Digital Journey of Next Direct

The Next Direct is a online shopping platform that targets customers under the age of 45 who are comfortable using advanced technology. The company's website provides detailed product information, exciting schemes to attract customers, and strong social media presence. However, the site also features distracting pop-up advertisements that can be annoying for customers. To improve customer experience, the Next Direct should consider stopping the use of these pop-ups and allowing customers to revisit a page without losing their progress if they leave it stagnant.

Running Head: MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY
mapping consumer digital journey
[Document subtitle]

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Background............................................................................................................................................2
Industry..................................................................................................................................................2
Target market........................................................................................................................................3
Purchase process.........................................................................................................................................3
a. Problem/recognition......................................................................................................................3
c. Evaluation......................................................................................................................................4
d. Purchase decision...........................................................................................................................4
e. Post purchase behavior.................................................................................................................5
Mapping the digital journey........................................................................................................................5
Critical analysis of the customer experience...............................................................................................6
Recommendation........................................................................................................................................6

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 2
Introduction
The report contains the analysis of the mapping of digital consumer journey while buying a
men's product or service (men’s casual T-shirt) from the company i.e. "Next Direct Australia."
Background
Next Direct is the famous brand of the Australia which has been chosen for analyzing the
mapping of the digital journey of the consumer while purchasing the men’s product and cloths
relied on the services which the company provides online. Since the commencement of the
company, it offers various products like shirts, jackets, hoodies, accessories, shoes, etc. for men
and women and the company also offers products for the new born babies and the kids till the
age of 16. The products for the kids are label boys and girls, sleep suits and bags, chalkboard,
etc. The Next Direct is different from the other companies which provides online services as it
provides products for the new born babies and the kids till the age of 16. The company provides
standard delivery of the products as it promises to deliver the products within 3 to 5 working
days ("Women's, Men's & Children's Clothing | Next: Australia," 2016). The concept of
providing online services and products is very unique. The competitions of the Next Direct are
City Beach and ASOS. The company provides products and services to almost all the locations
in Australia. The services of the Next Direct are very effective and efficient, and the consumers
get completely satisfied with the products. None of them complaints about the delivery of the
products. The company has the advanced development of the technology which is flexible in
nature. The customers are more comfortable in placing the orders with the help of their
smartphones, and they don't have to visit the store to pick up the order. The product gets
delivered at their place, and this saves the time as well. Therefore, people are more comfortable
in doing online shopping rather than personally visiting the stores (Solomon, M. R. 2014). The
research showed that 50 percent of the revenue was generated through online shopping between
the years 2014-2016. However, for the purpose of this report, the focus will be on the men’s
products/cloths.
Industry
The Next Direct adapted the change of technology in order to improve their products and
services to attract more customers and retain the existing ones. The Next Direct Australia has
also adopted the change of the industry for the better options. Earlier, the customers were afraid
of online shopping as they had a fear that they will not get the desired and appropriate product

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 3
and the money would get wasted, and the delivery of products would take longer time. If they
would not like the product then how they would exchange it. All these questions were in the
minds of the customers and they didn't pay more attention towards the online shopping. But now,
people are more comfortable in online shopping, and the Next Direct has contributed so much in
eradicating the fear of customers (Wylie, S. M., 2014). The company has great policies for the
refund and exchange of the products if the customer doesn’t like the product. The products are
exchanged within a time frame of 10-15 days. The other companies like City Beach and ASOS
also have the finest policies for the refund and exchange of products but they focus less on
customer loyalty. They are more concerned about the profitability. Whereas, Next Direct is more
concerned about building relations with the customers in order to retain them.
The change in the behavior of consumers has led to remodeling the businesses like Next Direct
which provides men’s product and services to the customers through online. The company
provides all the relevant information of each and every product on the website like what material
is used, how it can be washed, etc. This phase has an eloquent online presence while
participating in the process as the customers are demanded to clear the option of ‘good choice’ as
it is a step before the option of the payment.
Target market
The target market of the Next Direct is the people who are below the age of 45 and are
comfortable in using advanced technology. The Next Direct also targets the kids till the age of
16. They have fascinating men products. The results showed that men purchase more than
women from the Next Direct through online. The Next Direct targets this market in order to
increase the efficiency and effectiveness.
Purchase process
a. Problem/recognition
It is very important for the customers to identify the need in order to participate in the conception
of the service (Armstrong et al., 2014). This can be done by going through the advertisement and
promotional activities of the company. By this step, the customer will be able to engage i.e. the
first touch point of the interaction between the customer and the company through awareness.
Being an individual, I am technology savvy and I fall in the target market of the Next Direct. As
I am more conscious about the brands so I went through the products which the company is

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 4
offering and the information which was given on the website for each product helped me in
elaborating my awareness about the various brands. This engaged my attention towards the
information of men’s clothing.
b. Information
The next step is the information and this is also a touch point for engagement and awareness. The
process of information is unfolding and imposing the various products which are shown on the
website and getting satisfaction in the first phase i.e. engagement which led the customer to give
responses to the various promotional activities. The website of the Next Direct consists various
push promotions and advertisements that pop ups on the screen when we open the website. These
pop-ups should be eliminated to continue the shopping. Being a customer, sometimes we are not
aware of the options which pop-ups on the website and by clicking those options we might get
effected. This leads to the touch point i.e. engagement of customers because the customer is
looking the website in order to view and get the given and relevant information. Being an
individual, I actively engaged to the website of the Next Direct in order to discover more
information about my favorite brands as I am the brand freak.
c. Evaluation
As the company provides online products and services, there is high risk and involvement in the
company as there are many competitors which provide similar products and services through
online. The customer can easily assess another company in order to get the best product with the
low cost and best facilities (Malik et al., 2013). It is also possible that the consumer will
discontinue the engagement and shutdown the browser and the evaluation can be done by
evaluating the products which the customers wants to purchase. The various factors which
consumers would like to consider are the schemes which are given with the products, for
example, if the customer buys two casual T- shirts for men then he will get a free T-shirt with it
and if the customer purchases three T-shirts, then he will get a discount of 10 percent. Being a
customer, I evaluated such schemes which satisfy my clothing desires. The Next Direct provides
very useful schemes.
d. Purchase decision
The purchase is the next touch point in which the decision takes place when the consumer choose
the product which they want to purchase (Quinton et al., 2016). In the case of online shopping,

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 5
when the customer chooses the particular product on the website then they are directly directed
to the options of delivery of products and the customers are supposed to give their personal
information like name, address, etc. After that, the customer can give some specifications for
their particular order until the product is dispatched. Being a costumer, I selected men's casual T-
shirt and after selecting it, I was directed to the options of delivery and pick up then I confirmed
the option of delivery and also gave my personal details and further I continued with the order. In
the option of payment mode, I chose the mode of PayPal payment to convoy my decision of
purchase.
e. Post purchase behavior
The next touch point is the re-engagement for the journey of the consumer and the re-
engagement takes place post purchase (Moran et al., 2014). Being a consumer, when I submitted
the order for Next Direct, the tools of re-engagement were promulgated in order to give options
in developing and making a relation post purchase. There was an option that whether you want to
get the updates through e-mail or your contact number. There was also an option of social media
to get connected to the website. There was also an option to make an account in order to know
the combination of the order. I selected the option of social media in order to remain connected
with the latest products of the Next Direct and also get the notifications about the days on which
the company offers various beneficial schemes for the customers.
Mapping the digital journey

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 6
Critical analysis of the customer experience
The Next Direct has collected a base for the customer loyalty and recognition. The company uses
various marketing tool in order to promote the business. The company uses Facebook and also
provide various products on the page of the Facebook and gets the feedback of the customers in
order to improve the services. The company has a very strong presence on the platform of social
media.
Being a customer, the areas which I like the most about the company are- the complete
information is available on the website as the description under the image of the product. The
information is very relevant and to the point. The company offers various exciting schemes in
order to attract the customers. The company also have great policies regarding the refund and
exchange of products. The company gives the option to track the combination of the product by
creating an account.
There are some distractions on the website as well which being a customer I didn't like. There are
pop-ups of the advertisements which kept on distracting me while I was selecting the product

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 7
and after some time I felt annoyed. It was not given on the website that the clicking on these pop-
ups is safe or not. The other problem was I left the page of the website stagnant for 2-3 minutes
and then I was supposed to select the product again and I repeated the procedure. This made me
feel annoyed because I had to enter all the details again and it took so much time to repeat the
process.
Recommendation
There is some recommendation for the Next Direct in order to engage the customers which are as
follows:
 In order to avoid distractions and engage more customers, the next Direct should stop
using the pop-ups in order to advertise the company. These pop-ups make the customers
annoyed and they start losing interest in placing the order. The company should not force
the customers to buy the customer but the pop ups show that the company is pressurizing
the customers to see the advertisement every now and then. If the company stops using
these pop-ups, then the company will be able to engage more customers like the services
which the Next Direct offers are to the mark.
 The customers should be allowed to re-visit the page within five minutes if they leave the
page stagnant because it takes a long time to fill all the details again and the customer
may get annoyed and the customers may lose interest. The company should increase the
time to access the same page if it is left stagnant by the customer. This will help in
engaging and retaining customers. The customers will feel more satisfied with the
services which the Next Direct is offering.

MAPPING CONSUMER DIGITAL JOURNEY 8
REFERENCES
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Malik, M. E., Ghafoor, M. M., Iqbal, H. K., Ali, Q., Hunbal, H., Noman, M., & Ahmad, B.
(2013). The impact of brand image and advertisement on consumer buying behavior. World
Applied Sciences Journal, 23(1), 117-122.
Moran, G., Muzellec, L., & Nolan, E. (2014). Consumer moments of truth in the digital
context. Journal of Advertising Research, 54(2), 200-204.
Quinton, S., & Simkin, L. (2016). The Digital Journey: Reflected Learnings and Emerging
Challenges. International Journal of Management Reviews.
Solomon, M. R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ:
prentice Hall.
Women’s, Men’s & Children’s Clothing | Next: Australia. (2016). Au.nextdirect.com. Retrieved
5 October 2016, from http://au.nextdirect.com/
Wylie, S. M. (2014). Fashion meets journalism: mapping and evaluating Australian fashion
journalism.