The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between store layout and how it affects us as shoppers. We formed our research questions based on literature. The study was based on observations of shoppers without their knowing they were observed. We didn?t tell shoppers since the science of shopping says that shoppers pattern of movement is something that?s subconscious and if the shoppers had known it would have affected the result of the study.

The market for fashion and interior consists of a large amount of retail chains, which together creates high competition. To be able to compete and to be the most obvious choice for the customers, retailers must review their activities that exist in the company and improve them. This concerns store chains since it is so important that the stores communicate the retailers strategy and it is very critical because of the impact that the stores have on the communication with customers. It is after all in the stores that the buying decision is made. With this information, it is important to strive for uniformity through the chain and especially the stores.

It has been found that customers in the home market perceive the retailer?s store image more positively than customers in the host market, even though this study has found that theretailer?s store image is generally perceived very positively by customers in both examined markets. In addition, this thesis has found that there is a significant difference in how IKEA?smanagement and customers perceive its store image. It can also be concluded that IKEA management perceived store image more positively than customers.

Interactive media is constantly increasing in our surroundings and with the innovation of touch-screens, two-way communication with screens has become part of our daily life. Still, this well known way of process information is not often seen in the in-store environment of grocery retailing. Here, interactive media is an unestablished field where empirical studies are invisible within the academic world. The lack of knowledge in which effect interactive digital signage has is one of the barriers of investing in this marketing solution in-store. The main purpose of this study is to examine and describe the effects of interactive digital signage at shelf within grocery retailing.

Due to the harsh competition among Swedish food retailers, in-store marketing is a crucial component in the stores marketing strategy. In an attempt to differentiate among its competitors, COOP Sweden has begun to use concave store shelves. Although the food retailing industry is one of the most studied, no research has been conducted on the concave store shelves. The objective of this study is to describe how these shelves effect the customer perception of the assortment, their experience of the store environment and their buying behavior. An S-O-R framework is used as an overall basis in order to outline the effects investigated in this paper.

The retail industry is complex and when it comes to the in-store environment conventional marketing tools seldom find their way. The impacts of in-store atmospherics on customers and the psychological impact the store environment has on their decision-making are rather remarkable. An in-store atmospheric that often is used in order to affect customers is music, in fact it is one of the in-store elements that has been investigated more carefully. Nevertheless, in spite several studies on music and its impact as an in-store atmospheric on customers, it is not yet obvious what applies. To bring some clarity on the subject this study is aspiring to explain what applies when it comes to playing music in grocery stores.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to inquire into the congruency of store image perceptions, projected by Ikea and Ilva, and how Danish and Swedish consumers perceive the aforementioned stores? images in their respective domestic market. Also, the aim sets out to evaluate the success of these stores? images on consumers and on transference to host markets. Further, the aim is to discern specific store image attributes captivating Swedish and Danish consumers.

The store manager can make great benefits of having an eye on how the staff works towards the customer, because the personnel is an important tool when competing with other stores. This paper is focusing on the part that relates to the staff in the store, which is one of the key tools in the competition for customers after the customer made it to the store. Many stores have guidelines which the staff should follow when they meet with customers. If the staff is too tightly controlled by these guidelines, customers can perceive the first encounter with the staff as artificial and as if the genuine friendliness does not exist. It is important that the staff looks at the individual customer and treat every customer in a personal way and that the staff can see the customer?s needs.

The interest for organic food has grown a lot over the last 15 years. Even so, only 3.5 % ofthe share of wallet in Sweden goes to organic food. The purpose of this study is to examine and describe how retailers can get consumers to buy more organic fruits and vegetables. The study was carried out by visiting six Coop Konsum-stores, of which three performed poorly and three performed well in organic sales. We conducted interviews with the department managers, customer surveys and in-store observations.

The purpose of this study is using McDonald?s in China and Sweden as a case to find out how fast food restaurant retailers combine adaptation and standardization with symbolic attributes of store atmospherics under different cultural background, and find out possible reasons. The study used McDonald?s in a case format to study in-store atmospheres. Further, the research has an investigating and explanatory qualitative approach, collecting the empirical data through observation with photos.

It is now increasingly common for organisations to work actively with HR issues. Furthermore, it is a constant top priority for organisations to remain profitable. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether so called soft HR values, as manager?s communication skills, has an actual impact on hard values in terms of costs for the organisation. Leadership is largely characterised by emotional communication, which together with personnel costs were the main focus of the research.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att se hur vida digitala skärmar är ett effektivt promotionverktyg, och hur konsumenternas beteende är relaterade till denna typ av in-store promotion. Genom en explorativ studie som genomfördes på Ica Maxi Karlstad undersöktes detta fenomen med hjälp av ögonspårning och enkäter. Med denna metod kunde författarna jämföra faktorer som rör köpvanor med hur stor uppmärksamhet som riktas mot in-store elementen i en matbutik. Viktiga slutsatser pekar på att de digitala skärmar som undersökts inte bidrar med tillräckligt relevant information för att uppmärksammas av konsumenter. Resultatet visar också att digitala skärmar är något som uppmärksammas i liten skala av uppgiftsorienterade personer.

Thesis purpose: The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge of what influences the purchase decision of functional food in the store. By applying the M-R model in a new setting - the dairy department in grocery retailing in Sweden - and adding variables related to health attitudes, the aim is to contribute to existing research concerning in-store purchase decision making and store environment as well as consumer attitudes. Methodology: This thesis employs a quantitative strategy with a deductive approach and data has been collected with questionnaires. Theoretical perspective: Environmental psychology serves as an overarching framework where, more specifically, certain aspects of store atmospherics and some variables concomitant to health attitudes provide the theoretical base. Empirical data: The empirical data consists of customer purchasing a functional food product, Proviva, and this is contrasted with a test group, Bravo.

Floor signs in stores have become a more common phenomenon during past years. The problem is that the knowledge about these signs is limited and the actual effects are unknown. This lack of knowledge can have a negative impact on store performance and marketing efforts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of floor signs on consumer attitude and behaviour. The study was conducted in two grocery stores, where the movement pattern of 39 501 customers was recorded over a four week period.

This paper examines the impact of the congruence between the background music and the brand image on the customer behaviour in retail store. The essay's hypotheses are built after the famous S-O-R-model that unveils if congruence background music affects the customers' emotions, brand image and response. The aim of the study is mainly to answer if the congruent background music stimuli in the retail store environment will affect the customer's emotions and if it will increase spent time and money. The congruent background music has been selected through two pre-studies based on consumers' brand image. A quantitative study has been conducted where triangulation was applied in a real store environment, where in total 201 surveys was collected for the main study.