The Phygital Customer Experience in Wellness Settings: A Qualitative Analysis

This study explores how integrating physical and digital touchpoints, known as phygital experiences, shapes wellness‐experience management and perception in technologically advanced fitness centers. Guided by Batat’s Phygital Customer Experience and Funk’s Sport Experience Design frameworks, the analysis draws on 14 semi-structured interviews with managers, trainers, and members of three techintegrated centers in Spain, Italy, and the UK. Analysis revealed four key themes: synergistic design, engagement, inclusiveness, and customer-centricity, that illustrate how value is co-created across physical, digital, human, and media connectors and redefine relationships between users, organizations, and context in hybrid environments. The findings empirically support the Phygital Customer Experience framework and extend Sport Experience Design to the wellness domain. While focused on urban fitness centers and active users, limiting broader generalization, the study offers actionable insights for wellness providers seeking to deliver phygital services and enrich member experiences, and highlights directions for future research into technology-resistant populations and other wellness contexts.