Smartphones and Digital Customer’s Journey

The digital customer’s journey is characterised by many more ‘touchpoints’ (digital triggers and influences) than the conventional customer’s journey, for example, websites, chatbots, social media content and blogs, which help shape the shopper’s journey and inform their ultimate purchase decision. With increasingly widespread use of digital technologies, digital touchpoints extend beyond digital channels and ultimately influence purchase decisions before, during and after the shopping encounter. It is therefore imperative for marketers within the fashion industry to examine how the evolution of smartphones has influenced digital customer behaviours and choices in recent times. Mobile phone technology was initially used for communication purposes but has recently advanced to include additional features that have created a larger market, which has altered the purchase behaviours of customers. Smartphones to a large extent have redefined our identities and remodelled our perspectives on the online customer’s journey and shopping experience; hence, this chapter aims to provide insights for marketers and scholars in the development of marketing plans that consider digital customer interactivity with brands in a commercial and social context at each stage of the digital customer’s journey.