What is Phygital Retail?
THE DRAG BETWEEN DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL RETAILERS
The evolving system of the world has kept every business owner and founder on their feet. The constant need to up sales games cannot be undermined. This is because the real essence of business is profit and can only be made by being flexible and constantly meeting market needs. The world made a partial transition from shopping offline to online — the comfort of receiving your needs at your doorstep without any hassle advanced E-commerce over a long period. Many online stores were created over time and have been on edge because more than half of the world shops digitally. The hassle of managing a physical store is equally out of the concerns for online retailers. Any online store owner would argue that online stores are better organized and profitable than physical ones. Similarly, a physical retailer would argue otherwise that being physical gives more credibility and visibility to the store within the locality. However, physical and digital trade isn’t made to replace each other but rather to strengthen each other. Though e-commerce is the new cool, it doesn’t make a total substitute for physical stores. A merge of both concepts will give maximum customer reach and satisfaction. Hence, PHYGITAL RETAIL
WHAT IS PHYGITAL RETAIL?
PHYGITAL retail is a merge of both physical and digital retail. It is coined out of a fusion of “Physical and Digital.”
It’s a concept born out of the need to maximize customer service and trade benefits. Nowadays, more than 50% percent of stores run “Phygitallly.” While some are well-aware of the concept, others (Mostly SMEs) practicalize it for the growth of their businesses without deep knowledge of the idea. Phygital retail is when a retail store has both Online and Physical active presence and uses both channels to run the business and meet evolving customers’ demands.
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES OF PHYGITAL RETAIL
There are various ways in which a mix can be made between both concepts for customers. However, it should be noted that having an online presence alone doesn’t make it a PHYGITAL retails. It has to be an active one. E.g., a website that shows contact details and information doesn’t signify a phygital retailer. It’s a concept mainly for E-commerce. There has to be an ACTIVE online presence that leads to sales or finalizes sales Itself. These mixed sale strategies between the two concepts can be:
- A customer could order online and pick it up at a retail store. Digitalization has given versatility to shopping. Customers could add items to a cart online and pick them up in an offline store. This is as against ordering and having it delivered to doorsteps. It’s a plus, especially for customers close to the store, to minimize spending through costs of deliveries.
- Shopping offline and delivering online. An item could be shopped, paid for, and concluded offline while one books it for shipping offline. This especially meets the need to deliver items to loved ones from far away. The customer gets to see and feel the goods and certify the quality of what’s being shipped to the other end on their behalf.
- Another strategy of phygital retailing is payment at collection points. Customers could shop for items online but pay at a collection point in a physical store. Items ordered online are reserved for shoppers for days before canceling. This could also be vice-versa. A physical store could accept payment only online. A client could walk in, shop, log into the store’s online outlet, pay for an item and leave with it.
There are different ways in which shopping, payment, and delivery could intermingle with both online and physical outlets. Every business determines what works best for it or combines as many strategies as possible to meet evolving consumer needs.
Phygital sale is unrestricted and can be adopted by every venture that offers e-commerce services and has a physical store.
IMPORTANCE OF PHYGITAL RETAILING
Phygital retailing combines the benefits of both concepts for a smoother business as a blend between the physical and online world. It solves every challenge posed by one concept using the second. It gives versatility to companies and boosts their performances. Customer satisfaction is achieved as both online and physical clients are targeted. It provides visibility to stores within the locality through the Offline stores and connects the business to a larger audience online. It vouches for more credibility and builds good customer-client relationships. It prepares the business for the growing demands of customers and positions the company for better scaling Opportunities. Online stores and vice versa cover the limitations of physical stores. The two concepts have formed a unique marketing tool that could be used to advance customer reach and strain better customer satisfaction.
CONCLUSION
Phygital retail is the new cool in e-commerce. It would facilitate a medium to increase customer reach and Scale business ventures to more significant heights if well utilized.
