Customer Experience and Values in Circular Economy: Consumer Interview Study in Clothing Industry

Abstract

The clothing industry has witnessed a tremendous movement toward sustainability. It followed the overall trend of the economy shifting from linearity to circularity as a response to the increasing sustainability threats. At the same time, clothing businesses that adapt to the circular economy model still need to run profitably. The customer experience plays a huge role in that success. However, current literature in this field primarily looks at traditional linear economy business models. There is a lack of understanding in the way customers experience the dimensions of interaction with the circular economy business models, specifically in reuse and redistribute business model and recycle business model. Furthermore, it is not yet clear what is the motivation behind their engagement with such novel sustainable businesses. Thus, there is a need to investigate the customers’ values on an individual and societal level. To explore these topics and develop theory in the field, this study aims to answer the following research questions: How does each dimension of customer experience (sensory, affective, behavioral, cognitive, and social) present itself in the sustainable clothing industry? How do the customer’s values show when buying clothing products from the sustainable clothing industry? What are the similarities and differences in customer experience and consumer’s values between reuse business model and recycle business model in the clothing industry?

The research questions were addressed in this study through a qualitative interview study. The data used in this study was primary data from 16 semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed. The data was then analyzed with coding framework based on the literature review of customer experiences, customers’ values and the circular economy business models.

From the study, empirical results were collected to further develop the experiential dimensions in the context of sustainability in the clothing industry. The expressions of the customers’ values were also identified and analyzed for improved understanding of the customer's motivation in engagement with the companies. These findings were then compared between the businesses in reuse and redistribute model versus businesses in the re-cycle model.