Identifying Brand-Owned Touchpoints Along the Digital Retail Customer Journey: A Practical Approach

Today’s brick-and-mortar retail is struggling to stay competitive when compared to e-commerce. However, with a new form of retail emerging, which makes use of modern day technology to drive sales and offers unique customer experiences, the playing field seems to level out. Nevertheless, in this so-called “digital retail”, the number of touchpoints customers can encounter is constantly increasing due to the connection of online and offline customer journeys. To make use of sales-enhancing touchpoints, retailers require a comprehensive overview of brand-owned touch-points along the digital retail customer journey, as these are the touchpoints retailers are able to influence. The authors propose an approach that uses focus groups in combination with the creative techniques World Café, Channel CARDS, instant polls, and instant word clouds to gain a comprehensive overview of brand-owned touchpoints along the digital retail customer journey.