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.