Merchandising in public catering as a tool for managing customer experience in the experience economy

The dynamic development of the catering industry in Russia, the increase in the scale of activity and the number of business facilities have caused the complication and toughening of the conditions of competition for the limited resources of the consumer of restaurant services. In this regard, the organization of spaces of catering enterprises on the principles of merchandising as one of the tools for forming a positive customer experience is of particular relevance. The author clarifies the content of the concepts of attention economy and experience economy, as well as their relationship in the process of realization of merchandising at the catering enterprise. Physical and digital spaces of merchandising tools and procedures application are described, as well as its contribution to customer experience management in the context of the impression economy. It is advisable to assess the extent to which merchandising achieves the goals of managing customer experience in public catering, as in the service sector, in the process of GAP analysis, which is an optimal model for studying the expected and received impressions from the impact of restaurant merchandising tools.