By now it's become a cliché to say, but the pandemic's effect on consumer habits and expectations was truly a radical one.

The apparel industry felt this pain in particular. From knocks to consumer coffers, to forced closures for physical retailers in many countries, the industry was inevitably in for a wild ride.

In-store shopping dropped to zero almost immediately. For the luxury category, this was particularly painful given that consumers conduct close to 95% of purchases in-store.

The closure of physical stores, and a rising fear of public spaces, drove even the least digitally savvy among us online. The result of which was the formation of new habits and expectations that have shifted the buying journey.

In this blog, we'll deep dive into the new customer buying journey. First, we'll take a look at where the focus has shifted to, the rising stars and fallen angels of the company-consumer interaction world, before subsequently analyzing shifts in expectation across both online and offline touchpoints.