Book excerpt: How do leading retailers create value for their customers? They craft unique experiences at compelling prices. This book introduces a new and effective way to manage those experiences based on three critical factors – environment, selection, and engagement (ESE) – that separate successful retailers from those that fail and are forgotten. The ESE framework is derived from the academic literature on retail management and consumer marketing, and supplemented by hundreds of hours of interviews with executives and marketers from Canada's leading companies, including Loblaw, Indigo Books and Music, and Lululemon. Kyle B. Murray illustrates the components of this framework with examples and case studies that examine how the shopping environment, product selection, and customer engagement each affect consumer decision and create competitive advantage. Whether you are an aspiring merchant or an industry veteran, this book's strategic framework will help you build a solid foundation for your business in today's ever-evolving retail marketplace.