Digital transformation has had an unprecedented influence on all sectors of business over the last decade. We are now entering an era characterized by the extensive digital transformation of businesses, society, and consumers. Therefore, digital transformation has become a pivotal focus for organizations across various sectors in recent years. Despite differing scholarly perspectives on the concept and elements of digital transformation, a consensus exists that it significantly impacts consumer decisions and necessitates organizational adaptation. Recent challenges such as the COVID‐19 pandemic have further accelerated the need for digital transformation and its effects on consumers. This necessitates an editorial perspective on this most important topic to establish future research agenda encompassing the various dimensions of digital transformation. The purpose of this editorial perspective is to review research on digital transformation from a multidisciplinary viewpoint and provide insights into several key domains—Internet‐of‐Things, social media, mobile apps, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, the metaverse, and corporate digital responsibility—that are poised to fuel the pace of digital transformation. Each domain is analyzed through a lens of introduction, role, importance, multifaceted impact, and conclusions. Future research directions are suggested.

Increased use of smart technologies by customers is leading to recognition of their influence on the shopping experiences of customers by practitioners. However, the academic literature fails to acknowledge the influence of smart technology usage, combined with behavioural intention of the customer, on the dynamics and experience of customers. This research utilises explanatory research at the preliminary stage to examine this phenomenon in a retail setting. A conceptual framework was created, based on the scholarly knowledge available in extant literature, and was tested using a survey of a convenience sample of 330 consumers shopping in a high-end retail store in London, United Kingdom. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via AMOS was employed to test the proposed model. This study contributes to technology adoption based consumer behaviour literature, by explaining the ability of learning commitment to drive the participation of an individual, but its inability to influence their behavioural intention. Findings of this research also reflect on the role of customer dynamics and customer experience in embracing innovative application of smart technologies in a retail setting. The results and implications included in our study also contribute to the understanding of the determinants that affect customer dynamics and customer experience when making use of smart technologies.

This research uses complexity theory to probe the relationship between competiveness and innovation in the marketing practises of large manufacturing firms that offer their branded products in a foreign market by engaging a network of local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as resellers of their brand. A deductive, quantitative research approach was employed and data were collected over a nine-month period from resellers of international IT firms in India using a questionnaire. A structural equation modelling technique and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were employed on a sample of 649 respondents to find answers to the questions raised. This research indicates that a successful business relationship between a brand and its resellers can enable both parties to compete in a competitive market. This study finds that innovativeness in the marketing initiatives of the brand can be a function of the contributions made by the brand to its competitiveness. Nevertheless, the findings are also subject to some limitations and provide direction for future research on the topic