Exploring the integration of phygital strategies in improving customer experience

: a price-segmented comparison between luxury goods and non-luxury good

Abstract

In today’s world, and due to rapid technological progress, retailers must start embracing and utilizing technological devices to provide fluid, convenient, and complete customer experiences. Therefore, it becomes essential to combine both the offline and online spaces into a single entity – phygital – to eliminate boundaries that may appear between both spaces. This concept of phygital represents a significant opportunity for retailers to improve customer experience and stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly digital world. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore and compare if fashion companies are valuing a phygital strategy in driving customer experience. The research offers a model to explore and compare the phygital strategies that fashion companies (luxury companies and premium companies) utilize considering six dimensions that cover recent technological advances, thus offering a complete experience to their customers. A multiple case study was selected based on a sample of six international fashion companies from two different price segments (luxury segment and non-luxury segment). The data collected by analyzing the integration of phygital strategies between physical stores, companies’ websites, and mobile apps enabled us to confirm part of the suggested propositions, even though some with minor evidence. Nevertheless, propositions concerning connectivity, innovativeness, and flexibility (only in luxury companies) were not proved. Overall, the results, even though they present just minor evidence, showed that luxury retailers invest more in delivering phygital experiences to their customers than non-luxury retailers. The current study improves the existing knowledge of phygital retailing, as it addresses the gap in studies on phygital strategies adopted by fashion retailers. By analyzing and comparing the phygital experiences that they currently offer to customers, companies can identify areas for improvement and enhance the overall customer journey. On top of that, the proposed model allows managers to compare and re-evaluate their phygital strategy with other competitors similar to them to gain competitiveness in an ever-evolving market.

Date of Award	18 Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Silva (Supervisor)