In today’s world, technology is omnipresent, and it has transformed the way we live our lives. With the advent of the internet, smartphones, and other technological advancements, we have become more connected than ever before. As a result, the lines between the physical and digital worlds have become increasingly blurred, giving rise to a new concept known as phygital.
Phygital is a term coined by merging two words: physical and digital. It refers to the merging of the physical and digital worlds to create a seamless, unified experience. It involves the use of technology to enhance the physical experience and create a more immersive and engaging experience for users. At its core, phygital is about creating a bridge between the physical and digital worlds to deliver an integrated and holistic experience.
Phygital is not a new concept, but it has gained a lot of attention in recent years. This is because of the growing importance of technology in our lives and the need for businesses to adapt to changing consumer behavior. As a result, companies are looking for ways to create a more immersive and engaging experience for their customers.
Phygital has the potential to transform the way we interact with the physical world. It can be applied to a range of industries, from retail and hospitality to healthcare and education. In the retail industry, for example, phygital experiences can be used to create personalized shopping experiences that seamlessly blend the physical and digital worlds.
Thus, it pushed brands to come up with innovations that can engage customers to experience the product without visiting stores.
The arrival of phygital as a protagonist in the customer experience movie has shaped the prospects of overall commerce.
To put it simply, phygital allows a unified offline and online presence where the customer experience takes place somewhere in between physical and digital space. In this guide, we’re showing you how brands are embracing phygital technology and delivering the customer experience of the future.
Phygital is a term that combines “physical” and “digital” and refers to an approach that seamlessly integrates both physical and digital experiences. It is a blending of the physical and digital worlds that provides a seamless and immersive experience for the user.
However, it is widely used in retail for now and industries are looking to adopt it in an effort to enhance the customer experience.
Some of the customers have a Phygital experience unknowingly. They search for products online, then visit a local store to see and purchase them in person. Hence, it makes sense for both online businesses and physical stores to exist in this same space between the digital and physical realities and meet customers there.
Though physical retail is sinking, customers still want to experience its valuable perks. With most products and services available online, still customers want to touch, feel and experience it virtually, if not physically, before going for it.
To deliver the perfect seamless customer experience with unprecedented possibilities, phygital seeks to incorporate the best ingredients of the digital and physical world. Phygital customer experiences could emerge as the lifesaver for falling physical retail stores. The decade is likely to see a paradigm shift in shopping experiences. If physical stores still continue to exist, the amalgamation between both digital and physical commerce is inevitable.
Reaching out to consumers is all about timing and a lot more about their convenience. Phygital stores take advantage of those situations when customers have time and the psychic space to review products. For example, when they are having a cup of coffee, sitting in their living room.
Here are 3 p’s of phygital that allow customers to engage in new and innovative ways.
Phygital, which is a combination of physical and digital experiences, can offer personalized attention in real-time with a professional expert to a customer. This approach can provide the best of both worlds by combining the convenience of digital technology with the personal touch of face-to-face interactions.
Phygital can provide a convenient and personalized shopping experience for customers from the comfort of their own homes, combining the best of both physical and digital worlds. Customers can connect with an expert who can provide personalized recommendations.
Phygital can provide customers with a more engaging and interactive shopping experience, allowing them to explore and interact with products in a 360-degree view from their own place and time.
Phygital retail is a term that refers to the blending of physical and digital experiences in retail environments. It is a combination of the words “physical” and “digital”.
In phygital retail, retailers create a seamless customer experience by integrating digital technology into their physical stores. This can include features such as interactive displays, mobile apps, augmented reality, virtual reality, and more.
Phygital retail allows customers to engage with products in new and innovative ways, both in-store and online.
Phygital customer experience refers to the combination of physical and digital customer experiences. It is the integration of physical and digital interactions that a customer has with a brand or business.
Phygital customer experience can be a powerful way for businesses to engage customers, provide seamless experiences, and differentiate themselves from competitors. By combining physical and digital touchpoints, businesses can create unique and personalized experiences that are tailored to their customer’s needs and preferences. So let’s understand how phygital is impacting the customer experience.
Phygital experiences combine both online and offline spaces, by exercising the best components from each context to create a sentient, satisfying, and definitive customer experience. Nevertheless, the phygital customer experience separates itself from other digital customer service approaches with its multichannel focus strategy, which ensures that the customer’s online shopping journey is fluid and familiar.
The consumers browse and purchase but they would also love to touch, feel and try to experience the product virtually. Despite the fact, everything in the world is available on the smartphone with just a click; most customers still prefer buying products after experiencing them, especially, FMCD goods.
For example, while purchasing a smartphone or tab itself, one generally does like to feel it first in their hands, click on the screen & explore features, talk to a customer service representative, and then proceed to make decisions.
It only indicates that interpersonal communications continue to be prioritized and are highly rated by customers. Brands out there have recognized this customer behavior and implied the emotional quotient (EQ) into the consumer’s buying journey.
Now, let’s find out how businesses are articulating the phygital world with customer service. Suppose, you are a consumer who is keen to buy a washing machine but cannot visit the store. Rather, you approached a customer service representative to show you through the product specifications virtually.
Earlier, the agent would just tell you the details hurriedly which is not adequate to decide on the product. Hence, you prefer to walk away from the product rather than buy with so many questions in mind. Unless you see, touch, and experience the product, there will always be perplexities.
Here, brands are turning this phenomenon around. With the emergence of phygital customer support, businesses have been able to eliminate boring product descriptions. The interaction with customers will happen on a video call where the representatives will proffer customers a live product demo. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AR glasses and autofocus cameras, brands are creating a tangible virtual space for customers, where they can ask the representatives to show different specifications and touch switches, etc; for example, and feel the product virtually. Utilizing TFT or LED screens, the agents show the product specifications and features one after another, which is more impressive in nature. Representatives talk through the whole buying process in the same virtual ambiance, building a store-like experience.
For instance, buying kitchen appliances using augmented reality would be one of the exceptional phygital experience examples.
It is an augmentation of the physical reality that is projected through smartphone cameras. Customers can see, touch, and feel the product virtually in an augmented platform through video calls.
The phygital world is rooting businesses to interact with consumers with more immersion and immediacy. It is getting the better of other customer support channels and businesses hardly need to spend vast amounts of money.
Going phygital not only enhances customer experiences as a whole but can be proved to be imperative to delight hyper-connected demanding users by matching their expectations through multiple channels. The phygital ecosystem is ideal for Millennial and Gen Z customers, forcing brands to straddle between online and offline in order to create phygital examples with every
Interaction.
1. Retail Industry: Retailers are combining their brick-and-mortar stores with their online presence to create a phygital experience for their customers. Examples of this include stores offering click-and-collect options, where customers can order online and pick up in-store, and using virtual reality (VR) technology to create immersive shopping experiences.
2. Healthcare Industry: The healthcare industry is using phygital experiences to improve patient care. Examples include using telemedicine to allow patients to consult with doctors remotely and using wearables to monitor patients’ health remotely.
3. Automotive Industry: The automotive industry is using phygital experiences to enhance the car-buying experience. For example, car manufacturers are using augmented reality (AR) technology to allow customers to see what a car would look like in different colors or with different options, and using digital displays in dealerships to showcase different features.
4. Hospitality Industry: The hospitality industry uses phygital experiences to improve the guest experience. Examples include using mobile apps to check in and access hotel amenities, digital room keys, and VR to showcase hotel rooms and amenities.
5. Banking Industry: The banking industry uses phygital experiences to improve customer convenience and access to services. Examples include using mobile apps for banking transactions and using chatbots to answer customer queries.
In the meanwhile we are still envisioning phygital possibilities, brands have already implemented phygital practices in customer service. Here are three best practices to deliver phygital experiences.
The innovation has added more value to Augmented Reality in customer service. AR ensures whether the product is absolutely convincing for consumers by projecting the live video feed. It empowers consumers to observe precisely how the item fits their preferences by presenting a close-to-real product visualization, be it the clothes, refrigerators, or interior design products.
For example, while selecting furniture, people tend to become picky aesthetes. For them, buying it from stores can eat up a lot of time. However, customer service agents wearing AR glasses during the live product demo and through the video call can help consumers to buy the perfect fit sitting at home or from anywhere. This is an exceptional way to boost confident purchase decisions.
As businesses are flexing their strategies to develop a phygital market space, the use of TFT screens is also evolving. Brands are using it in live product demos as an amalgamation of digital into the physical.
For example, while buying a TV, smartphone, and even clothes, phygital, customers can see different features of the product or even try different clothes at the same time virtually, with just one clicks on the TFT display screens. As consumers want more in this experience economy, future-ready brands are adapting to their needs and staying ahead of time.
Businesses need to up their customer experience ante to draw prospects and convert them into sales. With phygital innovations, companies are looking to offer face-to-face customer service that builds the brand’s credibility and fosters customer relationships. This makes customer engagement so seamless without requiring to involve of any other customer service touchpoints.
Phygital is the futuristic form of yesterday’s omnichannel with greater possibilities; where consumers come, virtually experience the product, shop effortlessly sitting at home, and become customers. In the same way, indeed, it will be relevant if the customer asks for remote after-sales service.
With everything is being judged by consumers based on experience today, phygital will encourage brands to deliver a more lucrative customer experience.
When shifting into an alternative digital or physical world, brands must understand the value of what they create. They are inviting consumers into a virtually tangible, interactive, and make-believe world. The idea of phygital is an innovative extension appealing to kids, teens, and their discerning parents.
Phygital experiences need valid reasons for being there. While brands are focusing on their existing presence on social media platforms elsewhere, however, customer expectations are forcing businesses to build up a broad network of retail spaces with the ability to create powerful experiences. It is allowing customers the convenience to pick from thousands of products with just a click.
Brands who are willing to thrive in the ‘no compromise generation’ market should embrace phygital-as-a-service, getting the best components from both worlds.
As businesses are struggling to match the higher customer demands in both spaces, a seamless integration will empower brands to get the best out of customer experience.
It’s time for brands to take their customer service efforts to the next level, where both the physical and digital spaces complement each other to deliver a more comprehensive customer experience.
Physical experiences were not convenient for consumers and digital experiences were lacking the sensory zest. Thus, phygital has become the customer experience destination for forward-thinking brands.
By evaluating and blending the best aspects from both spectrums, businesses have achieved their customer service goals. For customers, phygital has become an alluring standalone platform for product discovery that delivers exemplary customer experiences.
Know more about Phygital ?
The purpose of the phygital is to stitch the gap between physical space and digital technologies. Eventually, it allows customers to dive into an augmented reality space and creates a more personalized, intuitive, and seamless shopping experience.
This sounds ambitious but the last mile will be the new lifeline.
With the awakening of phygital customer service, in stores, floor salespeople will be replaced with delivering advisers with the ability to deliver prompt and defined customer experiences. The conventional methods will be remodeled into a more adept and presentable way that incorporates live product demos on the go. As we predict, the quality of the phygital customer experience will determine the course of customer retention, soon, virtual stores will take over hyperlocal retail. The product discovery will be redefined and determine the sales funnel pump. Phygital is the new customer service catalyst that needs similar investment but a more focused approach.