Summer, folks…it’s almost over, and with it goes a host of unique pleasures only to be had this time of year. Daylight after nine at night, swimming outdoors without freezing to death, the sweet relief of cold drinks…all to be gone, largely, with the arrival of fall.

Though for some the end of summer can’t come soon enough, there are places that are considering ways to make it last a lot longer. One of these is a point called “roller coaster retailing”, and it might just be the trick that keeps brick-and-mortar shopping around even in the face of online and mobile commerce.

While for many, retailing at amusement parks is limited to the hat and memorabilia stands located throughout, there are some amusement parks that have become full-bore retail operations, including places like, not surprisingly, Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, as well as its direct Californian equivalent, Anaheim’s Disneyland.

It’s a welcome move all around; with the retail shops, park patrons are kept on the grounds longer, thus improving the chances purchases will be made, and the retailers get access to interested patrons in huge numbers.

Many also remember the Disney Store, and realize that there’s not much point in opening up more such venues out there, a development that led Disney Stores Worldwide president Jim Fielding to note that the world “…does not need another place to sell Disney merchandise. This only works if it’s an experience.”

And that’s a point that should stick in the craw of most every retailer out there, of any size. Why sell products if products can be found online, often cheaper? Sure, there’s immediacy involved, and a lack of shipping costs, but for a lot of people, waiting at home for a week for a product to arrive isn’t so bad.

At least, it’s not sufficiently bad to make people seek out alternatives and drive to a store. But what if that experience were sufficient that it made people want to get out and go to a store specifically to see what was at the store?

For instance, Disney stores have offered up videos on demand, sing-alongs to soundtrack offerings, the ability to host a birthday party or even interact, live, with actual characters much in the same way that would be possible at an actual Disney park.

It’s been seen as a success, with revenue specifically from the “Frozen” toy line generating sufficient sales to bolster the entire industry. “Frozen” generated, by itself, $531 million in toy sales just in the United States.

This is where mobile technology can come into play. While mobile payments have often proven valuable, taking advantage of the desire for convenience and safety, mobile devices can contribute in another way, particularly in a technology Disney’s putting to use called Playmation.

With Playmation, kids can use augmented reality systems to actually interact with characters, in stores, in real time. Essentially, Playmation allows kids to physically see what their parents required an imagination to see, and play accordingly.

It’s an exciting idea, but then, it’s one that only has so much impact. Small retailers, for example, generally don’t have the wherewithal to bring in complete augmented reality generation systems to turn stores into exciting adventures.

It does make one thing abundantly clear: there is only one real way to compete with online shopping, and that’s to offer what online shopping can’t. That’s the experience. Experiences are how brick-and-mortar can beat online retailing; while online may rule in the commodity realm, giving people a reason to get out of the house and go shopping is the surest way I’ve seen yet to get people engaged.

While every shop out there may not be able to bring out an Avengers-themed alternate reality play experience, the idea of marketing an experience may be just what businesses need to succeed.