Analysing customer contact sequences of private customers during the pre- purchase phase for automobiles in Germany

"Customer contact sequences" (CCS) known as "customer journey" provide insights for consumer behaviour. Limited research is present where every interaction with a brand is analysed within the automobile purchase decision. Thus, the paper aims to analyse CCS, their influential factors and outcomes to develop a theoretical model for automobile purchases in Germany. A qualitative study is conducted with 20 in-depth interviews of recent car buyers. Findings reveal influential factors like "product related", "subjective norm", "purchase frequency" or "psychological influence" and show the existence of CCS especially within the period of targeted information search. The integration of emotional arousal and cognitive evaluation in the CCS model was found to be of high value. However, further studies must evaluate CCS on high sample sizes using a longitudinal research design. Therewith, new theory findings are generated which are likely to affect the traditional models of purchase behaviour.