Introduction

A common question asked when teaching marketing is ‘what is the difference between generic (product) marketing and retail (service) marketing?’ The answer is usually around two dimensions of push–pull and product–place distinction. In the first process one is pushing a product out to the customer, serving a market wherever it can be reached, whereas in the second one is ‘pulling’ customers into a retail ‘space’ in order to create a distinct market ‘place’ by encouraging them to spend some time there. This concurs with the notion that ‘if we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place’ (Tuan, 1977: 6).