Navigating between real and virtual spaces: An exploration of the hybrid shopping experience

Abstract

This research focuses on the shopping experience involving navigation between real and virtual shopping spaces. The analysis of 35 interviews of consumers allows us to understand and conceptualize this experience in terms of a variety of trajectories experienced as natural and effortless by respondents. Even though the channels are not integrated, the customer’s experience is nonetheless not fragmented, and indeed may be enhanced by the active role played by the consumer. In a contribution to the existing literature, the findings also reveal the importance of the social dimension of the cross-channel shopping experience that enables consumers to stay connected with their private sphere. We also suggest various managerial implications, particularly on how retailers can co-construct new forms of shopping with their customers, and we point out the limitations of shopping that are both seamless and overly formatted.