Self-service technologies in retail stores: how phygital retailing creates customer value and drives choice confidence

Purpose The purpose of this empirical study is to consider the interaction of self-service technologies (SSTs) with retail customers, exploring how retail customers perceive SST value and how this value affects their choice confidence when shopping. Design/methodology/approach We carried out a large shopper survey in collaboration with six French mass retailers. Digital kiosks and interactive tablets were the focal SSTs. Partial least squares-path modelling (PLS-PM) was used to test our cost‒benefit conceptual framework and the corresponding research hypotheses. Furthermore, through multigroup comparison analysis, we tested the moderating effect of customers’ subjective knowledge of the product category. Findings Functional and interactive benefits/costs arising from SST usage determine customer perceived value. The key notion of perceived SST value implies that people make favourable cost‒benefit tradeoffs. Customer choice confidence is positively affected by perceived SST value. Customer product category knowledge plays a key role as a moderator of human–SST interactions in phygital retail settings. Originality/value This paper is concerned with the role of SST in creating phygital experiences and delivering value to retail customers. This is a first attempt at examining how perceived SST value affects customer choice confidence and what role customer product category knowledge plays.