Phygital: the new concept of space

We live in a world in which physical and digital realities are increasingly connected. We are aware of our daily lives and our physical presence, yet we are increasingly present in the digital environment. The phygital experience seeks to merge the two realities from a spatial marketing perspective. We are starting to mix our interactions between the physical and online worlds, creating a trend of integrating as best as possible the two environments that are already part of our reality. The phygital experience is the union between e-commerce and physical stores and spaces, taking advantage of both environments to build an integrative framework that merges them. This trend puts a clear focus on collaboration and common work, since those who inhabit the two universes perceive a single brand or company. Uniting the best of the online world with the physical world is the key to generating an omnichannel shopping experience. The physical interaction in a space or store is still a very important value and valued by users and consumers, a person who attends to our needs and knows how to respond to them, will be one of the essential parts of the phygital experience. In the digital part, concepts such as immediacy, immersion and interaction come into play, which are key in the construction of a space that responds to the needs of today’s consumer. In fact, among the predictions that will shape the coming years as we move toward 2027, we have the institutionalization of hybrid work. Hybrid work has existed as a concept for many years, but we are now in a very different situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has accelerated digital transformation within all office-based organizations. The expectation that administrative employees can work from home, a shared workspace or a public place, such as a train or airport, securely and as efficiently as they do in the office, is becoming the norm. In the coming years, we will see a number of structures and quality standards put in place to enable knowledge workers to do their work fully or partially remotely, seamlessly, without concerns that this could adversely affect the business.