{"id":115459,"date":"2026-11-11T18:46:58","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T17:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/industry-science.com\/?post_type=article&p=115459"},"modified":"2026-11-11T18:47:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T17:47:55","slug":"identifying-brand-owned-touchpoints-along-the-digital-retail-customer-journey","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/industry-science.com\/en\/articles\/identifying-brand-owned-touchpoints-along-the-digital-retail-customer-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Identifying Brand-Owned Touchpoints Along the Digital Retail Customer Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s brick-and-mortar retail is struggling to stay competitive when \u00a0compared to e-commerce. However, with a new form of retail emerging, which \u00a0makes use of modern day technology to drive sales and offers unique customer \u00a0experiences, the playing field seems to level out. Nevertheless, in this so-called \u00a0\u201cdigital retail\u201d, the number of touchpoints customers can encounter is constantly increasing due to the connection of online and offline customer journeys. To \u00a0make use of sales-enhancing touchpoints, retailers require a comprehensive overview of brand-owned touch-points along the digital retail customer journey, \u00a0as these are the touchpoints retailers are able to influence. The authors propose \u00a0an approach that uses focus groups in combination with the creative techniques \u00a0World Caf\u00e9, Channel CARDS, instant polls, and instant word clouds to gain a \u00a0comprehensive overview of brand-owned touchpoints along the digital retail \u00a0customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department store revenue peaked in 2001 and plunged by 36% until 2018 [1\u20133].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, e-commerce revenue for 2018 grew 15% worldwide compared to 2017 \u00a0adding up to \u20ac1,617,053 million [4]. Looking at these numbers, it becomes evident that \u00a0today\u2019s brick-and-mortar retail is facing a significant challenge to stay competitive with \u00a0e-commerce. Retailers facing this challenge are engaging in a new form of retail called \u201cdigital retail\u201d which makes use of modern-day technology, such as smartphones, to drive sales and offer unique customer experiences superior to pure online customer experiences. For example, it is argued that the use of smartphones can drive brick-and-mortar store sales by providing an augmented and personalized customer experience or that mobile payments can lead to a more streamlined and efficient shopping experience \u00a0[5\u20138]. In fact, a literature review done by Zimmermann et al. [9] identified 29 smartphone-based sales influencers, most of which, according to literature, have a \u00a0positive influence on sales in brick-and-mortar stores. However, in a digital retail setting, the amount of touchpoints customers can encounter is constantly increasing as \u00a0it combines online and offline customer journeys [10]. According to Lemon and \u00a0Verhoef [10], touchpoints comprise every individual contact between retailer and \u00a0customer. In other words, every time a retailer interacts with a customer or vice versa \u00a0constitutes a touchpoint. Consequently, not every touchpoint along the digital retail \u00a0customer journey is equally important for retailers [11]. In order to make use of sales-enhancing touchpoints, retailers require a comprehensive overview of at least all brand-owned touchpoints along the digital retail customer journey [10]. Following Lemon and \u00a0Verhoef [10], this paper defines brand-owned touchpoints as customer contact points \u00a0(e.g., advertising, websites, loyalty programs, etc.) which are designed and managed by \u00a0retailers only and thus are under their control. Consequently, they present accessible \u00a0customer contact points which can be changed or altered by retailers in a sale enhancing \u00a0way. To gain a comprehensive overview of brand-owned touchpoints along the digital \u00a0retail customer journey, the authors propose an approach that incorporates focus groups supported by the creative techniques World Caf\u00e9, Channel CARDS, instant polls, and \u00a0instant word clouds. We define comprehensive as a state in which the retailer\u2019s \u00a0employees are unable to identify additional brand-owned touchpoints, which, according \u00a0to Saunders et al. [12], represents a state of data saturation. Consequently, the authors \u00a0want to answer the following research question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I: Does our approach lead to a data-saturated overview of brand-owned touchpoints  along the digital retail customer journey of an action fashion retailer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

II: How can an overview of brand-owned touchpoints, gained by our approach, be used  to support business decision making of an action fashion retailer?        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper is structured in the following way: First, the paper presents the current state \u00a0of customer journey mapping techniques upon which this paper builds. Next, we \u00a0present a concept of how our approach can be used to gain a comprehensive overview \u00a0of brand-owned touchpoints along the digital retail customer journey. Subsequently, the expected limitations of the proposed approach are explained. The paper culminates \u00a0in an explanation of the expected scientific and managerial contributions and presents \u00a0opportunities for future research.<\/p>\n

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