Customer Journeys in Fashion: From Linear to Multilevel

This book explores emerging and alternative customer journeys in fashion. Customer journeys are typically defined by decision-making in three stages, pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase that have a well-ordered, linear sequence. However, the influence of digital technologies, social media and other macro factors, has created a different and more complex variety of journeys.

The first section begins with a review of the stages of the journey and current research that challenges its linearity, taking a management perspective through the lenses of retail, digital and social media. The second section has a consumer perspective, recognising the increasing agency of consumers to determine their shopping journey that questions conventional assumptions about producers and consumers, sellers and customers. The third section examines three themes, the conceptualisation of customer journeys, ethical problems and the connection between customer journeys and sustainability. The book concludes by looking forward to a constellation of different journeys.