Consuming in solitude: The co-creation of atmosphere

Marketing theory has drawn attention to the co-creation of atmosphere in social consumption experiences that illustrate a broader culture of togetherness. Less is known about how atmospheres are co-created when the consumer is in solitude. Drawing on an ethnographic study of urban exploration, we examine consumers who actively seek solitude as a positive way of being alone. The contribution of this paper is to theorise how consumers co-create atmospheres when consuming in solitude by exploring the affective experiences of place that emerge when consumers are disengaged from other people. Our findings suggest consumers draw on worldly encounters and otherworldly encounters to co-create atmospheres when consuming in solitude. This theorisation broadens our appreciation of the agentic actors that co-create atmospheres to include more-than-human entities, unpacks the role consumer imagination plays in co-creating atmosphere in the absence of other people, and advances understanding of solitary consumption by revealing how consumers actively seek and maintain solitude.