Remembering shopping experiences: The Shopping Experience Memory Scale

Companies strive to enhance customer experiences and to foster positive consumer behaviors. While there is extensive literature on how to create enjoyable and conducive customer experiences, limited research focuses on memories associated with shopping experiences. However, the decision to repeat an experience is based more on the memory of that experience than on the actual experience itself. The current research draws on a series of qualitative and quantitative studies to develop and to validate the four-dimensional Shopping Experience Memory Scale (SEMS). Findings suggest that the scale's four dimensions – attraction, structure, affect, and social – are reliable and consistent across different consumption environments (in-store, mall, and online) and across different time intervals. SEMS reflects nuances of memory and of experience constructs forming the basis of theoretical and practical contributions in the ability to assess the progression of memory associated with shopping experiences over time.