In 2025, customers want things immediately. As a retail store owner, you must not only meet those customer demands but exceed their expectations.
As the retail sector embraces an omnichannel future, it is crucial to create as many touchpoints as possible for customers to remain loyal to your brand.
The key to streamlining the customer journey from start to finish is blurring the lines between a buyer’s physical and digital experience with your store.
Phygital retail will continue to dominate the high street in 2025. As more brands than ever embrace tech in-store and prioritise mobile commerce integrations, shopping will never be the same.
With this in mind, we’re delving deeper into the rise of phygital retail and sharing eight conversion-driving strategies for omnichannel brands.
What is Phygital Retail?
Phygital retail is the combination of physical and digital retail experiences intertwined to create one seamless buyer journey.
This strategy is most commonly used by omnichannel retail brands to enhance the customer experience at all touch points and provide buyers with numerous ways to purchase goods.
Omnichannel in retail means providing multiple channel options for customers to engage with when interacting with a brand. These could be apps, social media profiles, websites, and traditional in-store experiences.
The phygital approach simply enhances omnichannel retail. By combining physical and digital channels in one space, you increase your chances of converting customers.
This may come in the form of virtual try-on studios in-store, letting customers choose how they purchase a product or simply using online purchase data to influence real-time in-store trends.
There’s no doubt that phygital retail is on the rise. As we watch ecommerce sales rise, digital shopping is becoming a necessity for most. However, adding elements of this to your high-street store could keep brick-and-mortar conversions climbing, too.
There are plenty of benefits associated with phygital retail. These include:
- Improving the customer experience
- Building brand awareness on physical and digital high streets
- Enhancing personalized recommendations for a customisable shopping experience
- Aiding omnichannel touchpoints
- Introducing a more interactive shopping experience on the high street
8 Phygital Strategies To Apply To Your Own Retail Store
With these benefits in mind, let’s have a closer look at some of the key phygital retail strategies driving success in 2025.
1. Create a Seamless Omnichannel Journey
Use phygital retail strategies to transform your omnichannel touchpoints.
If you can integrate your physical and digital touchpoints, you’ll create a smoother transition from online to in-store shopping.
For example, if your shopper is browsing your online store but wants a faster delivery experience, adding options such as click and collect could transform their shopping experience and enhance satisfaction.
2. Enhance In-Store Experiences Using AR/VR
One of the easiest ways to enhance your in-store experience is to add digital elements to your displays.
Phygital retail is all about taking the customer experience to the next level using digital technology. Using smart technology such as AR/VR allows a customer to immerse themselves in your products during a virtual try-on or enjoy interacting and engaging with your in-store displays during the shopping experience.
Moments like this keep a customer in the store for longer, raising your chances of scoring a conversion.
Take Warby Parker, for example. Their virtual glasses try-on feature allows customers to spend as much time as they want to try on any pair of specs and customise them directly as they are projected onto their face.
3. Introduce Phygital Purchasing Options
An easy way to introduce phygital retail to your brand blueprint is to let customers mix and match purchase and delivery options.
For example, if a customer wants to purchase a product online and pick it up in-store (BOPIS), this means that they must interact with your online storefront and brick-and-mortar store to complete their purchase.
Another option gaining traction in the phygital retail sector is curbside pickup. This allows a customer to place an order online and pick up the goods outside of the store, usually notifying the store via text or call once they arrive.
4. Integrate Customer Reviews In Store
Word-of-mouth marketing remains one of the number one methods of promoting a product. Customer reviews enhance buyer trust and make it easier for customers to make decisions about product purchasing.
While product reviews are easy to find online, those who display these digital reviews in-store have the upper hand.
A great way to do this involves strategically placing screens around your store that cycle through reviews relevant to the products customers are considering.
5. Use Online Data To Influence In-Store Trends
Another phygital strategy to consider is the use of online purchasing data to enhance in-store promotions. Take Nike, for example.
Their concept store in Melrose, LA, uses phygital data to enhance its in-store design. Every element of the store’s design is digital, made up of a number of screens and interchangeable displays.
Using online customer data gathered from local app users and online purchases, the store regularly changes to mirror the specific needs and shopping habits of local customers. This ensures that the displays showcased are the most relevant to those likely to walk into the store.
6. Create a Strong Online Community
Fostering a strong online community plays a crucial role in phygital success. If customers feel as if they are part of an exclusive community, they are likely to remain loyal to your brand.
Using your social media presence to foster communities on each platform gives you the chance to share real/virtual events in chat or on a forum.
This ensures that any physical store event is well-advertised and well-attended by loyal social followers, boosting business both online and on the high street.
7. Integrate Mobile Commerce In Store
According to a recent study by Yes Marketing, a staggering 57% of customers claim that they use a retailer’s mobile while shopping in-store.
Mobile apps make it easier to track orders, browse products and even scan items on the go. Mobile commerce is the key to improving customer convenience.
Better still, it’s never been easier to integrate in-store systems into mobile apps to facilitate functions such as mobile scan and go, unlocking digital coupons and powering click-and-collect services.
8. Add Self-Checkout Kiosks In Store
Improving the checkout experience is key in a fast-paced, high-street environment. Customers no longer wish to wait in long lines and will simply leave the store if a queue looks lengthy.
Introducing self-checkout kiosks is one phygital retail strategy you can’t forget. These kiosks free up staff movement, decrease buyer lines and give customers more autonomy when doing their shopping.
In fact, some stores have taken this movement even further. Take Amazon Go, for example. Amazon Fresh stores operate without a checkout for the most seamless experience yet.
Instead of paying for goods in-store, customers can simply walk out and make payment automatically via their Amazon account instead.
Where Will Phygital Retail Go Next?
There’s no doubt that the phygital retail sector will keep expanding. The question is, where will it go next?
As retailers adapt to physical/digital hybrid stores, we’re likely to see an influx of contactless checkout options, digital displays, AR-powered product interactions and a digital-first shopping approach.
While we don’t know what will happen next, we do know that customer satisfaction and engagement will remain at the heart of this phygital movement.
