Retailers selling very different types of merchandise are adopting the phrase retail theater in their public descriptions of their offers. The contribution of this article is an assessment of the use of the theater metaphor in retailing, especially with respect to the theatrical stage settings designed to create specific intended effects on audiences. Four forms of theater—theatrical realism, political realism, surrealism, and absurd theater—are used as examples. From the analysis of the theatrical performances, it is seen that the role of the audience is always considered explicitly; the role is different in different forms of theater, and writers and directors are clear as to the role that they would like audiences to adopt in a given performance. Such an approach can be translated into retailing. Examples are given of the intended customer (audience) effects, which can be created from retailing versions of the four theater styles.
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