ABSTRACT
The digital/physical and offline/online distinctions that have become part of many popular and academic discourses are anachronistic when it comes to shopping. That is not just because physical stores have websites but also because those stores increasingly use the internet to connect to customers while they are moving through physical aisles. The dominant reason for this development is retailers’ desire for data. Sellers believe the right data about the right customers at the right time are required assets for their business, online and off. This perceived need is restructuring the architecture of physical and digital retailing, and the relationship between the two, in ways that make the physical selling environment increasingly personalized for the individual prospect.
