The Silent Revolution Affecting Digital and Physical Stores

Objectives. The retail world is involved by continuous changes that have affected both digital and physical stores. Both kinds of stores are committed to finding new ways to involve the emotional and behavioral spheres of customer action. This study purposes to discuss these issues considering that the academic literature on this topic has often failed to analyze these phenomena from a holistic perspective. Instead, attention has been devoted to studying online and physical stores separately. Methodology. This is a conceptual paper based on the existing literature and several reports from major research institutions. Findings. This study main finding is that stores are changing their character quickly: digital shops are adopting behaviors of physical stores, and physical stores are incorporating a variety of technological devices. This study contributes to narrowing the existing gap in the literature concerning mutual conditioning in both digital and physical stores. The resulting new perspective about digital stores will allow them to better satisfy consumer needs and to trail blaze for a rebirth of vibrant physical stores. Thus, a hybrid model is born. Research limits. The primary limitation is the absence of a specific survey. This will be the next step of this research in the future. Practical implications. The main practical consequence of the study is to provide holistic analysis regarding phenomena often not studied from this point of view. Originality of the study. The study highlights a new business model-a hybrid because it blends digital and physical retail operations-that represents the future of retailing using both dimensions in order to stay in the market.