Phygital Marketing and the Pain of Paying

Abstract

The physical store provides a shopping experience that can't be replaced by digital means. However, the combination of the two has infinite potential and it's called the phygital shopping experience. In a retail context, phygital marketing is about finding the right amount of digital technology to incorporate into the store, to offer the shopper a unique shopping experience. Moreover, phygital marketing is a recent discipline that lacks practical and theoretical information. This study aims to contribute to the conceptualization of the latter through a netnography, and by linking the practice of phygital marketing to the behavioral science concept which is “the pain of paying.” This expression refers to the negative emotions felt during the process of paying for a product. Thus, a thematic content analysis opens the way to define a competitive advantage through phygital marketing.