Touchpoint Design for Local Shops as a Community Hub

Eunji Woo, Ki-Young Nam

Local shops are private sector entities that also play a social role within the community. Despite their importance in providing the community with social values, there have been few attempts to understand their creativity and resourcefulness in creating community-anchored service experiences. In this context, we aim to discover the implicit strategies of local shop proprietors and convert them into actionable knowledge for creating social value through community-anchored service experiences. Empirical data were collected through interviews with 21 local shops, supplemented by on-site observations, and analyzed using both thematic analysis and cluster analysis. Consequently, a framework of service touchpoints categorized by Community Anchors and Customer Enticements was developed with six strategic positions for service touchpoint deployment, including: Local Treasure, Digging Ground, Influencer-in-the-Wild, Celebration of Imaginative Stories, Village Salon, and Pure Merchant. The article presents design implications for creating community-anchored service experiences in local shops by using key design materials: 1) resources, 2) place attachment, and 3) proprietor’s individuality.