Value Realization in the Phygital Reality Market: Consumption and Service Under Conflation of the Physical, Digital, and Virtual Worlds

This book is a timely and much-needed comprehensive compilation that reflects the development of research on consumption and communication in the conflation of the real and digital worlds, bringing together the current state of thinking about the phygital reality market and the cutting-edge challenges that are involved. In this book, the term ＂phygital reality market＂ is used, implying that the physical, digital, and virtual realms are fused into one to recognize and understand the market with multiple or mixed realities. The concept of the phygital reality market captures the new realities that consumers are shopping, consuming, and living, and companies are competing within the physical, digital, and virtual marketplaces.

The book covers the research on consumption, service, and communication in the phygital reality market and compiles the current state of thinking, challenges, and cases having to do with the acceptance and diffusion of new technologies of phygital reality. The interest in the phygital reality market, such as omnichannel retailing integrating physical stores and online services, has grown hugely over the last two decades, particularly since the coronavirus pandemic. COVID triggered severe social and economic disruption around the world but has accelerated the acceptance and diffusion of new technologies in the phygital reality market, where the physical, digital, and virtual worlds are conflated. Versatile problem solving and new challenges are reflected in the value realization process of innovation -- in other words, widespread acceptance and diffusion of devices or services that embody new technologies. The excitement and hype associated with the metaverse have highlighted the need to understand the creation and adoption of new technologies in consumption and marketing, recognition of the foundational role of new technologies in driving consumer behavior, and marketing theory and practice in value realization as a vital part of the process of digital transformation.

Lin Huangis a distinguished professor in the Graduate school of Business Administration at Kobe University, Japan, and Director of the Center for Asia Academic Collaboration at Kobe University. He is active in the field of Marketing and Business Management. He received his Doctor of Commercial Science from Kobe University. His specialized fields include global marketing, distribution system, and strategies and behavior of the MNCs, with a focus on theories of market systems, digital marketing, and global supply chain management. His research has been published in many books in the fields of global marketing, business management, and consumer research. His research also has been published in journals such as the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Diamond Harvard Business Review, Asia Journal Marketing, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, China Information, Journal of Global Marketing, among others. He is the editor and co-author of Japan Study as a Public Good in Asia, 2019, Springer Singapore.

Biao Gao is a lecturer and graduate supervisor at the Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, China. He was previously a graduate of the University of Leeds and earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan. He has many years of professional experience in Dragon TV (Shanghai Media Group). His research interests focus on consumer cognition and psychology, user behavior in digital media art, and human factors engineering. His research studies have been published in the Journal of consumer behaviour, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, Cell press: Heliyon, and other SCI/SSCI journals.

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Mengjia Gao is a lecturer at the Zhejiang Wanli University, China. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University. Her research focuses on omnichannel retailing, customer relationship management, and consumer behavior. Her research studies have been published in SCI/SSCI journal, such as Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.