It seems to me that a choice, even a passive choice, not to enter the experience economy is a choice to be a sausage factory.

If you aren’t competing on experience it seems to me that the other levers will regress to price.

If 5 stars is average, and a good product and great service is a hygiene factor, then in the absence of the experience component you’re making an average product for average people. In that case there will be lots of other people for your customers to choose from, and under those conditions they’ll just choose the cheapest one.

Once you’re competing for customers who are just going to choose the cheapest one, then you have no choice but to churn out sausages. Of course, some sausage factories will be successful, but not many, and none of your customers are going to love being treated like a piece of meat. The most price sensitive ones will stay with you, and those will also typically be the most painful customers to deal with. The best customers, the ones you really want; they’ll go and find a better experience somewhere else.

So if you don’t want to be a sausage factory, it’s show time!