Convergence of Physical and Virtual Retail Spaces

Abstract

This chapter examines the effective integration of online within the offline physical store in one holistic shopping experience in the fashion sector. It explores the merging of three key dimensions in creating an integrated experience – physical store atmospheric variables, technology implementation and consumer attitudes and motivations. An extensive literature review was conducted from which a conceptual framework ensued. A multi-method qualitative research utilising case study strategy was adopted (Bryman & Bell, 2007). The data was collected by observation of technology enabled fashion stores, experiential consumer interviews (Silberer, 2009) to examine motivations, behaviour and interaction with in-store technologies and interviews with experts providing insights on the role of the store, experiential retailing and the implementation of technologies in store design.