Why the future of customer experience demands the experience supply chain

You don’t own your customers’ experiences — they do

For years, most companies believed they could design, control and own the customer experience from start to finish. But "customer experience" naturally implies ownership by customers — they decide how to define it, engage with it and build it.

Today, customers increasingly design their own experiences, crafting their journeys with tools, channels and content at their fingertips. They’re remixing products, influencers and services to meet their unique needs, often in ways companies don’t anticipate or control.

Accelerating this shift are complex ecosystems where parts of the experience with the biggest impact may fall outside a company’s walls. Brands don’t own every touchpoint yet often pour enormous resources into designing experiences that customers override or ignore. The consequences can be big: In one PwC Customer Loyalty Survey, 55% of consumers said they would stop buying from a company after several bad experiences, and 32% said they’d leave because of inconsistent experiences.

It’s time for an approach that doesn’t attempt to control the entire customer experience but instead empowers the key roles that influence it. This means going beyond “How can I improve my mobile app?” You need to figure out how to collaborate with ecosystem players to create a seamless experience that helps customers get what they want. It’s all part of what we call the experience supply chain.

The forces reshaping customer experience

A wave of disruptions is pushing companies to reimagine how experiences are delivered.

Companies can’t own every interaction with their customers. Instead, they must work with an ecosystem of contributors to meet customers where they are and align with how they want to engage. The experience supply chain is a framework that helps companies understand the key roles that shape customer experiences and how they work together.

Borrowing concepts from traditional supply chains, the experience supply chain shifts the focus from ownership to orchestration. Rather than trying to control the entire customer experience, companies can instead focus on optimizing the roles they directly influence while collaborating with other contributors to fill gaps.

Traditional supply chain management has been refined over decades to deliver more efficiency, consistency and value. As commerce evolved, many companies no longer made the products sold in their branded stores, or they realized they were spending too much on things that weren’t being used. They began to see the value in owning only what they do best and relying on suppliers and partners to handle the rest with varying oversight — and often with higher quality or at lower cost. By orchestrating this network of contributors, they were able to better move products from development to consumption.

The experience supply chain adapts and applies these principles to the delivery of customer experiences instead of physical goods. Where traditional supply chains optimize for cost, speed and quality, the experience supply chain optimizes for engagement, consistency and value across all customer touchpoints. By treating experiences as something that can be mapped, managed and refined, the experience supply chain gives companies a structured approach to navigate the complexity of modern customer interactions.

The experience supply chain is made up of critical players, each influencing the customer journey in unique ways.

The experience supply chain delivers value to companies by mirroring the efficiency and coordination of traditional supply chains while addressing the complexity of modern customer experiences. Companies that embrace the experience supply chain can:

Consider how companies in different industries have adopted elements of the experience supply chain.

• Beauty products company Glossier has cultivated a community-driven experience in which customers act as both experience designers and engagement enhancers. The company also actively leverages user-generated content and customer feedback to refine its offerings. This reinforces the idea that customers help design the brand experience and makes loyalty feel more personal. In addition, social media influencers and beauty bloggers act as introduction specialists who promote Glossier organically.
• Oura is a health technology company specializing in smart rings that track sleep, activity and physiological signals. Oura has gained traction among wellness enthusiasts and professional athletes, who serve as introduction specialists who help increase customer adoption. The company’s experience supply chain also includes capability contributors — third-party manufacturers and suppliers who produce hardware for devices while Oura focuses on software innovation.
• Financial services and software company Stripe provides an infrastructure for seamless digital transactions, acting as an experience connector and capability contributor for other businesses. Instead of owning the end-user experience, Stripe acts behind the scenes to help businesses craft smooth financial experiences. This creates frictionless payment journeys while allowing companies to focus on core offerings.

Your company can begin developing its experience supply chain with a structured, practical approach:

The complexity of modern customer experiences — and likelihood of future disruptions — make it impossible for companies to go it alone. By embracing the experience supply chain, businesses can stop trying to own every step of the journey and start focusing on where they add the most value. This shift isn’t just necessary. It’s inevitable.