Smartphones and the reconfiguration of retailscapes: Stores, shopping, and digitalization

The aim of this paper is to examine and conceptualize how the integration of smartphones is reconfiguring the retailscapes of stores and the implications that this has for retailers and consumers. Departing from an understanding of retailscapes as socio-material assemblages and drawing on an ethnographic study of mobile shopping, this paper shows how the integration of smartphones into the activities of in-store shopping is reconfiguring how store space is enacted. The integration of this digital device reorganizes the activities of shopping, and new informationscapes, socialscapes, and experiencescapes unfold as a result. In the process, stores are reconfigured, agencies change, and the relationship between consumers and retailers is remade.