Managing Retail Consumption locates retailing in its social context and develops the position that retailing can be regarded as a site of consumption, identity, creation and pleasure. It develops a consumption perspective which provides a balanced approach between management and the social sciences. The consumption perspective considers the way retail sites are created or manipulated with a view to understanding the interplay between the provider's requirements and the consumer's ability to manage, structure and edit their repertoire of responses.

The text looks at how retailing works and examines the narrative nature of retailing: how it can tell a story, be playful, and form a major element in the consideration of management of retail operations. It also examines retail in its social context including examples and cases of numerous well known companies such as Tesco, Next and Galleries Lafayette.