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Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement

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  • Pangarkar, Aniruddha
  • Arora, Vibha
  • Shukla, Yupal

Abstract

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized the way retailers create strategies for engaging customers in making purchase decisions. Phygital is a new-age transformative form of omnichannel retailing that emphasizes combining the physical and digital elements, with a particular focus on the human touch to satisfy social and symbolic consumer needs. Extant research has not fully addressed the role of phygital in luxury fashion retail. We explore the research question regarding how human interactions with experienced salespeople add value to the phygital experience. In doing so, we contribute to the luxury marketing literature by addressing the research gap by elucidating the role of phygital functionality in enhancing rapport building, social engagement, and developing trust and commitment, which results in a seamless customer experience, along with enhanced loyalty and patronage. Through 18 in-depth qualitative research interviews conducted with luxury retail managers and senior retail leaders, we provide guidelines to managers and practitioners at retail firms, to create actionable growth-oriented strategies focused on leveraging phygital capabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Pangarkar, Aniruddha & Arora, Vibha & Shukla, Yupal, 2022. "Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:68:y:2022:i:c:s0969698922000947
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Katsumata, Sotaro & Nishimoto, Akihiro & Kannan, P.K., 2023. "Brand competitiveness and resilience to exogenous shock: Usage of smartphone apps during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

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