Innovating services through experiences: an investigation of servicescape’s pivotal role

Customer experience has become one of the greatest challenges for companies: this tendency is also present in services, where innovation is often a way to impact customer experiences. After a brief review of the literature on service innovation and on customer experience with regard to studies on the services, this paper focuses on the servicescape as a platform able to support activities and interactions with customers and analyses the role that innovative servicescapes can play on customer experience. Based on a three case vignettes analysis, the paper identifies three main findings. The first is related to the dynamic nature of service experience and consequently to the need for a continuous improvement of servicescapes by understanding the evolving customer needs. The second is linked to the “container” in which the service experience takes place – the servicescape – that is becoming “content” itself. The third concerns the role of technology, with respect both to service providers and service customers.