The memorable souvenir-shopping experience: antecedents and outcomes

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship among authenticity, satisfaction, co-creation, memorable souvenir-shopping experiences, and place attachment. A post-holiday web-based survey was conducted among tourists to Rovaniemi, Finland, and a valid sample of 301 tourists was used for data analysis. The survey results show that satisfaction and co-creation during onsite souvenir shopping at a tourism destination create memorable souvenir shopping experiences, and that such memories enhance tourists’ feelings of attachment to the destination. The implications for retail management are that souvenir vendors should offer a large assortment of souvenirs to suit tourists’ individual tastes. Souvenir retailers can enhance customer satisfaction through taking such steps as training personnel on customer shopping satisfaction, extending operating hours, broadening the accepted means of payment, and improving the quality and display of products as well as the external appearance of their shops. Additionally, souvenir retailers should interact with customers and engage in onsite co-creation to arouse interest and attention.

KEYWORDS:

• Memories
• memorable souvenir-shopping experience
• satisfaction
• co-creation
• place attachment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work of Dafnis N. Coudounaris was supported by Institutional Research Funding of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research [grant number IUT20-49]; The work of Erose Sthapit was supported by Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Erose Sthapit

Erose Sthapit is a doctoral candidate in Marketing at the Department of Marketing, University of Vaasa, Finland. His research interests include consumer behavior, memorable tourism experiences, family tourism, culinary–gastronomic experiences, souvenir shopping experiences, savoring, and subjective well-being. He has published in Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, Current Issues in Tourism, Tourism Management Perspectives and Psychology & Marketing.

Dafnis N. Coudounaris

Dafnis N. Coudounaris received his PhD in Industrial Marketing from Lulea University of Technology, Sweden. He is an Associate Professor of Innovation Management at School of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. His main work is in exporting, particularly export behaviour and attitudes, export assistance programmes, export sales management and export literature. Recently, his research interests include importers’ perceptions of exporters’ unethical behaviour, issues of green tourist attitudes and behaviour, country-of-origin, brand equity into B2B service markets, university-industry collaboration related to innovation, experiential knowledge and innovation, subsidiaries’ exits, export promotion programmes for assisting SMEs, antecedents and outcomes of memorable tourism experiences, and memorable tourism experiences related to tourists’ behavioral intentions. He has published in several journals including Management International Review, Journal of International Management, International Business Review, Psychology & Marketing and Journal of Business Research.

Peter Björk

Peter Björk is marketing professor at HANKEN School of Economics, Vaasa, Finland. He is associate editor for Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, and Finnish Journal of Tourism Research. Bjork’s research focus is in the field of tourism marketing, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, and destination development. He has a special interest in destination branding, and tourism innovations.