Reimagining personalization in the physical store

Abstract

The evolving landscape of physical retailing necessitates a reevaluation of personalization approaches to meet existing market conditions and the demands of modern customers. In this context, the authors explore the interplay between human-enabled and technology-enabled personalization, offering an examination of their characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. The authors deconstruct the personalization process into three distinct stages, namely identification, implementation, and interaction, and discuss potential contingency factors of personalization in the physical retailing context. More so, the authors discuss the future of personalization in physical retailing along the three steps of the defined personalization process. In doing so, the authors lay out a research agenda that can serve as a valuable guide for future studies in this field.