Digital transformation has disrupted the market and changed customer expectations and behaviours, leading to increased concerns for traditional businesses. The Indian retail market, which consists of an unorganized sector with characteristics of low capital investment, family ownership and heavy dependence on cash transactions, is threatened by the rapid changes. The e-commerce platform and the emergence of phygital technologies are posing a threat to the existence of these retailers. Small retailers need to digitize their sales and business operations to prevent such vulnerabilities for survival. The focus of the study is the identification of the key enabler of technological adoption in these stores. With modification, a hypothetical model was created, built on the Technology Acceptance Model to determine the pertinent enablers impacting the intentions of retailers for technology adoption. Through the survey method, the data were collected from 603 Unorganized Localized Retail Outlets from several regions of India for the validation of the model. Perceived trust emerged as a game-changer in fostering positive attitudes toward technology adoption and Structural Equation Modelling was then further used. The model justified a substantial proportion of variance in the behavioural intention, highlighting the importance of addressing trust and usability concerns to facilitate technological adoption. This study significantly contributes to the scant knowledge available before the phygital era.
Ahmad et al. (Fri,) studied this question.