Digital logistics: Enchantment in distribution channels

Benjamin Burroughs and W. Jeffrey Burroughs

Technology in Society, 2020, vol. 62, issue C

Abstract: This article analyzes ways that logistical services add value to products over and above traditional utility tradeoffs as a result of a confluence of aesthetic, economic, and cultural facets that we identify as enchantment. We delve into how enchantment might be digitally articulated through mediated (as opposed to brick and mortar) consumption, paying attention to the cultural techniques and affordances of the platforms and spaces. Through a series of case studies, we examine ways in which enchantment can occur in digitally mediated shopping environments. Our case studies suggest that enchanted digital logistical channels extend the value-creating functions of traditional logistics by creating consumption circumstances that surprise and intrigue, that suggest perceived scarcity, and that use social media to approach consumers in multiple ways to procure enchantment.

Keywords: Consumption; Enchantment; Digital logistics; Relevant logistics; Distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X19300879
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:62:y:2020:i:c:s0160791x19300879

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101277

Access Statistics for this article

Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown

More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().