Abstract -                     Much better sauce! - A study of brand loyalty for Lohmanders Date:                             5th June 2013Level:                           Bachelor thesis in marketing, 15 ECTSInstitution:                   School of Economy, Society and Technology, EST                                      Mälardalen University Authors:                       Sara Meijer                               Julia Åberg                                      20th February 1990                   26th April 1990Title:                             Much better sauce! ? A study of brand loyalty for LohmandersTutor:                           Finn Wiedersheim-PaulKeywords:                   Brand, loyalty, consumer behaviorResearch questions:    Which significance has the brand for the consumer when buying fresh sauce?                                       How loyal are the consumers to the brand Lohmanders?                                      How does brand loyalty arise among Lohmanders customers?Purpose:                            The purpose with this thesis is to research consumer?s brand loyalty to fresh sauce and to analyze how brand loyalty arises regarding the brand Lohmanders.Method:                       The theoretical framework used in the study is based on theories of consumer behavior, brands and loyalty. The quantitative study consists of a poll. To complement the study a focus group interview and a company interview have been held.  Conclusion:                        The study showed that the brand has significance for the consumer to a certain extent. The brand can though have an unconscious effect on the consumers since most of the purchases are made by habit.

Shoplifting is a serious problem due to the fact that about 2 % of a retail store's turnaround dis-appears annually. This paper discusses the problem with shoplifting where a closed retail display of glass can prevent this kind of misbehavior. Hitherto the scientific research regarding how consumers react to a closed retail display is non-existing. With this in mind we want to investigate and enlighten the phenomenon regarding consumer behavior and product appreciation. The study is carried out at a retailer in the beauty industry in Sweden both in stores where the selection of perfumes have been displayed behind glass and in stores in which they have been displayed with open access.

In Sweden today, the consumers have the opportunity to use the different sales channels; physical store, online store and brick and click, a combination of both. For the past decade, the use of ecommerce has spread tremendously and the fashion industry is one of the top three industries in this category. This, together with the growth of technology, have created new opportunities for consumers during their online shopping. The purpose of this study is to examine the differences between consumers who use physical store, online store or both. This study aims to look into consumers' shopping habits within these sales channels and factors that are affecting them.

The research done in the field of product completeness/incompleteness is limited. The lack of research causes a knowledge gap in the retailing industry, concerning the actual effects on consumer choice, as well as on the overall store evaluation. This report tests the current theories of the subject, and also further aim to explore the effects of completeness/incompleteness on consumer's product choice. The results display an inconsistent effect on consumer's product choice when the completeness/incompleteness in a grocery store is tested. Some products benefit by being incomplete, while others show no such effect.

Corporate Social ResponsibilityThis thesis intends to exam the strategic use of Corporate Social Responsibility within fifthteen different companies, classified/divided into three various industries. The aim is to compare the three different industries, to look for disparities and similarities in their use of CSR. The disseration looks into both variance and resemblance in the use of Corporate Social Responsibility between the companies within the same branch of trade and between the industries.The industries of intrestThe three industries that the study has focus on is consumer, manufacturing and service related industries. Where the consumer industry is classified as companies with direct sales towards private consumers, the physical citizen. The manufacturing industry is classified as companies that manufacture products but that does´nt sell their products directly to the regular consumer.

Research on the power of customer involvement, and in particular recommendation is very resourceful. Many studies have mapped the reasons for why customers are willing to recommend, however they often ignore potential differences among brands and how that may affect these reasons. This study is built on a quantitative survey investigating how consumers interact with brands, depending on category affiliation. The categories used were Bhat and Reddy's symbolic and functional, consisting of three brands respectively where each brand represented a different product type.The evolvement of social media has also transformed the platform of recommendation from physical to virtual and changed the way people connect. Thus, taking the investigation further, potential differences between symbolic and functional brands was tested in different social media platforms.

Every year 67000 tons of food is wasted by Swedish retail stores. The waste implies financial losses for the retailer and it has a huge impact on the global environment. Reducing in-store food waste is thus a win-win situation for both retailers and society. The most effective way to reduce waste is primarily by optimizing the logistics of supply, but customers expect a store with a wide range of products and stuffed shelves. Thus there will always be products about to expire.

Within the interconnected global markets of today; people, products, and information travel at a pace never met before. In light of the global retail markets recent integration, consumers are opened up to new products and are beginning to develop a vetted interest in the heritage of those products. Within literature this process has been coined "Country of Origin" COO, and its impacts on consumer attitudes, product value- assessment, and overall behaviors has been one of the most emphasized areas of "international business" studies, during the last three decades. Numerous studies have shown a correlation between positive or advantageous associations to a country of origin, and the actual products representing and coming out of that country. It is by this synergetic process that so-called positive COO-effects are brought forth.The goal of this thesis stems directly from the still unexplored potential for Swedish firms to differentiate their products and brands on new international markets, through a strategic and coherent communication of relevant Swedish COO-effects.

Term: Spring term 2007Study objects: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna, ICA Sverige ABPurpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse how procurement is used as a strategy to achieve better competitive strength, within the retail food industry.Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates different procurement organisations, multiple and single sourcing, brand equity, consumer behaviour and involvement, Efficient Consumer Response including supply chain and category management and finally Demand Chain Management.Method: For the case studies, three food retail companies have been interviewed: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna and ICA AB. To illustrate how consumer behaviour influences retail food market, several secondary consumer research studies have been analysed.Conclusions: The results indicate that the procurement organisation can achieve a better competitive strength by a centralised organisation, which make it possible to improve conditions of terms when ordering higher purchase volumes. The sourcing strategies can improve a company?s power within the supply chain. All companies within the study had a very good knowledge about consumer behaviour.

This paper examines the relationship between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand, emotional attachment and consumer commitment. The study aim to explore several dimensions of the experienced quality in the offering of a brand. Further we examine two conceptualizations of emotional attachment - Brand Attachment and Brand Love - and intend to declare the two of being two separate phenomena. We then conduct a relationship-based analysis wherein the mediating ability of Brand Attachment and Brand Love, between the experienced quality in the offering of a brand and consumer commitment, is examined. Therefore we conduct a focused quantitative study, wherein 171 customers of the fashion retailer H&M have responded to a comprehensive survey both online and in-store, to examine this fun-damental relationship and its components.

The subject of sms-loans is examined by using primary and secondary sources?. This form of credit is formally independent from other obligations with a very short credit period and the amount of the loan is low. This form of credits is applied by mobile phones and on the internet by several companies, some of them are presented in this essay. These type of creditors do not come under any sanctions from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as is customary for other creditors, they only need to register.

This thesis provides the first test of the effects of ?advertising talk?, i.e. comments, discussions and opinions about advertising. Despite its prevalence quantitative research on advertising talk has been scarce and this study is thus an attempt to fill in some blanks. Hypothesizing that advertising talk will enhance consumer-perceived advertising value as well as purchase intentions and that the effects are more pronounced for talk generated by consumers as compared to marketers, I use a fictional campaign to measure responses in an experimental study.

The discussion about organic and fair trade products has been a big issue during the last few years. Despite an extensive knowledge about the environmental problems and a willingness to do something about it, the consumers are not always acting that way. Children do imitate their parents and other adults at an early age, so if the role models do not begin to act, think and dress ethically correct, neither will the children. Three problems have been identified out of the discussion. They relate to the questions of how older school children and parents of younger school children are taking sides regarding the organic/fair trade clothes and how existing trends in the society as well as those in fashion contexts influence their attitudes and consumer behaviour.

Abstract Semester and year: Spring, 2008Writers: Victor Andersson and Filip ForslundTutor: Thomas HelgessonProgram: Marketing program, Halmstad University - School of Business and EngineeringTitle: Differentiation from a consumer perspective - How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspektive when choosing a residence? Presentation of problem: How important is differentiation from a consumer?s perspective when choosing a residence?Purpose: The purpose is on basis from previous theories on the subject to describe what kind of differentiating that from a consumerperspective is the most important when choosing a residence. Key words: Differentiation, brand, apartment market Methodology: This thesis is built on an qualitative method, where eight open individual interviews have been made. Our choice of respondents was based on what kind of respondents that could give us the most accurate information on the subject which we based on relevant variables. Theory: The framing of the theories is based on a marketing perspective within the area of differentiating and focuses on how companies use different tools to differentiate their offer to create competitive advantages.

Background: Trust has been a foundation of commerce since the very beginning. Trust can in the traditional commerce be built by face-to-face meetings, this is not possible at the Internet. Although, trust ought to be important even for the commercial business relation at the Internet and crucial for the consumer to use this communication channel. Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is, from a consumer point of view, to study and analyse the importance of trust using e-services. Demarcation: The thesis is focusing trust using e-services, from a consumer point of view.