Experiences in a human-centric phygital space: the meaningful impact of second-hand, luxury fashion virtual communities

Today, fashion has been largely democratised with a plethora of ways we engage with brands in both physical and increasingly digital ways (Bruce et al., 2023). This multi-dimensional consumer engagement also extends to both new and second-hand fashion worlds, with the latter rising at exponential rates globally. Leaning on recent studies, in this study, we define “second-hand” fashion as previously owned clothing items (Amatulli et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2022). With the rapid increase of digital, second-hand fashion communities worldwide, traditional research paradigms do not provide insights as to how we can relate to and experience these digital second-hand communities of physical products in positive ways (Murtas and Pedeliento, 2025). Indeed, research to date remains scarce in light of these vastly expanding “phygital” spaces. The term “phygital” combines the words “physical” and “digital” and is embedded in a new stream of service research, commonly referred to as phygital services research (PSR) (Batat, 2024; 2026). In 2007, the Australian experience design agency Momentum defined phygital as the ability to create deep connections between the physical and digital worlds (Vergine et al., 2019). Initial research studies (e.g. Gaggioli, 2017; Zurlo et al., 2018) referred to it as a hybrid environment where three components interact:

1. the natural integration of digital technology in physical spaces;

2. humans’ natural exchanges with this technology; and

3. the technology’s awareness of the space.

Today, most industry sectors experience a blend of hybrid product and service consumption, termed “phygital” (Batat, 2024, 2025). Therefore, researching phygital consumer experiences has become an increasingly important research area across most consumer goods and service environments (Heinonen and Sörhammar, 2024). Understanding phygital service spaces matters, especially for modern services research (Batat, 2026), which is increasingly centred on positive well-being outcomes for individuals and communities, commonly termed as transformative service research (TSR) (Anderson et al., 2013; Rosenbaum, 2015; Rosenbaum et al., 2017; Rosenbaum and Russell-Bennett, 2021). Brand-driven, phygital environments are commonly designed as human-centric service ecosystems that create memorable experiences, convey brand narratives and guide consumer buying behaviour (Hyun et al., 2022). These spaces increasingly matter for consumer products to generate brand awareness and loyalty (Turunen et al., 2020). In services marketing research for luxury consumer products, studies have focused on brands creating service spaces that foster desire through exclusivity, exceptional customer experience and powerful storytelling, rather than competing on price or mass appeal (Wang, 2022).

However, with the increase of digital purchasing, creating and controlling service platforms for authentic and meaningful customer experiences has become progressively more difficult for brands (Nyagadza et al., 2025; Waqas et al., 2021). In light of this increasing shift of governance, Batat (2026) argues that existing research paradigms – and consumer brands – have simply not been able to capture the possibilities of hybrid physical-digital service realities. Building on the PSR framework, Batat (2026) calls for research to investigate how human-centric, phygital service spaces can lead to service innovation and positive impact across individual, organisational, community and environmental levels. Indeed, digital consumer groups are known to have several positive impacts on consumer well-being (Séraphin et al., 2023). Similarly, luxury in recent years has shifted from being seen as mere material possessions to be viewed from a “positive luxury” lens, commonly referred to as transformative luxury research (TLR) (Batat, 2023); studies within this research stream build on the TSR paradigm and show how our interaction with luxury can advance positive individual and social well-being outcomes (Batat, 2021, 2022a, 2022b). Taking luxury into the phygital space, both phygital and positive luxury service research are relatively new research paradigms, and it is less clear how “positive luxury” (TLR) can be experienced and lead to positive well-being outcomes (TSR) in the setting of phygital service spaces (PSR). This requires exploring these research streams in light of one another.

Across the luxury consumer goods market, brands traditionally create product-centric, phygital environments mainly and often exclusively for consumers focused on direct product purchases (Alexander and Varley, 2025; Kusumasondjaja, 2020). Consequently, research in the luxury sector still largely concentrates on users’ digital experiences of products in relation to first-buyer service engagement (Kusumasondjaja, 2020). Some luxury fashion businesses have started to experiment with different ways to combine physical and digital elements of how they can create more intimate engagement and positive experiences with consumer communities (Bartoli et al., 2023). However, research is scarce in exploring the structure and impact of human-centric community and brand interactions through phygital service models in markets much less governed, such as the second-hand market. The issue with most brands not extending their service offerings and interactions to this rapidly increasing market is that although consumers still seek it, research suggests that they often experience a lack of perceived “premium luxury purchasing experiences” across large, second-hand, digital buying platforms (Murtas and Pedeliento, 2025, p.656).

One issue is that studies focusing on online platforms rarely explore past the purchasing experience. But, digital brand platforms today can be much more than just about buying and selling; they can represent virtual communities dedicated to not only experiencing members’ relationship with the brands (i.e. buying and selling items from the brand) but also their engagement with other community members (Confente and Kucharska, 2021). Indeed, it is well established in the literature that these human-centric communities can foster consumer well-being through social belonging and sustainable lifestyles (Heinonen, 2025; Rynarzewska et al., 2025). For luxury brands, second-hand, virtual communities pose potential governance challenges as consumption experiences of the brand and engagement among members are not controlled by the brand itself; instead, digital communities represent a decentralised form of service-ecosystems created and governed by its members (Bruce et al., 2023; Turunen et al., 2020). However, in the absence of understanding how brands can engage with these communities, the potential impact of these phygital spaces remains unclear.

It is therefore largely unknown whether consumer-driven, human-centric phygital communities can create the service environments that allow for desirable experiences for consumers – and what these experiences look like – through digital and physical brand engagement, product consumption and other hybrid embodiments of these spaces. We also lack an understanding of whether, in phygital communities, consumers create experiences that differ from brand-generated experiences, and if so, how these unfold (Waqas et al., 2021). In addition, it remains largely unclear how human experiences of governance, trust, relational exchange, identity reinforcement and belonging emerge and collide in these phygital communities. More broadly and echoing a recent call for research (Batat, 2026), we lack understanding of how phygital communities extend, refine or challenge existing theories and practices around human-centric service ecosystems and stakeholder experiences.

This study, therefore, meaningfully combines research paradigms of TSR, PSR and TLR and aims to find out how a second-hand luxury fashion, phygital service community can be experienced both online and offline to create positive purchasing, consumption and well-being outcomes for its members. We study a second-hand fashion, virtual community dedicated to one of Australia’s large, high-end fashion brands. As this digital environment is not driven by the fashion brand but by solely by community members, it extends any traditional marketing efforts of what we understand as “services” and thus requires a more inclusive definition: Therefore, in this study, services are defined as “to help someone to ensure that something is enabled for the users of offerings (goods or services)” (Grönroos, 2024, p. 350). This definition of services also allows the gap between services and physical goods to disappear as both coincide in modern service environments (Grönroos, 2024). The virtual community in this study is embedded in a digital service environment that provides members with digital service elements and engagement, as well as physical product transactions.

Luxury branded products are commonly defined by physical and intangible product-related aspects that appear to be superior compared to alternative goods in the same category (Kapferer, 2008). Recent years have witnessed a “democratisation of luxury”, termed as a trend showing that more luxury goods have become available to a greater number of consumers worldwide through digitalisation as well as online communities that allow buying and selling second-hand products (Amatulli et al., 2018; Seraphin et al., 2023). While brick-and-mortar stores can have a more intimate experience, literally all luxury brands today invest in a digital presence, mainly through websites, as a main tool of experiencing the brand, customer service and product purchase (Silva et al., 2022). One of the main issues of a website is that it restricts the type of influence that can be formed on the aesthetic elements of products and consequently hinders the ability of luxury brands to optimise consumer engagement and experience (Hyun et al., 2022).

In addition to digitisation, the democratisation of luxury and the social access to luxury have been globally driven by the second-hand market (Bruce et al., 2023). The growth of the second-hand luxury market worldwide is influenced by shifting attitudes and renewed acceptability related to wearing and owning previously used goods (Beard, 2008). It has also become a way of consumers shifting towards embracing sustainability (Carrigan, et al., 2013), finding rare and unique pieces (Turunen and Leipämaa-Leskinen, 2015) and accessing luxury brands which would normally be out of reach financially (Amatulli et al., 2018). According to a recent literature review by Murtas and Pedeliento (2025), second-hand luxury research to date predominantly focuses on two streams:

1. perceptions consumers attribute to second-hand luxury items (Boardman et al., 2022; Cervellon and Vigreux, 2018; Turunen et al., 2020); and

2. drivers and barriers influencing consumers’ intention to adopt and purchase second-hand luxury items (Aycock et al., 2023; Luo and Park, 2024).

Both streams show that second-hand luxury goods, in equal measure to new luxury, might be used as a basis for self-extension and self-representation (Turunen et al., 2020).

While existing literature provides valuable insights into second-hand luxury products as well as the drivers and barriers influencing second-hand product purchases (Malhotra and Shaiwalini, 2023; Rathi, Jain and Garg, 2023), Murtas and Pedeliento (2025) argue that as of today, there is still a lack of research attention given to the digital service communities facilitating the (re)sale of previously owned, luxury items. And yet, much like the general transition towards digitalisation, the second-hand market has largely shifted away from physical to digital platforms, which has been a major reason for its emerging global adoption (Arrigo, 2021). Indeed, the second-hand market is booming more than ever, expanding at an annual rate of 12%, which is four times faster than the first-hand luxury market’s growth of 3% (Chung-Wha et al., 2024). Between 2002 and 2022 alone, its market value quadrupled from US$1.37bn to US$5.68bn (WITS, 2024). Interestingly, as part of this growth, online channels contribute to 25% of the total sales in the global second-hand market, significantly driving its overall growth rate (Ducasse et al., 2019).

Today, there is an abundance of digital channels available through which consumers can purchase second-hand goods and services. Studies distinguish between peer-to-peer channels, business-to-consumer channels and dedicated resale channels (e.g. Vestiaire Collective and DePoP). Across these channel-specific contexts, studies over the past decade focus on the consumers’ values and consciousness perspectives when investigating why consumers purchase luxury second-hand items (Cervellon et al., 2012; Silva et al., 2022). However, while providing a rich understanding of why consumers choose to buy via digital channels, studies to date still tend to generalise consumers’ experiences across platforms and product/brands rather than considering their differences – despite earlier research showing that factors like the service channel and product/brand attributes matter across phygital communities (Amatulli et al., 2018).

These differences exist due to phygital elements of digital communities causing unique online and offline experiences (Batat, 2019a, 2019 b; Talwar et al., 2021). Together, they traverse the fluid nature of virtual and tangible consumption experiences in a polycentric service ecosystem, making these spaces a complex phenomenon to study (Batat, 2024, 2025). Consequently, Batat (2021) urges researchers that experiences in phygital spaces must be looked at comprehensively and contextually to understand consumers’ experiences, which can vary widely across contexts (Batat, 2026). Since its inception, phygital research has mainly focused on these spaces in relation to technology, platforms and service integration (Batat, 2019b). However, what makes phygital landscapes unique in consumer research is the liquid blend of physical, human and digital elements that form complex online and offline experiences for humans (Batat, 2024). In fashion research, literature to date has mainly examined phygital product spaces created and controlled by fashion brands, often in light of their multi-channel marketing strategies (Batat, 2022a, 2022b; Talwar et al., 2021), which allows only little understanding of these spaces in the eyes of the consumer. Moreover, whilst examining online purchasing behaviour, studies exploring second-hand fashion rarely examine consumer experiences beyond the online purchasing stages (Murtas and Pedeliento, 2025). Consequently, important questions remain unanswered around how the unique and decentralised service-scape of second-hand, phygital fashion communities are structured and how they function. It also leaves us questioning how these ecosystems are experienced more holistically, both online and offline. Ultimately, it remains unanswered what their impact on consumers’ fashion consumption and, more broadly, product consumption is. Answering these questions is the central endeavour of this study.

We are specifically interested in the phygital space of second-hand fashion, virtual communities dedicated to one luxury fashion brand. This focus allows understanding not only community-specific but also brand-specific experiences perceived by members. What makes the community different to other business-led, digital platforms is that it is decentralised to allow consumers to interact directly with one another without third-party intermediaries (Séraphin et al., 2023). An emerging trend in this type of virtual community is that it offers the opportunity to establish and join groups of people who share specific offline characteristics or interests, such as an affinity for a specific fashion brand. The platform context of these virtual communities can be described as a service environment, because it provides a platform for members to receive support, share information and interact, which are all aspects of a service-oriented experience. While human behaviour in digital communities has been studied extensively over the past few years, offline characteristics of online content-based communities are still much less known (Guidi et al., 2020) and are empirically explored only in selected phygital studies (i.e. Batat, 2022a, 2022b). In the context of virtual communities that centre around buying and selling products, beyond the act of purchasing (Turunen et al., 2020), we know little about the fluid nature of online and offline consumer experiences. In the context of these virtual communities, there are multiple physical and intangible aspects of human-centred, community engagement, such as physical product exchanges and intangible service features that collide for individuals and the group collectively, making them an interesting phygital phenomenon to research. In this study, we explore the nature and impact of human-centric, phygital spaces by exploring a second-hand fashion virtual community dedicated to a luxury fashion brand. As we investigate tangible fashion, our phygital space of interest is one where digital and physical, service and product spheres collide for community members in their experience of the luxury brand.

Provided the exploratory nature of this study, considering the nature of the community and its impact on members, we conducted 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with participants. Semi-structured interviews are especially suitable for gaining a deep understanding of complex consumption experiences (Arnould and Thompson, 2005). These interviews explored the different aspects of the digital community as well as their engagement and perceived experiences being part of the community. Further, the interviews prompted participants to reflect on both their service and physical product experiences as well as their online and offline experiences. All participants were recruited via a user-initiated, members-only, virtual community dedicated to buying, selling and engaging with other members around one dedicated fashion brand. The brand is a large, well-established Australian fashion brand dedicated to luxury women’s clothing and apparel but had no direct or indirect involvement with the community. The brand also has no dedicated second-hand initiatives. The digital community is one of the largest user-initiated for this brand, with more than 50,000 members both in Australia and across the globe. To become a member of the community requires an established social media account of more than 12 months and agreeing to adhere to a set of membership rules set by the small group of administrators of the community.

All participants were recruited via a post on the community’s digital dashboard, inviting the community to take part in the research study. Prior to posting, the study was explained to, and an invitation was formally approved by all administrators of the community. Participants were sourced from the initial post by asking to either indicate their interest in responding to the post, to message the research team personally, or email/phone the team. These options allowed community members to take part in the study without necessarily being identified by the community. Of the 40 initial indications of interest, 26 posted in the community that they would like to participate and 14 communicated their interest via personal message. All members who indicated an interest in participating in the study were contacted personally via private message. A total of 30 participants were recruited to take part in the study, but 10 did not respond to the personal message after their initial communication to participate. The number of interviews is slightly higher than similar studies, which range from 10 to 26 interviews (e.g. Turunen et al., 2020). Similar to Murtas and Pedeliento (2025), after 22 interviews, theoretical saturation emerged; concepts began to converge, indicating that the data collection had captured the range of experiences and perspectives relevant to the study’s underlying research endeavour. We extended the interviews to be within recommended exploratory research and to allow all interested participants to take part. The additional eight interviews allowed for richer insights into converged concepts and topics.

Participants agreed to take part in the study via an in-depth information and consent form, which was emailed and verbalised at the beginning of each interview. In line with semi-structured interview guidelines (Berg and Lune, 2012), each interview was unique in its form but followed specific research topics centred around key themes. The interviews were conducted in English. The primary objective was to understand consumers’ Online and offline experiences in the community. Questions therefore centred chronologically around understanding of four topics:

• the participants’ journeys as part of the social media platform;

• the nature of and digital engagement experiences on the platform;

• the offline impact these experiences carry forward;

• to their relationship with the brand as well as; and

• into their personal lives and consumption habits.

The participants’ ages ranged from 25 to 57. The average age of the participant group was 41. A total of 7 participants were in their 50s, 12 participants in their 40s, 9 participants in their 30s and 2 participants were in their 20s. All but three participants were employed across a variety of industry sectors. A total of 28 participants were in Australia, and 2 lived overseas (USA). Most participants lived in urban locations across five Australian states, with the majority residing in QLD (n = 9), New South Wales (n = 8) and Victoria (n = 7). Four participants lived in South Australia (n = 2) and Western Australia (n = 2). Interviews were held via Microsoft Teams, Zoom or via phone. Phone interviews (n = 5) tended to be shorter than video interviews. Interviewees were prompted to go deeper in their responses, following a soft-laddering approach (Grunert and Grunert, 1995). Interviews ranged from 34 min to 1 h, with most interviews lasting 40–50 min. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Similar to other studies (Turunen et al., 2020; Murtas and Pedeliento, 2025), we followed Spiggle’s (1994) framework along categorisation, abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, integration, iteration and refutation. Throughout the data analysis, different themes emerged; these were coded, recoded and grouped again (Belk, Fisher, and Kozinets, 2013; Turunen et al., 2020).

Similar to Murtas and Pedeliento (2025) and leaning on a traditional, grounded research approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1998), we used thematic analysis to allow a deep interpretative understanding of the textual data. To maintain objectivity, all interviews were coded independently; this meant that in the initial stage, each interview was treated as a stand-alone narrative (Thompson, 1997). During this phase, first-order codes were generated, which reflected the raw, descriptive responses by the participants. Following, thematic commonalities across the interviews were identified through an intertextual analysis (Thompson, 1997). Through this analysis, second-order codes emerged, which integrated and abstracted the initial codes into broader themes, reflecting deeper patterns and relationships within the data. Critical themes include the virtual community itself, engagement via the community, brand relationship shaped via the community, as well as the impact of the community on the participants’ online and offline personal experiences. The findings are thus presented along the logic of the study’s research undertaking: We first introduce how participants perceived characteristics of and digital engagement through the virtual community, followed by the impact the community has on the participants’ online and offline experiences, including their perceptions of the brand. After that, we present the perceived impact the community has on participants’ personal lives and consumption habits. Figure 1 illustrates the findings along the emerged first-order and second-order codes, which represent the comprehensive digital and offline experiences of the participants with the community.

Participants varied in terms of when they joined the community: Half (n = 15) of the participants joined the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. All 15 participants voiced that it was a period where they found themselves spending a lot more time exploring digital media channels and purchasing online in general. The community allowed enjoying the brand in an “interactive form” in a period where the participants mentioned they felt isolated: “It was a really nice way to get away from the dire situation of being stuck at home with nowhere to go, not even the shops, it was the highlight of my days during a very lonely and scary time” (Participant 12, mid 40s). Of the remaining 15 participants, five joined the community seven years ago when it was founded. All had purchased the brand new prior to joining the community at that time. Another five participants joined the community either three or four years ago, and all joined the community as they were either searching for sold-out items or older styles of the brand no longer available on the brand’s website. The remaining five participants joined the community between 2 years ago and 8 months ago, either looking for sold-out styles or second-hand options to purchase the brand.

Participants generally emphasised the careful selection by the administration team about who can join the community, as an established Facebook account was required as well as agreeing to a lengthy and strict set of membership rules prior to joining. They all spoke about the multiple and strictly enforced community member rules, which make members feel like they are part of a “safe” and “genuine” environment. All participants felt that the administration team had expert knowledge about the brand, were actively appearing in the community in the form of posts and comments and did a thorough job in ensuring that only posts of genuine products of the brand appear as listings. Several participants also mentioned that they felt comfortable contacting the administration team when unsure about an item’s authenticity, suggested pricing and any other questions they may have. “I love that I can browse the community every day with endless choices of garments appearing literally every hour and I know they are all genuine, it’s like a website that has come alive and is constantly changing, it is amazing” (Participant 5, late 40s). The community has between 60 and 80 posts released per day, with the vast majority related to items for sale. The time spent browsing the community varied, with most participants (n = 24) spending time on the platform every day, between 15 min and 1 h on average, with an average of 30 min. For most of the 24 participants, browsing the community represented a major part of their time on social media spent per day. The remaining six participants either visited the community every second day or weekly. Most participants varied in their time spent on the platform depending on whether they searched for an item for an upcoming event or a special occasion, which exponentially increased their time spent on the platform up to two hours per day.

All but one participant recently purchased (and or sold) clothing items via the community (in the last three months). One participant purchased her last item 5 months ago. Of the 29 participants, 23 both buy and sell clothing items and six mainly purchase (but do not sell) via the community. Of the 23 who engage in both, 13 aim to buy and sell equal amounts on the platform, and 10 felt that they buy more than they sell. Reasons for buying more than selling were either emotional attachment to purchased items (n = 6) or building up their wardrobe as they had discovered the brand and community in more recent years (n = 4). The volume bought and sold for most participants was around 1–3 items per month (n = 23). Three participants bought and sold between 4 and 10 items per month, and four participants bought and sold 10 or more items per month.

All participants spoke positively about their engagement via the community in light of both buying and selling experiences, as well as general engagement with the community via posts or private messages with members from the community. “At first, I was curious about the brand when I joined the community, but it quickly became all about the community, it is simply a beautiful community of women, and the dresses are divine. We chat freely, we share sizing advice and pictures of us wearing the clothes, it feels like buying and selling in a big group of girlfriends” (Participant 18, early 40s). In terms of engagement, all participants spoke in detail about purchasing experiences via the community. Here, a seller’s reputation is of key importance as most (n = 26) participants re-purchased from a seller with whom they had a positive experience with and who is very active in contributing to the community. All participants also spoke about sellers’ description of items, seller’s communication and interaction relating to the sale, photos of wrapping, shipping time and the physical item received. In terms of physical aspects, the item’s general condition, cleanliness, folding and wrapping mattered to all participants. Eight participants also commented on the importance of the smell of the garment; it should smell fresh, clean and unworn (i.e. no perfume smell). “I bought a very special dress for a special occasion; dress was gorgeous, wrapped in delicate paper, and it smelled like heaven, which made me love it even more. I even messaged the seller and asked what laundry detergent she uses” (Participant 29, early 30s). Participants all favour sellers who spent effort in communicating and interacting with buyers through both online and offline. “I love it when the seller does an act of kindness. I purchased something recently and I loved it when I saw that the seller had added a bunch of perfume testers to the package, it was such a nice gesture when I unwrapped” (Participant 14, mid 40s). Personal communication and friendliness also add to a positive purchasing experience for all participants: “I love it when it feels like you are buying from a friend, its personal and special and you are buying something your friend loved and now you love it. So, the sale is not feeling like a transaction but a personal exchange between friends” (Participant 19, early 50s).

Five participants mentioned that positive buying experiences also occur when the seller communicates their own emotional attachment to the item. “I have always loved that dress so when it came up in the group, I gave myself permission to purchase the dress, it was still very expensive. It was a seller who adored her dress, but it didn’t fit her; there was a lot of demand for the dress, but she really just wanted it to go to someone who would love it and wear and not resell it. She asked me a lot of questions when I picked up the dress as she was worried about the dress, I even told her she could borrow it in the future. I still have the dress today and I treasure it so much” (Participant 26, late 20s). Three participants also commented that the buying experience through the community was more comfortable than through the physical stores of the brand. “I don’t feel that comfortable purchasing the brand in store, I don’t belong in these stores as I am shy; so, when I was able to chase the dress of my dreams for a very special occasion, the seller was very attentive and helpful and wanted to ensure all measurements were correct. She made me feel special and confident, I loved that shopping experience, and I would never have a genuine and personal experience like this in a store” (Participant 16, early 30s). They also commented that buying through a seller in the community, they could ask questions more freely: “I don’t feel that comfortable in the stores, I can’t ask questions freely, I can’t be myself; in the group with literally any seller, I can freely ask questions and mention my own body type, even my own body measurements, it so liberating” (Participant 4, early 40s). Three participants had preferred sellers in the community, from whom they mostly or almost exclusively purchase: “She just knows me so well, she knows what styles I like, and she knows my measurements better than I do! I trust this seller more than any store and when I don’t like something 100% that I bought from her, the seller even offers me a refund, which never happened, of course, but I love that I can trust her that much” (Participant 3, late 30s).

All 23 participants who also sell items sell them for either the same price or a lesser value. They generally mentioned that they sell the items for less than they bought them for, as they considered wearing the item as a reason for depreciation. All referred to the efforts they go through when preparing an item for sale, with most referring to their physical efforts of washing, pressing, folding and carefully wrapping the item. All referred to the urgency of shipping the items as fast as possible and communicating with the seller until the item is physically lodged at the post office. All selling participants mentioned that their favourite selling experiences are when a buyer sends feedback about the item, some referring fondly to receiving a photo of buyers wearing the item and/or receiving a message of appreciation from the buyer. “My favourite experiences are when someone loves my special pieces; sometimes it is really hard to part with pieces that I really loved and that I wore when a beautiful memory was created; It is really nice when I get feedback that someone loves the piece and I know it is ready to create new, special memories for and with someone else” (Participant 6, early 40s).

A total of 29 out of 30 participants mentioned that they would not love the brand the way they do without the community, which they all referred to as a “community”. Only one participant believed that she would love the brand just as much without being part of the community; this participant started purchasing the brand a decade before the community was established. For the other 29 participants, the community collectively reinforces the love for the brand in a way they wouldn’t otherwise experience; in addition to be able to own and wear a collection of garments they would otherwise not be able to afford, all participants spoke about the community fostering to wear older styles of the brand. In specific, the participants spoke about the community’s attention not being focussed on “new releases” but older styles and prints. Similar to other studies (Turunen et al., 2020), participants mentioned how they enjoy the “treasure hunts” for styles and prints that haven’t been around for years, which they all referred to as “unicorns”. “The community is key to our collective love for the brand. We decide which pieces we love; we openly discuss fabrics, cuts, and new styles. It is not about chasing new styles and new collections, we have equal fun trading older styles with one another. In fact, the most fun for many of us is hunting specific pieces that are hard to get” (Participant 18, early 40s). Participants praised the unique prints as well as the craftmanship and quality of the brand’s older items and referred to how many of them are priced in the community close to the original retail price. “We constantly celebrate older styles, which often feature better craftmanship than new pieces. The brand has many iconic styles from years ago and owning and wearing this sets you apart compared to chasing and wearing the new releases, so we are all happy to pay a premium price for these unicorns” (Participant 17, early 50s).

Interestingly, the majority (n = 22) of participants spoke about finding personal friendships via the community; some actively sought these friendships, others didn’t. “I’m surprised that true friendships have come out of this, and I actually speak to some of these women more than I speak to my existing friend community. We are literally constantly chatting. It has surprised me a lot actually…it’s not something I was seeking, it kind of just happened, and it’s just so nice having my friendship group from the community” (Participant 14, mid 40s). All participants who gained friends through the community refer to these as genuine friendships and highlight how these friendships have a positive impact on their well-being. Interestingly, of the 22 who found friendships, ten haven’t met their friends in person. Yet, there was no difference in how participants described the Online versus face-to-face friendships. The friendships are commonly described as complementary to the participants’ current friendship communities and family. The 22 participants who found friendships emphasised that they are able to talk about topics they usually cannot speak about with their current friend is and family, such as their own luxury fashion consumption and other consumer goods consumption. Half of them mentioned that they can freely talk about these topics without feeling judged, something they felt their other friends and family members tend to do. “These are “my girls”, these women are just like me, and I can be me around them in a way that I can’t be around my family or other friends. I love that I don’t need to hide what I buy or sell; I can proudly show off my favourite new purchases in front of these women and they are genuinely happy for me” (Participant 10, late 30s).

Participants also felt that they could celebrate their love for the brand mainly with friends found through the community: “I’ve got my friends that appreciate the clothes that I wear, but they’re never going to buy these things, spending this type of money on clothes is not for them and I feel uncomfortable talking about my purchases with them. However, with the friendships I formed through in the group, I feel comfortable and safe; we actually get together regularly; we can all wear our stupidly expensive dresses, bags, and shoes, and we just admire each other. And then, when we’re out in force, we have the time of our lives. This community bring together women from all paths of live for the love and celebration of high-end fashion” (Participant 12, early 40s). Nine participants also mentioned that they found conversations with friends gained through the community are more light-hearted and generally more positive than conversations with existing friends and family. “I have gained a group of women that see things similarly, we all just have fun together and talk about fluffy, happy stuff, which is so refreshing, especially after a hard and long week of work. It is nice to go out together and have fun” (Participant 15, late 40s). All participants who gained friendships also spoke about being able to openly share and give each other advice on other personal aspects of their lives, such as relationships, children, motherhood and their careers.

Of the eight participants who did not gain friendships through the community, three only joined the community in recent months; they all voiced that they were open to finding friendships via the community and that they were chatting frequently with members from the community via personal messages. Of the remaining five participants, three mentioned that they would appreciate finding friendships via the community, but that due to their shy persona, they had only developed personal relationships with some sellers, but could not consider them friendships yet. Two participants did not seek and had not built friendships via the community but mentioned that they share personal interactions with community members outside of buying or selling interactions.

Although describing different aspects of consumption, all 30 participants stated that they consume fashion in a circular and sustainable way. All participants stated that they never have and would never throw a clothing item of the brand into landfill, no matter how damaged the item might be. Participants spoke about either trying to fix damaged items or altering them for reuse. “I have this merino-blend jumper, I think it has 8 holes by now, one is large, the size of 10-cent piece; I have searched many videos and I know that there are clever people overseas who can do secret stitching for such wholes, so I keep investigating as I really would like the jumper to be repaired. I will search until I find a fix, I would never throw it away. No matter how damaged, I hold onto my items, and I will probably hold onto them forever, out of principle of not throwing them” (Participant 12, early 40s). “Once I got a damaged item gifted from a seller, her dog had apparently bitten into the fabric. My favourite seamstress was able to mend it, so it is perfectly fine to wear; it was a win-win for me as I gained a beautiful garment and saved it from being chucked away” (Participant 17, early 50s).“I have a damaged dress, and it has a massive stain that won’t come out; I will just wear it at home, it is my pretty-at-home cooking dress” (Participant 24, late 30s). “One of my dresses has a large stain that can’t be removed, it was a permanent marker right in the bust section of the dress…I am thinking of getting something else made out of the fabric, I love the fabric so much and would never throw it” (Participant 21, early 30s). Most participants (n = 20) spoke about reselling undamaged items once they decide to part with them and adjust the price depending on the condition of the item. Almost half (n − 13) spoke about gifting items that they wore a lot to friends and family members, and four participants considered giving items that were damaged or in fair condition to a thrift store. “I don’t throw things; my collection is part of who I am. When I am done wearing the pieces, they are for my family and friends to enjoy rather than selling, I gift them and see the people I love enjoy the pieces” (Participant 23, early 40ies).

The majority of the women (n = 23) spoke about how they used to be more wasteful in both the volume of fashion they bought and how the volume they donated to thrift stores before joining the community. The other seven participants said that they had grown up in and have always considered themselves as sustainable and even “frugal” (n = 4) fashion consumers. “I don’t like to throw things away. I come from a frugal background where you just don’t wear something once and throw it away. I need it to have another purpose. You know, I’m a big recycler of even my rubbish and all that sort of thing, so it’s already very much inbuilt in me” (Participant 12, early 40s). All participants feel that because of purchasing the brand through the community, they experienced a significant reduction in the volume of clothing items they purchase. In addition to buying less, all participants spoke about experiencing a general reduction in buying cheaper fast-fashion, with only two participants mentioning that they occasionally purchase cheaper, new items. “Since joining the community 2 years ago, instead of buying lots of cheaper, other clothes, I only buy this brand, and I wear it every single day. In the past, I have given many items to thrift stores and even thrown away items; now, when I am done wearing something or an item doesn’t fit, I on-sell it and I know someone else will love it” (Participant 18, early 40s). Most participants (n = 26) specifically spoke about their love for “slow fashion” as opposed to “fast-fashion” and that the community fuels this trend. “I get physically sick to see cheap clothing getting produced for quick consumption and then dumped into landfill, I want to have nothing to do with this type of fashion production or consumption, I despise it” (Participant 27, early 50s). “I don’t want to contribute to a culture of fast consumption. This is why buying cheap is not something I chase, I buy quality items, and I am happy to pay a higher price for them. I love slow fashion, fashion that lasts, fashion that I get to re-wear and that takes me through special times of my life” (Participant 21, early 30s).

Participants also spoke about how being part of the community has changed their attitude towards second-hand fashion consumption: “Prior to being part of the group, I have never done second-hand purchasing. Being part of the community has really changed my entire purchasing behaviour and attitude, the quality of the luxury pieces sold in this community are superb, they are in pristine and often even in new condition” (Participant 3, late 30s). “Being part of this group has definitely made me more aware of the second-hand market as well, I think just knowing that other people would be interested in items I have in my wardrobe, even if it’s second-hand. I think it’s changed that perception within society that, hey, it’s actually okay to have something second-hand. It doesn’t always have to be a hand-me-down from a family member… it can actually be something really special that someone else in the community gets to love and wear something that you once loved” (Participant 11, early 30s).

Batat (2026) recently encouraged scholars to explore phygital phenomena through service models that prioritise human centricity, inclusive and holistic innovation, systemic resilience and sustainability. Extending research streams of transformative services and positive luxury, our study explored a unique phygital service setting that displays these elements. Our study, therefore, extends the application of TSR and TLR to PSR through a human-centric, phygital, second-hand luxury clothing community governed by consumers. Importantly, and part of the PSR paradigm, Batat (2026) also recently highlighted that the notion of “human” extends beyond consumers in modern, phygital ecosystems and the human experience should be at the centre in these spaces. Responding to our research questions, we find that the virtual community we investigated can fulfil a positive human experience through meaningful digital interactions, physical product exchanges and deep human connections that members create with each other through a consumer co-created and governed, sustainable service eco-system.

Consumers increasingly turn to second-hand, digital platforms for buying and selling luxury items. Our study provides valuable insights into consumers’ journeys on a phygital, decentralised consumption platform, from its governance, relational exchanges and engagements on the platform, to the positive offline impact the platform can have on consumers’ relationships with a luxury brand, with others and their physical product consumption. The community is therefore an important example of how decentralised, second-hand, phygital ecosystems reshape traditional luxury value creation through human-centric service experiences that are tailored to human needs, emotions and behaviours [these are experiences highlighted as core principles of PSR (Batat, 2026)]. Applying PSR and building on TLR, the findings thus both challenge and extend traditional service marketing assumptions (Grönroos, 2024) as they show how luxury experiences are created, governed and sustained in these modern, phygital spaces without any direct involvement of brands.

In terms of governance, our findings suggest that the community’s transparency and assurance regarding authenticity is of great importance to members’ experience and purchasing behaviour on the Online platform. Administrators’ brand expertise and governance of ethical conduct are also key to the “felt”, save environment by members. Further, our study suggests that community rules and netiquette are also important features of members’ experience on the platforms and guide the collective, positive experience of engaging with one another and experiencing the brand. The unique set-up of the virtual community in our study (membership-based, managed by dedicated administration, one-luxury-brand dedication, strict community rules) fosters positive experiences beyond the actual purchasing (and selling) experience. These elements could therefore be a reason why existing studies have found mixed experiences of consumers of other, dedicated buy-sell platforms, whereas this study largely finds positive experiences: Based on their findings, Murtas and Pedeliento (2025) suggest that consumers on second-hand platforms often find themselves disappointed in the post-purchase phase and to have the sought-after purchasing experience they desire, they wish that luxury brands will establish their own second-hand channels. Consumers in our study desire (and some even prefer) the personal and one-on-one service experience with sellers in the community compared to purchasing the item in a physical store. Purchasing experiences in the community of our study are administered by formal governance rules, but at the same time, foster intimate, luxury purchasing experiences between sellers and buyers.

Consumers’ purchasing experiences represented only part of more holistic, fluid experiences reaching from Online to Offline environments. Our findings thus add to modern theories on customer experience in that communities as studied here can shift the locus of experiencing luxury from brand-controlled, purchasing environments to consumer-governed, phygital service eco-systems that reach from purchase and digital engagement to the personal, physical consumption experiences of these items - a phenomenon termed “hybrid embodiment” by Batat (2026) recently. The findings also indicate that beyond the benefits of buying and selling, phygital, human-centred communities, such as the one in this study, have the potential to foster a community that creates positive human connections through fashion. Even though the relationship between friendship and well-being has been extensively studied in children (e.g. Holder and Coleman, 2015), adult friendships and their benefits remain much less understood because of the constantly changing life periods we enter in adulthood (Pezirkianidis et al., 2023). Adult friendships have been found to positively correlate with personal well-being aspects and fulfil the fundamental human need for social interaction (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). Our findings, therefore, suggest that these phygital communities can lead to personal friendships between members, which confirms another recent call for PSR to take a human-first, not technology-first, approach (Batat, 2026). In fact, our findings suggest that friendships formed through the community are unique as they contribute to personal well-being in ways that existing friendships and family members cannot. As a result, these friendships formed fulfil eudaimonic as well as social elements of well-being (Ryff, 1989), which are related to our authenticity as well as our desire for social intimacy, respectively.

Confirming similar research (Cervellon et al., 2012) but being uniquely situated in this study’s context, our study also suggests that being part of second-hand luxury consumer groups fosters more circular fashion consumption as well as overall sustainable product consumption. All participants in this study were distinctively aware of not wanting to add to landfill and voiced their conscious efforts to be a circular and sustainable consumer, which suggests that luxury fashion consumption is driven by eco-consciousness and even frugality (Turunen and Leipämaa-Leskinen, 2015). The findings also suggest that second-hand luxury fashion drives consumers to own more expensive, but fewer clothing items, which slows down overall fashion consumption. Also, the results confirm that high-quality fashion items have a longer consumption life span than cheaper, fast-fashion clothing.

Overall, our study provides a unique showcase of a modern human-centric, phygital services ecosystem. The user-initiated, service environment represents a phygital service space that creates luxury, meaningful, human-centric services marketing among consumers without any brand involvement. Research argues that rather than just understanding them, meaningfulness relates to the importance once attributed to solutions (such as goods and services) (Schauman, 2022; Rosso et al., 2010). Members in the community perceive the service environment they co-create as meaningful; it represents a place of helping one another and thus has meaning in the participants’ lives (this is similar to findings by Rosso et al., 2010). By being meaningful, goods and services exchanged in the community provide purpose and coherence for members, which in turn creates a sense of belonging to something worthwhile (Martela and Steger, 2016). The community fosters belonging through individual and collective, positive online and offline behaviours and experiences around service engagement and physical product exchanges. Ultimately, it allows members to develop online and face-to-face human connections and friendships with one another and to collectively foster more conscious fashion consumption.

Our study is one of the first to respond to Batat’s (2026) recent call for sector-specific applications of PSR. Theoretically, the study combined the research streams of PSR, TLR and TSR. Confirming modern transformative service research (TSR) in a PSR research setting, our findings show how fluid, digital and physical service and product interactions, exchanges and experiences between service consumers lead to positive well-being outcomes of these consumers individually and as a community. Our study also adds to TLR: The phygital service community of our study is situated in the luxury fashion industry but not in a traditional, brand-governed context. Our study reveals how a second-hand luxury, phygital service space can lead to positive Online and Offline physical product experiences, which ultimately lead to positive well-being outcomes.

Therefore, our study first and foremost adds to recent calls to apply PSR, as we empirically illustrate a physical-digital service ecosystem that drives meaningful, positive transformation for human stakeholders. Specifically, the community itself acts as a digital service provider offering a safe infrastructure for members to interact, share meaningful experiences with one another and exchange physical products. At the same time, this service community has multiple, human-centric offline effects, including fostering brand loyalty, personal friendships and circular, physical product consumption. Our study thus showcases how human-centric, online services around physical products can be successfully delivered and consumed in phygital spaces. More specifically, our findings show how a phygital service community centred around second-hand luxury clothing can improve the quality of life for individuals and groups. These findings extend existing research on service ecosystems in the second-hand luxury market. Marketing studies to date largely focus on the Online purchasing experience of customers; however, we gained a more holistic understanding of the digital and physical impact such a community can have on its ecosystem, including the customer as a central actor. Such a service ecosystem is multi-dimensional and dynamic as governance, trust, relational exchange, identity reinforcement and belonging interact and reinforce one another through hybrid environments for deeply personal and positive outcomes. In line with recent researchers, we thus propose that through these phygital, consumer-governed communities, consumers can shape their own, authentic connection with a brand and themselves.

Our study also combines PSR with TLR in meaningful ways. The findings empirically confirm the concept of positive luxury (Batat, 2022a, 2022b) in the setting of a phygital, second-hand luxury consumer group: Second-hand virtual communities as experienced by participants in this study, can create a positive relationship between luxury fashion and well-being outcomes - these evolve through positive online experiences, as well as online and offline friendships and conscious fashion consumption. Indeed, our findings provide rich insights into how positive luxury can be experienced by examining it from a more holistic and consumer-centred experience (which reaches well beyond the act of purchasing). They suggest how digital, second-hand luxury fashion has the potential to shift from being a mere physical possession to a meaningful source for well-being. Research on creating luxury experiences – and positive luxury – has been largely written from the eyes of brands; however, our study suggests that they can also be created, governed and sustained by consumers in positive and impactful ways.

The findings of our study propose that second-hand luxury consumers can create phygital service environments that allow for meaningful personal and collective experiences that drive positive consumption patterns and sustained brand loyalty – without any direct involvement of luxury brands. There are important missed opportunities for fashion brands by not directly engaging with and learning from these communities. This leads to actionable guidance for luxury brands: First, by engaging with these communities, brands could learn from consumers about preferred styles and prints over time, fabric durability and which items hold their market value in the second-hand market. These are all essential elements for creating future fashion designs and decisions around retail pricing (Lin, 2019). Moreso, the amount second-hand goods sell for shapes the perceived symbolic and financial value of luxury products (Turunen et al., 2020). Consequently, the more attractive and efficient a second-hand market becomes, it can spur on second-hand consumers to be more willing to purchase new luxury items as their items hold value (Chu and Liao, 2010; Liao and Chu, 2013). Therefore, luxury brands can identify second-hand buyers who could be direct luxury clients, but who are not served by the brand in a way these clients desire their personal purchasing experiences to be (i.e. the participants in our study who do not feel comfortable in the brand’s physical stores). Understanding what these consumers desire would allow brands to create services and experiences that allow meaningful engagement with these consumers.

Additionally, the community in our study has strict authentication processes, hence preserving the authenticity of the brand in the second-hand market through a formal governance structure in the community. Being more directly involved with (or even assisting with authentication) administration from these communities would allow insights into counterfeit products and more control for luxury brands over authenticating products sold in the second-hand market. Also, by understanding the purchasing behaviours of consumer communities like the one in this study, brands could gain valuable insights into how consumers prefer to purchase Online as the purchasing experience in the community is perceived as a premium (and for some an even preferred) experience. Fashion brands could also learn how consumers in these communities engage with their products offline and where and how they consume them (i.e. how consumers accessorise clothing items, what type of events consumers wear the products, etc.).

In sum, understanding the product cycle beyond the purchasing phase will provide insights into how fashion is embodied through consumption. Second-hand, consumer ecosystems may thus function as critical customer experience touchpoints at different stages in the product consumption cycle. We thus urge luxury brands to take a second look at the second-hand consumer market and find new ways to acknowledge these consumers with a more privileged status of luxury clients of their brand: Their journeys individually and collectively could have a profound impact on the brand’s services marketing around well-being and sustainability, which could be core elements of meaningful marketing for fashion brands. Therefore, the time has come for fashion brands to find ways to be a meaningful part of these genuine communities and appreciate the brand’s relevance and impact on consumers’ lives.

The findings in this study, therefore, also have important social implications. They propose how decentralised second-hand ecosystems can reshape traditional luxury value creation and create positive, luxury experiences that are created, controlled and sustained by consumers rather than brands. Also, our results suggest that through virtual, second-hand luxury clothing communities, clothing can extend to be more than a mere luxury possession: It traverses into impacting other parts of consumers’ lives, including creating new friendships driven by brand communities and more circular and sustainable consumption habits. This study therefore shows how second-hand fashion, virtual communities dedicated to fashion brands (without any involvement of brands) can lead to meaningful individual and community experiences that connect members to both the brand and other members, hence providing not only social access but also social belonging. These communities can have a profound, positive impact on consumers’ personal lives that lead to more sustainable, circular fashion consumption. Communities like the one in this study can spur on “slow, second-hand fashion” as opposed to “new, fast-fashion” trends and motivate consumers to start having genuine, long-lasting relationships with their garments - through “positive luxury” (Batat, 2022a).

This study provides several significant contributions to the thriving field of second-hand luxury in phygital service environments. It combined several research lenses and disciplines, including TSR, PSR, TLR and modern services marketing to qualitatively examine second-hand, luxury consumers in digital communities. While the findings make important theoretical and managerial implications, quantitative research methodologies, including more (and other types of) digital communities and groups, as well as other luxury brands and consumer goods, would allow more insights into the online and offline engagement and experiences of consumers. Also, whilst we gained consumers lived experiences through in-depth interviews at a point in time, longitudinal studies could better grasp how consumers experiences and behaviours in these communities evolve over time.

In addition, for this study, we build on “transformative service” and “positive luxury” research, making our theoretical exploration into the research setting and community studied inherently optimistic. Future service marketing research could explore similar communities from different service and marketing research angles. Also, whilst not prompted, community members who chose to participate in the study were potentially more likely to speak about positive experiences as they all were actively engaged in the community. Members with less positive experiences could be less engaged with the community and less likely to take part in a study about the community. Future research could also specifically focus on less favourable experiences to capture other experiences and outcomes of a community like the one we explored (e.g. by focusing on potential consumer paradoxes, tensions, status hierarchies and exclusion dynamics).

Overall, this study highlights that in the absence of direct brand involvement, second-hand consumer groups can poly-create their own meaningful relationships with a brand and extend these into phygital, human-centric communities that influence well-being and lead to more sustainable fashion consumption. This suggests that transformative services (Rosenbaum and Russell-Bennett, 2021) and positive luxury (Batat, 2022a, 2022b) can be co-created and experienced by and for consumers through phygital, second-hand fashion communities. This study is therefore a timely reminder that all consumers should matter to brands as “the consumers, not the company is in the middle. […] Companies evolve around the customer, not the other way around” (Keith, 1960, p.35).

This research was conducted as part of the American Phygital Association Summit 2025, sponsored by the American Institute of Business Experience Design (AIBXD) – New York. The submitted research was not funded, and there are no conflicts of interest to declare. The author sincerely appreciates the valuable feedback provided by anonymous reviewers and editors on earlier versions of this work.