Investigating how physical and digital environments fuse to create seamless, immersive, and emotionally resonant experiences — from mobile AI interactions to cross-country phygital brand journeys.
Compiled by Prof. Xiaoge Xu, Ph.D., in collaboration with Manus
"Phygital brand experience can be viewed as an extension of omnichannel customer experience that emphasises continuity across touchpoints and settings — where physical and digital environments fuse to create a unified, seamless, and emotionally resonant consumer journey."
Lemon & Verhoef (2016); Verhoef et al. (2015); adapted by Xu
Drawing from the PBE Project Series and the phygital literature, six dimensions define the architecture of phygital brand experience. Click any dimension to explore its indicators and sources.
Phygital experience is not limited to retail. Across eight communication frontiers, AI agents and physical-digital bridges are redefining how people interact, work, heal, and play. Click any frontier to explore its phygital architecture.
AI-Mediated Intimacy
Meeting-to-Action Agents
Edge Agent Architecture
Care Coordination A2A
Trusted Circle Model
Group Leisure Orchestrator
Dual-Agent Ethics
Legible Agent Interaction
Phygital continuity (PC) has a positive effect on overall brand experience (BE).
Phygital continuity (PC) negatively affects journey friction (JF) — higher continuity means lower friction.
Journey friction mediates PC → BE: phygital continuity reduces friction, which enhances brand experience.
Overall brand experience (BE) has a positive effect on brand trust (BT).
Overall brand experience (BE) has a positive effect on loyalty intentions/behaviour (LOY).
Privacy comfort positively moderates the PC → BE relationship: the effect is stronger when privacy comfort is high.
Structural path coefficients differ between Chinese and Norwegian consumers, especially for privacy and trust paths.
Eight AI-driven advancements are transforming mobile experience — from personalised content and conversational interfaces to AR, voice, security, and behavioural analytics.
Spotify and Netflix use ML to curate personalised playlists and recommendations. Personalised experiences increase user satisfaction and retention by up to 30%.
AI-powered chatbots (H&M, Sephora) use NLP to assist customers in real-time through mobile interfaces, handling up to 80% of standard customer queries.
AR apps like IKEA Place allow users to visualise products in their own space. 61% of consumers prefer shopping at retailers that offer AR experiences.
Voice search now accounts for over 55% of mobile searches. Google Assistant and Siri enable hands-free, context-aware mobile interactions.
Face ID and Fingerprint Unlock use ML to recognise biometric data, providing secure access while maintaining convenience. Users show higher trust in AI-secured apps.
Google Now and Apple's notification system use predictive analytics to display contextually relevant information based on user habits and location.
Apps like Duolingo employ AI to adapt learning paths and gamify acquisition, making the process more engaging through personalised challenges and rewards.
Mixpanel and Firebase track user interactions within mobile apps. Analysing this data enables developers to refine features and improve usability.
Experience Studies intersects with Branding Studies, CICI Studies, and Mobile Storytelling — all developed by Prof. Xu at the intersection of communication, technology, and human experience.