Customer Journeys in Fashion

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. Anthony M. Kent is Professor of Fashion Marketing in the Nottingham School of Art and Design. His has published widely in fashion, retail and design with a focus on the convergence of physical and online worlds in fashion retail and the emerging concepts of personalisation and sustainable fashion. Anne Peirson-Smith, PhD is Professor of Fashion, School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Northumbria University. She teaches and researches fashion marketing communication and management and sustainable fashion, with an industry background in branding and public relations. She has published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on fashion marketing and communicating sustainable fashion. Dr Yuri Siregar is Director of Student Education, and Lecturer in Fashion Marketing and Brand Design at the School of Design, University of Leeds. A former Creative Director in advertising, his research focuses on consumer experiences in physical and digital spaces, emphasising people-centred atmospherics design.