Article

Marketplace spirituality: challenges for the New Age retailer

Details

Citation

Davies K & Freathy P (2014) Marketplace spirituality: challenges for the New Age retailer. Service Industries Journal, 34 (15), pp. 1185-1198. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2014.942650

Abstract
The consumers of New Age spirituality products have been said to be involved in a form of ‘pick and mix’ religion or to be browsing in a ‘spiritual supermarket’ which emphasises borrowing from a wide variety of cultures. The paper details the different physical and virtual channels through which consumers may access goods and services. Retailers who serve this market are typically independent traders and face many of the challenges that are characteristic of the small business sector. The term 'New Age' is identified as applying to a broad range of retailers who attempt to occupy different market positions. The research however identifies considerable product overlap between these retailers and suggests that the market displays limited differentiation. As this paper is an exploratory study it finally sets out a series of research themes for future work.

Keywords
Spirituality; Retailing; Small Business; Religion

Journal
Service Industries Journal: Volume 34, Issue 15

StatusPublished
Publication date31/12/2014
Publication date online31/07/2014
Date accepted by journal01/01/2014
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/21743
PublisherTaylor and Francis
ISSN0264-2069

People (2)

People

Dr Keri Davies

Dr Keri Davies

Senior Lecturer, Marketing & Retail

Professor Paul Freathy

Professor Paul Freathy

Professor, Marketing & Retail