In Sweden according to the planning and building Act municipalities have planning monopoly. The question about shopping centres in the outskirts of cities is a regional issue, because they attract customers from a large area. Municipalities often find it hard to assert themselves against large commercial companies when it comes to their establishing new retail outlets on the outskirts of cities. Without a regional co-operation there is a risk that municipalities can be played up against one another, so that more and more companies are given permits without the municipalities having taken the strategic consideration necessary for a long term sustainable development. The focus in this work is on four municipalities in the Södertörn region (Södertälje, Botkyrka, Huddinge and Nynäshamn).

Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka några effekter på en definierad region kring Charlottenbergs Shoppingcenter som öppnade hösten 2006. De effekter vi valt att studera är effekten på flödet av människor och kapital. Vårt antagande är att ett köpcentrum påverkar en region utifrån ett funktionellt perspektiv. Vårt antagande är att ett köpcentrum påverkar en region huvudsakligen utifrån så stort upptagningsområde som merparten av besökare, kunder och anställda vid köpcentret bor inom. Forskningsfrågorna rörande effekten på flödet av människor fokuseras på boende och resande besökare, kunder och personal vid köpcentret.

AbstractThe development of Corporate Social Responsibility has been increasing for the last decade.Not only is Corporate Social Responsibility an important thing for big rich companies, todayit includes all different kinds of companies? regardless size, profit or industry. An industrywhich affects the majority of the society is the grocery industry. People have on a daily basissome kind of relationship to the grocery industry, which means that we have high presure onthe companies to not take an over price on the goods, to have a good assortment and that thecompanies take responsibility for the society. With high pressure from different groups of thesociety it is hard for the companies to know how to please all groups at their highest level.In this essay a qualitative examination will be done of how grocery companies mange theproblems of having many stakeholders to please.

During the last few decades a new kind of business operation have developed and this hasforced organisations to adapt themselves to a new competitive environment characterized byincreased customer demands as well as a larger amount of competitors. Therefore companieshave had a shift in their strategies from focusing on sales numbers to focusing on thecustomer. To build lasting customer relationships, in order to create customer loyalty, havebecome an important part of the organisational strategy and the collection of consumer datais essential in achieving this loyalty. Customer relationship management systems assistorganisations in managing information about individual customers as well as managing allaspects of customer contact, with the purpose of increasing customer loyalty towards thecompany. The collection of consumer data also enables for companies to design personalizedoffers to individual customers in the form of direct marketing.

Cycle time has a direct influence on number of returnable crates needed and therefore a crucial parameter for cost structure and pricing of the user fec in the pool system.For providing the growing market, number of crates has to increase as well as the utilization of existing crates. To accomplish this aim, cycle time for the whole supply chain has to be fully unravelled and understand.The purpose is to map cycle time and stock movements, to see how, where and when crates are being used in the supply chain. The goal is to make a method of cycle time calculation, together with suggestions of improving the pool system and decrease cycle time.The study has been a combination of qualitative and quantitative research and comprises the three biggest wholesalers in Sweden; ICA, Coop and Axfood. Furthermore have 65 grocery shops, connected to the wholesalers, been investigated and mapped.The study has come to a conclusion that cycle time for an average returnable crate is 19 days. The full-size and half-size crates have a bit longer cycle time, 21-22 days, while Dual Height-crates and shallow haif-size crates have 17-18 days.

This study examines retail atmospherics from a reality perspective. The topic "special exposure" has received research interest in the past but it has not been recognized as a critical consideration in the daily retail business. Too many retailers leave assortment decisions to thumb rules or trial and error. The highest aim of this study is in addressing that gap between theory and practice. To catch the attention of the customer is important in supermarkets because most grocery purchase decisions are made at the point of purchase.

Abstract (in English)During the last fifty years, the waste in an average Swedish household has increased by about five hundred percent. In order to manage (eller take care of) all of this new waste, Swedes need a method of facilitating the handling process. In this report, both the habits and needs among private households across Sweden are investigated, followed by a pertinent solution to the waste problem. This solution is a container with two compartments, using the standarddimensions of a grocery store paper bag..

AbstractThe topic ?The effects of music in the supermarket on consumer behavior,sales, and customer state of mind? was assessed to try and analyse the emotionaldifferences that may occur as well as the sales variations that may arise fromplaying music in a supermarket. The reason for this study is that grocery storesare very common and abundant in most neighborhoods, as is man?s necessaryconsumption of food. In almost every city grocery stores must compete hardagainst each other in order to succeed in offering the most appealing options toconsumers.

AbstractThe topic ?The effects of music in the supermarket on consumer behavior,sales, and customer state of mind? was assessed to try and analyse the emotionaldifferences that may occur as well as the sales variations that may arise fromplaying music in a supermarket. The reason for this study is that grocery storesare very common and abundant in most neighborhoods, as is man?s necessaryconsumption of food. In almost every city grocery stores must compete hardagainst each other in order to succeed in offering the most appealing options toconsumers.

Companies become more and more aware of the added values of the packaging. A well chosen and developed packaging can reduce the costs for the companies through reduced costs for transports, reduced quantity of waste and discards and increased goodwill for example. The companies? costs for salaries can also be reduced due to the increased packaging handling efficiency and the reduced costs for sick leave, reduced work capacity and rehabilitation etc. that can arise when handling poorly developed products and packaging.

When patrolling grocery stores, customers engage in a purchase situation where they face great amounts of information, whereof price is one. This paper intends to shed light on the price information search behavior that customer's exhibit before choosing their products in grocery stores. In order to do so two studies have been conducted, one quantitative and one qualitative, to assemble the data needed to provide statistically significant results. The objective of the quantitative study is to gather data on customer's external price information search, and it is based on the most recent eye-tracking technology. The second qualitative study is complementary and based on interviews with randomly chosen customers that have responded to several questions regarding their price information search, shopping knowledge and experiences.

Today endless choices exist for a customer in the grocery store in terms of information, products, brands and prices. Consequently, it is important for retailers and brand owners to gain insights in how they can manage to break through the clutter to reach the customer. Displays that include some kind of motion element are assumed to possess an attention grabbing ability, which is a necessary first step in influencing the customer?s decision making. Therefore we have explored whether so called dynamic displays are efficient in grabbing attention and influencing customer behaviour.

iPhone belongs to the group smartphones. It is a type of mobile phones that has a richer interface and allows more advanced preformences, i.e surfing the Internet and handling e-mails. This report outlines the work to develop an iPhoneapplication from idea to released product. The project is a thesis which was commissioned by ICA AB (a major Swedish grocery chain). The report includes how the work has been carried out in practice and theory.

We are currently more aware than ever about the impact of food on our health, but in the same time this trend put more pressure on the food retailers to do as much as possible to help their customers manage their weight and be healthy in general. This study aims to examine the corporate social responsibility for consumer health in food retailing, in which ways the companies promote healthy eating; in what extent they do it and also the motives for companies for corporate responsibility. The empirical study is limited to the market leading companies in Sweden, Coop and ICA, because the performance of the leading companies puts them in the strongest position to profit from shifting consumer trends, grow revenues and penetrate new markets and also enable them to make a strong case for the effectiveness of voluntary action, obviating the need for government intervention. A qualitative method was used in this study to get an accurate understanding how the food retailers take social responsibility for consumers health. The study is based on interviews with experts in the food retailers Coop and ICA, and the companies reporting in this area, annual reports, corporate responsibility reports and websites.

 This thesis aims to through certain parts of the brand equity investigate the trust of consumers for a brand that recently experienced a product-harm crisis. It also wants to investigate why this trust exist, if it does. Structured interviews were carried out at 60 respondents in Uppsala. The results show that the respondents have positive associations with ICA, they think that ICA maintains a high quality on their products and services and that 50% more often choose to do their grocery shopping at ICA. The conclusion of the study is that ICA has a strong brand equity resulting in brand trust from consumers, which is founded in the brand reliability and brand intentions of the company. .