Brand competitiveness and resilience to exogenous shock: Usage of smartphone apps during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study examines the factors that affect brand competitiveness in an environment of uncertainty caused by exogenous shocks. In particular, this study focuses on smartphone apps and examines differences between “digital” brands that primarily do business online and “phygital” brands that have already established their brands offline. We also distinguished the highly uncertain environment into multiple phases and found non-linear changes in the magnitude of the parameters. We find that phygital brands have different factors affecting their competitiveness compared to digital brands. The results also provide insights into the online channel strategies of retail companies that already have brand value offline.