Digital Transformation and Retail Resilience: An Ethnographic Study of Moroccan Marketplaces, 2020–2026

The retail sector in North Africa faces significant pressure from global e-commerce platforms and shifting consumer behaviours. Traditional marketplaces, central to the region's socio-economic fabric, require deeper understanding of their adaptive strategies during periods of accelerated technological change. This study investigates how digital transformation processes are enacted within traditional retail environments, specifically examining the mechanisms of resilience and adaptation among merchant communities. A six-year ethnographic study was conducted, employing participant observation, in-depth interviews, and digital trace analysis within three major traditional marketplaces. The research documented the daily practices and strategic discourses of 47 merchant households. A key theme was the emergence of a hybrid retail model, blending physical presence with digital outreach. Notably, approximately 70% of observed merchants integrated social media platforms for customer engagement and sales, yet deliberately maintained their physical stalls as centres for trust-building and complex negotiation. Digital transformation in this context is not a linear shift from physical to digital, but a complex, culturally-embedded process of bricolage, where new tools are adapted to reinforce traditional merchant-customer relationships and spatial practices. Policymakers and business support organisations should develop initiatives that bolster digital literacy while preserving the physical infrastructure of marketplaces. Financial products should be designed to support hybrid business models, not solely pure e-commerce ventures. digital transformation, retail resilience, ethnographic study, hybrid business models, North Africa, marketplace, socio-technical systems This paper provides a novel, longitudinal ethnographic dataset and analysis of micro-level adaptation strategies, demonstrating how resilience is enacted through the situated hybridisation of digital and physical retail practices.