactive personalized flavor profile; and product samplings as well as cooking demonstrations.

- JGA in Detroit News: Major retail execs explore new land - Forbes on jewelers & JGA-designed Tapper's - Robert Redford's Sundance debuts in the Southeast - James Avery featured on CBS San Antonio

In a recent Adobe Think Tank: The Future of Experience Business, one of the speakers provocatively proclaimed, "Marketing is an outdated practice, period." The statement arose around a question about marketing's role in the experiential retail economy now that simply selling a product isn't enough anymore. All marketers are ultimately in the business of delivering an experience and product is only a part of that experience…

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