All that is solid melts into air: the servicescape in digital service space

Abstract

Purpose The emergence of new social media is shifting the market place for business towards virtual market space. In the light of the emerging digital space for new forms of marketing, the traditional servicescape concept is critically examined. This paper aims to show why servicescape concepts and attitudes need to be adapted for digital media. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors explain how the traditional servicescape concept adds meaning to a service provider’s value-proposition by modifying customer expectations and customer experience. Second, recognising that the environment for service is no longer bound to a physical place, the authors discuss the implications of the epistemic shift involved. Findings The authors’ examination shows that digital service space challenges traditional concepts about what constitutes a customer experience and derived value. The authors conceptually “zoom out” into a virtual service eco-system and show with exemplar examples why the servicescape in digital space is more socially embedded and necessarily more fluid in its time-space design. In the more advanced sites, interactions between various artificial bodies (avatars) are co-created by controlling off-line participant-actors; yet, these participant-actors remain strangers to each other at an off-line level. This is entirely a new and radical development of old times. Research limitations/implications The research findings are based on scholarly research of the relevant literature, from practitioner reports, and evidence emerging from the examination of many digital web-sites. It has not been the authors’ intention to objectively represent current servicescape functionalities but more to indicate the major directions of change with exemplar examples. The future cannot be predicted, but their interpretive conclusions suggest major challenges in service marketing and management logic ahead. New forms of digital servicescape are still being created as technology and service imagination enables, so further research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected. Practical implications Social media platforms are enabling organisations to learn more about their customers and also to engage them more. In these changing times, bricks and mortar stores would be well advised to review their servicescape presence to allow and encourage engagement with the more involved consumers. And, by integrating their digital space into their physical place, bricks and mortar stores might take on more relationship oriented process-like characteristics, both in the digital space and in their physical places, with developments on one platform leading to possible service innovations on the other. Social implications The digital era is changing consumer behaviour. Service managers need to take into account that many customers are already equally as engaged with digital-space social networks as they once were with bricks and mortar stores. The more time consumers as participant-actors spend in social networks, the decision on what and where to buy is decided by interactions with friends and other influencers. Originality/value New forms of digital servicescape are being created as technology and service imagination enables. Further scholarly research interest in virtual atmospherics can be expected, impacting on the authors’ sense of place, and self-identity.

Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms

“…The physical realm includes the arrangement of furnishings and equipment that influence their functionality, spatial arrangements that enhance convenience and a sense of comfort, ambient elements and cultural resources, that is, signs and symbols that invite customers to engage in the service encounter (Bitner, 1992). Cues from the physical realm directly influence how customers act and respond during service encounters (Ballantyne and Nilsson, 2017). For example, customers can use cultural resources as cues that set the rules and expectations of how to act and interact within the service environment.…”

“…As organizations move to digital platforms, the constituents of the physical realm remain central to understanding the customer experienceindeed, they may act as a reference point. Ballantyne and Nilsson (2017) noted that functionality, use of space and cultural messaging remain important aspects of the online customer experience. They added that "[…] the technological development of the Internet and the emergence of new social media are shifting the market place for business further towards virtual market space" (p. 227), merging the physical and digital via technology.…”

“…The world is undergoing a fourth revolutiona technological revolutionthat is unprecedented in its scale, speed and complexity (Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2017). Customers can enjoy entertainment, shop, learn, socialize and work within digital environments that also have an overarching social dimension (Ballantyne and Nilsson, 2017). Cognitive systems (AI) will transform the way we live and work in diverse ways, ranging from the diagnosis and treatment of cancer to the security of online transactions (Wirtz et al, 2018).…”

“…In the past, in-store and online retailing were characterized by high physical complexity and high social presence. At present, both are shifting from low to high digital density realms (Ballantyne and Nilsson, 2017). Figure 4 depicts some examples in the digital/physical/social spaces.…”

“…The term blended servicescape explicitly integrates the physical, social and virtual environment. The time-logic of exchange becomes open ended, from pre-sale service to post-sale service and beyond, and social and economic episodes become blurred (Ballantyne and Nilsson, 2017). Embedded and emerging complementarities and interdependencies between digital and non-digital emerge.…”