Efter att e-handelsandelen av detaljhandeln har ökat har en förväntad och grundläggande förändring inom detaljhandeln ägt rum. Den framtida rollen för traditionell butikshandel i den byggda miljön är oklar. Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur och i vilken utsträckning detaljhandelssektorn har och kommer att förändras när förutsättningar och strategier för detaljhandeln ändras. I uppsatsen undersöks också på vilket sätt stadsplanering kan användas i syfte att möta utvecklingstrender och säkra butikshandelns fortsatta verksamhet. Efter genomförandet av en teoretisk studie, granskning av två detaljhandelskärnar i Reykjavík och genomförande och analys av semistrukturerade intervjuer presenteras tio planeringsåtgärder i ett strategiskt förslag. De viktigaste resultaten visar på att butikshandeln och e-handeln har börjat knytas samman på flera sätt. I stället för att se på e-handeln som ett problem som stör status quo, bör den betraktas som en utmaning som, om korrekt hanterad, kan förvandlas till en möjlighet. Att säkerställa fortsatt stadsförnyelse, reglera balansen mellan olika typer av verksamheter samt att uppmuntra till kreativ användning av stadens lokaler och platser är bland resultaten i det strategiska förslaget. Även i en tid av sociala medier, artificiell intelligens och det till synes oändliga flödet av information, kvarstår behovet av social kontakt – kanske viktigare nu än någonsin. / A foreseen fundamental change in retail following increased e-commerce share of retail sales has begun. The future role of traditional brick-and-mortar retail in the built environment is unclear. The aim of this thesis is to study how and to what extent the retail sector has and will change, in times of transforming retail practices, and by which means urban planning can be used for responding to the trend in order to ensure and sustain continued operations of brick-and-mortar retail. After carrying out a theoretical study, examining two retail cores in Reykjavík and conducting and analysing semi-structured interviews, ten planning actions are presented in a strategic proposal. The main findings suggest that brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce have begun to merge in several ways. Rather than looking at e-commerce as a problem disturbing the status quo, it should be seen as a challenge that can be turned into an opportunity if handled appropriately. Ensuring ongoing urban regeneration, regulating moderate balance between operations and encouraging creative placemaking are among results listed in the strategic proposal. Even in the age of social media, artificial intelligence and the seemingly endless flow of information, the need of social contact remains – perhaps more important now than ever.

Yes / Abstract Purpose: The best possible way for brick-and-mortar retailers to maximise engagement with personalised shoppers is capitalising on intelligent insights. The retailer operates differently with diversified items and services, but influencing retail atmospheric on personalised shoppers, the perception remains the same across industries. Retail atmospherics stimuli such as design, smell and others create behavioural modifications. The purpose of this study is to explore the atmospheric effects on brick-and- mortar store performance and personalised shopper’s behaviour using cognitive computing based in-store analytics in the context of emerging market. Design/methodology/approach: The data are collected from 35 shoppers of a brick-and-mortar retailer through questionnaire survey and analysed using quantitative method. Findings: The result of the analysis reveals month-on-month growth in footfall count (46%), conversation rate (21%), units per transaction (27%), average order value (23%), dwell time (11%), purchase intention (29%), emotional experience (40%) and a month-on-month decline in remorse (20%). The retailers need to focus on three control gates of shopper behaviour: entry, browsing and exit. Attention should be paid to the cognitive computing solution to judge the influence of retail atmospherics on store performance and behaviour of personalised shoppers. Retail atmospherics create the right experience for individual shoppers and forceful use of it has an adverse impact. Originality/value: The paper focuses on strategic decisions of retailers, the tactical value of personalised shoppers and empirically identifies the retail atmospherics effect on brick-and-mortar store performance and personalised shopper behaviour.

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Background: The wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is marching on, replacing jobs and traditional services, and is predicted to be one of the biggest marketing trends in the close future. Four of the major Swedish banks have started to implement AI as a customer service channel. Simultaneously, the Swedish banking industry is experiencing an all-time low in customer satisfaction, where one of the main reasons is the diminishing number of local branches. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the attitudes that customers have towards AI in customer service, as a substitute to local brick and mortar offices within the Swedish bank industry, as well as uncover any significant factors that could influence these attitudes. Method: This is a qualitative study of exploratory nature where five focus groups have been used to collect empirical data. A total sample of 26 participants, ranging from 20-55 years old, have partaken in the focus groups.  Conclusion: Findings show that there mainly exists a negative attitude towards AI as a substitute to brick-and-mortar offices, but positive attitudes towards it as a complement. Factors that influence the attitudes were found to be Convenience, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Trust, Risk and Social influence. Awareness and Prior Technological Experience were found to not have great influence on customer attitudes.

Les matériaux naturels tels que l'os et la nacre d’ormeau sont constitués de blocs de construction relativement faibles et présentent pourtant souvent des combinaisons remarquables de rigidité, de résistance à la rupture et de ténacité. Ces performances sont dues en grande partie à leurs architectures de brique et de mortier. De nombreux efforts sont consacrés à la duplication de ces principes dans les matériaux synthétiques. Toutefois, les progrès sont en grande partie basés sur des approches empiriques, qui prennent beaucoup de temps et ne garantissent pas la réalisation optimale.La modélisation est une alternative attrayante pour guider la conception et les voies de traitement de ces matériaux. Dans ce travail, nous développons un modèle numérique basé sur la méthode des éléments discrets (DEM) pour comprendre les mécanismes de renforcement et optimiser les propriétés mécaniques des matériaux de type nacre en fonction de leurs paramètres microstructurales. Le modèle suit l’évolution de la fissure, prend en compte de différents mécanismes de renforcement et évalue quantitativement la rigidité, la résistance à la rupture et la ténacité. Une approche intéressante, basée sur l'imagerie EBSD, est présentée pour modéliser le matériau réel et ses différentes variations microstructurales. Les résultats sont ensuite combinés pour fournir des directives de conception pour les composites synthétiques de type brique et mortier comprenant uniquement des constituants fragiles. / Natural materials such as bone and the nacre of some seashells are made of relatively weak building blocks and yet often exhibit remarkable combinations of stiffness, strength, and toughness. Such performances are due in large part to their brick and mortar architectures. Many efforts are devoted to translate these design principles into synthetic materials. However, much of the progress is based on trial-and-error approaches, which are time consuming and do not guarantee that an optimum is achieved.Modeling is an appealing alternative to guide the design and processing routes of such materials. In this work, we develop a numerical model based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) to understand the reinforcement mechanisms and optimize the mechanical properties of nacre-like materials based on their microstructural parameters. The model follows the crack propagation, accounts for different reinforcement mechanisms, and quantitatively assess stiffness, strength, and toughness. An interesting approach, based on EBSD imaging, is presented to model the real material and its different microstructural variations. Results are then combined to provide design guidelines for synthetic brick-and-mortar composites comprising with only brittle constituents.

This cross-departmental initiative bridges Business and IT to establish a nexus for technological innovation, academic research, and tangible retail application, particularly in the realms of Robotics, Sensor Technology, Service Technology, Data Science driven by Artificial Intelligence within a retail setting. Conceived as both a living lab and an innovation hub, this project embodies a fully-operational retail store of the future, furnished with cutting-edge technologies and resourced by experts across varied disciplines and research domains. The overarching objective centers on facilitating knowledge generation and transfer among students, faculty, retailers, and technology companies. By doing so, the lab endeavors to foster collaborative solutions to aptly address the pressing challenges currently being faced by the retail industry, paving the way for sustainable, innovative developments for the future.

Denna studie beskriver vad handelsorganisationer med butiksförsäljning som primär försäljningskanal bör fokusera på för att öka sin lönsamhet. För att samla in information har vi gjort en kvantitativ enkätundersökning som skickades ut till primärt 96 stycken VD:ar i Svenska handelsorganisationer inom B2C. Denna studie visar att handels-organisationer har stora utmaningar när det gäller att hantera digitaliseringen och bli digitalt mogna, även om de aldrig tidigare investerat så mycket i digital teknik som under senare år. Det mest anmärkningsvärda i denna studie är dock att det inte finns något samband mellan deras lönsamhet och digitala mognad. Det indikerar på att deras investeringar de senaste åren inte bidragit till vare sig en ökad lönsamhet eller en ökad effektivitet. Slutsatsen belyser att handelsorganisationer bör se över synen på digital innovation och förbättra styrningen genom att ge anställda möjligheten att skapa bättre strategier med hjälp av digital teknik. Vidare bör de fortsatt värdesätta intuition men till mycket högre grad säkerställa att de har resurserna och möjligheterna att nyttja kund- och affärsdata, för att på så vis kunna använda sig av ett teknokratiskt beslutsfattande. Slutligen bör de behålla satsningar mot en mer organisk organisationsstruktur och säkerställa att de har mätbara målsättningar i deras digitaliseringsstrategier. / This research paper describes what brick-and-mortar organizations, in the new technological world, should focus on in order to increase their profitability. Information was collected primarily from 96 CEO:s at Swedish retail organizations working within B2C. This study shows that retail organizations have great challenges in managing digitalisation and becoming digitally mature, even though they never invested as much in digital technology as in the recent years. The most remarkable result in this study, however, is that there is no link between their profitability and digital maturity. This indicates that their investments in recent years have not contributed to either increased profitability or increased efficiency. The conclusion highlights that retail organizations should review the view of digital innovation and improve management by giving employees the opportunity to create better strategies using digital technology. They should also continue to value intuition but to a much greater degree ensure that they have the resources and opportunities to use customer and business data, in order to be able to use technocratic decision-making. Finally, they should maintain their efforts towards a more organic organizational structure and ensure that they have measurable objectives in their digitization strategies.

The modern retail landscape is experiencing a continuous change due to digitalization. With the growing number of available channels, consumers' consequent behavior within the fashion retail environment are becoming ever more complex. Which thus poses a challenge for fashion retailers in trying to not only understand them, but how to serve them best. Along this evolution of retail due to digitalization, physical retail stores have closed down due to the increasing competition from e-commerce, although it remains the biggest distribution channel. The role of the physical store is thus experiencing elements of an existential crisis. In this, Generation Z remains an ambiguous consumer segment whose importance will only increase as the generation comes into its purchasing prime. But, Generation Z is not yet well understood as limited research exists on the subject. And as they’re the digital native generation, where retail omnichannel strategies are commonplace, seeking to understand their attitudes, preferences and perceptions of omnichannel retailing, but also the physical store, is thus essential moving into the future. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to distinguish and explore the value of the physical store in the eyes of Generation Z in an omnichannel strategy, within the context of fashion retailing. RQ: What is the role of physical fashion stores within omnichannel strategy, in regard to Generation Z? In order to answer the research question, the method of choice was a qualitative one. The consequent empirical findings were gathered from seven semi-structured interviews, six from Generation Z respondents and one from the CCO of Gina Tricot, yielding a managerial perspective. Thus, allowing for triangulation opportunities. Moreover, besides the empirical findings, we present a proposed framework which illustrates how and why Generation Z’s behavior, preferences and perceptions have ultimately altered the role of physical stores to be one of increasing complementarity within the context of an omnichannel strategy. In describing this evolution, multiple characteristics of Generation Z are distinguished. Finally, this thesis provides a deepened knowledge on how retailers may use their physical store within an omnichannel strategy to better serve Generation Z consumers in order to enhance customer experience and satisfaction. The empirical findings exhibit the physical store as an essential part for consumers within the context of other available channels online. Where multiple aspects otherwise not satisfied through online channels, serve an important purpose for Generation Z consumers. This thesis may thus offer value for retailers in how to balance various appreciated aspects of the physical store, whilst incorporating some of the desired elements of online, to increase the customer experience of physical stores.

Customers uses both offline and online channels before the final purchase, retailers that are operating and selling their products both online and offline can benefit from aligning the experiences on their channels by using an omni-channel strategy. The smartphone is becoming a natural part of our day-to-day life and keeping us connected, also when visiting abrick and mortar retailers. Mobile technology therefore possesses the opportunity to integrate in-store experience with the online world for creating value for customers. But many retailers are struggling in their integration efforts towards an omni-channel strategy due toall the possible technologies to invest. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate the acceptance of mobile technologies in a brick and mortar retail setting, the chosen technologies are beacons and augmented reality.This research investigated the mediating effect of the four technology readiness dimensions:optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity, on the constructs of the technology acceptance model: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The research was carried out with a positivist research philosophy, inductive approach and lastly with an explanatory research design including a quantitative method. The data was collected through a survey, which got answered by 224 participants. The data was further statistically analyzed. The result showed that several of the dimensions of technology readiness had a significant effect on the constructs of technology acceptance model, especially the dimension: optimism. Thus, retailers that wants to introduce mobile technology into their stores should put emphasis on customizing their offerings towards the customers’ different level of technology readiness, especially optimism.

The purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual integrated online visual merchandising framework containing online visual merchandising themes that South African apparel e-tailers could use when developing an effective apparel e-store, with the main aim of possibly influencing consumer purchasing behaviour. The study adopted a consumer-centred response approach to online visual merchandising in an attempt to holistically consider this area of the South African e-tail industry from the consumer’s perspective. The study followed a pragmatic paradigm that implemented a mixed-method approach. The qualitative section of the mixed-method approach primarily comprised four focus group interviews as the main data-collection instrument. The data obtained during the qualitative section was analysed by Tesch’s inductive descriptive coding technique, better known as thematic analysis. The findings obtained during the qualitative section were used as the basis for the quantitative section of the mixed-method approach, which implemented a self-administered web-based questionnaire as the data-collection instrument. The data was analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23. The findings of the study delivered a conceptual integrated online visual merchandising framework that consists of 13 themes and 82 items. This conceptual integrated online visual merchandising framework will contribute to the South African apparel retail and e-tail industry, as both apparel brick-and-mortar retailers and apparel e-tailers in South Africa can benefit from using the conceptual integrated framework as a guideline. The value of the conceptual integrated framework lies in the fact that it includes consumers’ views regarding the online visual merchandising themes. Therefore, apparel e-tailers, as well as brick-and-mortar retailers that want to develop an e-store, or update an existing e-store, can use this conceptual integrated framework as a guideline to make their online offering as attractive as possible. This way involves the least possible online risks to ensure that online trust is created, and ultimately, that consumer purchasing behaviour has been influenced. / Business Management / D. Phil. (Management Studies)