Beyond simple shopping needs, nowadays consumers are continuously looking for the consumption of new experiences. This contemporary consumer request also unveils inside shopping centers, which as scholars recognize, are shifting functionality towards becoming centers for customer engagement.Following this trend, marketers are continuously looking into new ways to increase offer attractivity and consequently spur customer engagement. Rituals represent a possible new lens to study consumer behaviour inside the mall landscape and disclose new hidden consumers' processes for value creation.By conducting a pre-study with two mall managers, we sensed their perspective of the mall and individuated the challenges of shopping centers future development and new consumer shopping trends. In a second phase, we focused on analysing the consumer perspective and utilization of the mall by observing their shopping rituals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 consumers constituting of both Young Professionals and families.In conclusion, different types of rituals were individualized and analysed. By applying rituals to the shopping behaviour of consumers inside shopping malls yielded several insights that resulted to be useful for managers and a valuable contribution to academic research. The results show that mall visitors consume specific rituals inside shopping malls depending on both the target groups (young professionals or families) of consumers as well as the mall experience type (seductive, functional, interactive museum or social). Young Professionals tended to be more spontaneous and socially oriented. However, families tended to shop for functional reasons and often have a planned script of their shopping ritual that they follow throughout their shopping journey at a shopping mall.

Background:  The prevalence of augmented reality (AR) is on an upward trend and is expected to accelerate in growth in the upcoming years. This poses a strategic opportunity for marketers as it paves the way for incorporating AR into their marketing activities. However, a challenge for companies who wish to incorporate AR into their marketing is the lack of internal capabilities concerning AR among marketers. Research has shown that AR marketing (ARM) has several advantages such as it improves customer engagement, customer-brand relationships, customer’s purchasing intentions, and customer’s attitudes towards brands. The key factor that drives these positive outcomes of ARM is the enhanced hedonic and utilitarian benefits it provides. However, there is currently a lack of understanding regarding what utilitarian and hedonic benefits customers expect to derive from ARM. understanding these expectations is essential as their fulfillment is a determinant of how meaningful and satisfactory the ARM experiences are perceived.  Purpose:  The purpose of this study is to bridge the current research gap by exploring customers' expectations regarding the hedonic and utilitarian benefits of ARM and how well they perceive that these expectations are met and subsequently what this means for the overall customer experience.  Method:  The study is based on an exploratory qualitative research design with an abductive approach. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants that were purposely sampled. This allowed us to get rich data and develop an in-depth understanding of customers’ expectations and experiences with ARM. The interviews were conducted in two rounds, the first round was to explore their expectations of ARM shopping applications while the second round was to explore their experiences. Between the two interviews, the participants used two ARM applications (IKEA Place & Wanna Kicks) and were asked to use them in their domestic setting. We analyzed the interview data using thematic analysis. By doing so we took a systematic approach to identify and compare similarities and dissimilarities in our data, leading to emerging themes. The results were compared to existing literature to identify new findings and develop conclusions.  Findings:  Our findings contribute to a deeper theoretical understanding of ARM by identifying and categorizing customers' hedonic and utilitarian expectations and shedding light on the specific AR attributes that contribute to these expectations. Furthermore, we also present novel insights into how ARM can provide meaningful customers experiences. Our findings have several theoretical and managerial implications offering valuable insights for the continuation of theoretical development and strategic marketing practices.

The main objective of this study was to contribute to direct-to-customer (D2C) companies on the Swedish market by establishing guidelines. Despite the growing use of the model, there is meager research of its success factors. Through the investigation of the apparel and aligned industry, customer insights of components were collected. A deductive approach was used by firstly conducting a literature review and establishing a cross-referencing framework and extracting rough factors to serve as a guide. Empirical data was collected through a quantitative survey in an online questionnaire format. Analysis of the empirical findings developed six new factors; Social Media, Customer Service, Product Knowledge, Integrity, Website Manageability and Unique Value Addition, which were found imperative for the D2C customer experience. Website Manageability demonstrated the highest significance, emphasizing the importance of user-friendliness and navigation. Furthermore, Product Knowledge and Integrity also proved to be paramount to consumers. Customer Service was found to be impactful during various stages of the decision-making process. The report contributes to the subject by presenting customer insights into which elements are most valued during their online shopping experience and their impact during the different stages of the decision-making process.

The emergence of online stores specializing in fast fashion apparel has presented a significant challenge to brick-and-mortar stores and has had detrimental consequences for the environment. Consequently, it is essential for physical stores to stay informed about emerging trends in physical store design. Currently, the fashion industry is acknowledged as a highly detrimental sector in terms of its environmental impact, attributable to its extensive utilization of harmful chemicals, substantial consumption of energy and water resources, and contribution to waste generation and pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to adopt more sustainable practices when it comes to purchasing apparel, particularly in light of sustainability concerns. Moreover, physical second-hand stores play a crucial role in promoting sustainability by offering pre-owned items. To attract customers, these stores need to cultivate a more appealing ambiance and atmosphere. To achieve this, the implementation of a sensory marketing strategy within physical second-hand stores can be employed to enhance the customer experience. By engaging the senses of smell, touch, vision, and hearing in a cohesive manner, a sensory marketing strategy can potentially contribute to a more enjoyable shopping experience and attract customers to physical second-hand stores. This study adopts a qualitative approach, collecting empirical data through semi-structured interviews with female participants aged between 18 and 60 years old in Sweden. The interviewees consisted of individuals who frequently made purchases in physical second-hand stores, as well as those who did so less frequently. The empirical findings were subsequently analyzed in conjunction with the existing literature. The research findings conclude that the implementation of sensory marketing techniques in physical second-hand stores has the potential to enhance the store's image, market position, and overall attractiveness. Creating congruence among the senses can result in a positive customer experience and a pleasant atmosphere, thereby increasing the likelihood of customers choosing to purchase apparel from second-hand stores. Additionally, the study reveals a growing interest among customers in sustainable shopping choices, leading to an increased inclination to opt for second-hand items.

This bachelor degree addresses the importance of sensory marketing in the swedish fashion retail industry among women. The concept of “store death” has become an increasingly talked about topic in Sweden and is something that affects both consumers, entrepreneurs and business owners alike. This is partially because of the rapid growth of technology and the internet which in turn has made it easier to go online and find what you are looking for in the e-commerce market. Sars-Cov-2 has also been a big factor this last year and has forced stores to go out of business a lot faster and pushed some of them to enter the e-commerce market instead. This has reshaped how consumers and business owners look at the retail market and forced them to try to adapt to changes. The purpose of this research is to analyse what makes the female swedish consumers buy things in physical stores. The authors want to examine how the consumers feel and think regarding physical shopping and see if a sensory marketing perspective can help slow the pace in which stores have to close down

The beauty industry has been around for centuries and keeps growing and developing daily. The industry has not been slowing down during the spread of the virus covid-19 but has had a fast platform change. Most brands today are available online and promoted by influencers on social media platforms. However, the question remains if it is achievable to get an equivalent experience of beauty products that one would get in-store online as when scrolling on social media.The purpose of this study was to see how beauty companies work with sensory marketing on their own and through influencers' social media platforms, with the effect of captivating young women's interest in their products and brand. The question of whether the effect of sensory marketing and the persona that influencers effuse on beauty products was a new gap. It was also interesting to see if customers are affected by sensory marketing and influencers when making an online beauty purchase decision. Beauty products are personal and specific and often seen as complex to buy online since they have particular formulations, scents, and colors. The empirical findings are conducted through a pilot interview with an extensive beauty company in the Swedish beauty sector. The interview with the head of sales gave the ground information and peeked into the workaround influencer and sensory marketing. Then that information could be used as a base for the questions in structured customer interviews. The findings were then presented and analyzed with the literature review to make a final result and answer the question.The conclusion of the thesis showed that the young women in generation Z were a part of the online beauty movement. Considering that most young women followed influencers where they got to learn, explore and get an insight, they could easily make purchase decisions. The result showed a positive effect on the combinations of influencers and sensory marketing on generation Z due to their perception. The result also showed a more significant effect on the trust of a persona than sensory marketing, as getting to know the influencer's personality had a more significant impact than something being aesthetically pleasing.

I takt med att e-handeln växer sig större behöver fysiska butiker blir allt mer upplevelseinriktad och leverera unika kundupplevelser för att inte mista sina kunder. Ljus och belysning är en viktig komponent för att påverka kundupplevelse, eftersom ljus direkt påverkar komfort och navigering i butiken. För att skräddarsy belysning för en specifik butik krävs expertis från en ljusdesigner. Finjusteringar av belysning på plats i butiken kan dock vara en utmaning även för ljusdesigners på grund av tidsbegränsning, mängden fel som kan uppstå i ljusinstallationen och avsaknaden av effektiva verktyg för att justera olika aspekter av ljus. Denna studie syftar till att förstå om ett mobilt verktyg för att justera ljusets färgtemperatur i realtid kan hjälpa en ljusdesigner vid installationen av belysning i en butik. För att förstå de utmaningar som är involverade i ljusdesigners arbete har två metoder använts. En deltagande observationsstudie och semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre ljusdesigners. Med kunskap från dessa metoder utfördes ett användarstudie där två versioner av en mobilapplikation för justera ljus testades. Detta utfördes för att dels undersöka användningen av en befintlig applikation och för att identifiera vilka element i den här typen av verktyg som är viktiga för en ljusdesigner. Denna studie indikerade att ett sådant mobilverktyg kan vara mycket användbart, men endast om det innehåller alla nödvändiga element som behövs för att finjustera en ljusinstallation. Studien visade även att en av de viktigaste komponenterna av ett sådant mobilt verktyg är möjligheten att justera färgtemperaturen på ljus, särskilt när man skapar belysning specifikt för en butik. En designövning utfördes för att undersöka hur användbara befintliga verktyg för att justera färgtemperatur är och hur sådana verktyg kan utformas för att passa en ljusdesigners behov. Baserat på resultatet av denna övning skapades en prototyp på ett verktyg för att justera färgtemperaturen av ljus. Denna prototyp utvärderades genom en formativ användarstudie samt ett frågeformulär för att utvärdera ett systems användbarhet. Enligt resultatet av testet uppfattades prototypen vara användbar. Sammantaget tyder resultaten från denna studie på att det finns ett behov av denna typ av mobila verktyg som effektivt kan hjälpa ljusdesigner i deras arbete. / With the significant growth of e-commerce, physical stores need to become more experience-driven, and delivering unique, high impact customer experiences is a core for their success. Lighting is an important element of customer experience, as it directly affects comfort and navigation. In order to customize lighting for a store,expertise from a light designer is needed. However, on-site lighting fine tuning is a challenge due to time restrictions, amount of error occurring to the light installation, and easy accessible tools for adjustments. This study aims to understand whether an mobile tool for adjusting color temperature of lights in realtime can assist a light designer when installing a light installation in a retail store. To understand the challenges involved in the work of lightning designers, two methods have been used. A participatory observational study and semistructured interviews with three light designers. Given that, an exploratory user test was performed, testing two versions of a lighting manager application in order to investigate the usage of an existing application and what elements in this kind of tool are of most importance for a light designer. The user tests indicated that a mobile tool like this could be very useful, but only if it contains all the necessary elements needed. The results show that one of the essential elements of such a tool regards options for adjusting color temperature, when creating specifically for a retail store. In order to investigate further how useful existing light color temperature tools are and how they could be designed to suit a light designer needs, a design exercise was performed. Through the result of this exercise a prototype of a color temperature tool was created. This prototype was evaluated through a formative user study. The usability of the prototype was evaluated through a System usability score evaluation questionnaire. According to the test, the prototype was found to be usable. All in all, the results of this study indicate that there is a need for this kind of mobile tools that can effectively assist light designers in their work.

In this paper customer journey for B2B SaaS business models was analyzed to study customer experience, customer success and its key performance indicators. The research method is the case study of Supplier Relationship Management SaaS solution provider. In recent years, the research in customer journey management identified the tendency of acknowledge customer journey as a differentiator and a competitive advantage. Customer journey is a complex process that entails structured customer experience/success measurement system. There is no standard approach or method that provides standardized set of metrics to be applied for every journey. For SaaS solutions term “customer success” is relevant to customer experience with the solution and an indicator of customer loyalty. The purpose of the research is investigation of B2B SaaS business model and definition of key performance indicators of customer success. The case study aims to open a framework for discussion what is customer success in B2B SaaS solutions, when does it appear, and how a company influences and ensures customer success. / I den här rapporten analyserades kundresan för B2B SaaS affärsmodeller för att studerakundupplevelsen, "customer success" och dess viktigaste resultatindikatorer. Forskningsmetoden ärfallstudien för Supplier Relationship Management SaaS lösning.Under de senaste åren har forskningen inom kundresa identifierat tendensen att erkänna kundresansom en differentiering och en konkurrensfördel. Kundresan är en komplex process som innebär ettstrukturerat kundupplevelse- och framgångsmätningssystem. Det finns ingen standardmetod ellermetod som ger standardiserade uppsättningar av mätvärden som ska tillämpas för varje resa. För SaaSlösningen är termen "customer success" relevant för kundupplevelsen med lösningen som en indikator på kundlojalitet.Syftet med forskningen är att utreda B2B SaaS affärsmodell och definition av viktiga resultatindikatorer för "customer success". Fallstudien syftar till att öppna en ram för diskussion vad är "customer success" i B2B SaaS-lösningar, när det verkar och hur ett företag påverkar och säkerställer "customer success".

Fashion brands have always been avant-garde in embracing new technologies and new formats of retail business models. The rapid development in 3D digital technologies, including 3D scanning, 3D modelling and 3D web rendering, have brought many new opportunities to the fashion industry, especially in shaping the future fashion e-commerce. The traditional 2D user interface and 2D media content have limited ability of displaying every detail of a product in full 360 degree, and the color accuracy of products in pictures is also a common problem. This thesis focuses on how to use 3D technologies to enhance the brand identity and  to reduce return rate, by designing and implementing a web 3D user interface for fashion e-commerce. An interactive 3D product user interface were designed and used for test. The results presented the pros and cons of the designed 3D user interface, and evaluated to what extent can this approach help to solve the brand identity problem and the high return rate issue for fashion e-commerce. It turns out that indeed the 3D user interface is rich in detail storytelling and the product accuracy can be improved by using the Physically Based Rendering technology and dynamic virtual lighting environments. However, the results also indicate that there are still lots of technical constraints for developing the virtual showrooms and the 3D user interface. / Fashion varumärken har alltid varit avantgarde i att omfamna ny teknik och nya format av detaljhandel affärsmodeller. Den snabba utvecklingen inom 3D-digitalteknik, inklusive 3D-skanning, 3D-modellering och 3D-webbearbetning, har medfört många nya möjligheter till modebranschen, särskilt när det gäller att forma framtida fashion e-handel. Det traditionella 2D-användargränssnittet och 2D-medieinnehållet har begränsad förmåga att visa alla detaljer i en produkt i full 360 grader, och färgnoggrannheten hos produkter i bilder är också ett vanligt problem. Denna avhandling fokuserar på hur man använder 3D-teknik för att förbättra varumärkets identitet och minska avkastningsgraden genom att utforma och implementera ett webb 3D-användargränssnitt för mode-e-handel. Ett interaktivt 3D-produkt användargränssnitt designades och användes för test. Resultaten presenterade fördelar och nackdelar med det utformade 3D-användargränssnittet och utvärderades i vilken utsträckning kan detta tillvägagångssätt hjälpa till att lösa varumärkesidentitetsproblemet och problemet med hög avkastning för fashion e-handel. Det visar sig att 3D-användargränssnittet är rikt på detaljerad berättande och produktnoggrannheten kan förbättras med hjälp av fysisk baserad renderingsteknik och dynamiska virtuella ljusmiljöer. Resultaten visar emellertid också att det fortfarande finns många tekniska begränsningar för att utveckla virtuella showroom och 3D-användargränssnittet.

This dissertation aims to examine the concept of ―online customer experience‖, ―flow‖, and its role in influencing online customers‘ loyalty to a hotel booking website. To achieve this aim, a model was developed, which proposed that online flow is generated by both hedonic and utilitarian website features. A model was developed based on literature review to measure the relationships between the constructs. To initiate this research, a survey approach was taken. After conducting a pilot study, a marketing company was contacted to distribute the link for the online questionnaire. Five hundred and eleven (511) questionnaires were completed by guests who booked a hotel room online. Participants completed the self-administered online questionnaire by answering questions related to their last hotel booking experience. Study results found that hedonic and utilitarian website features affect the flow experience positively. Results highlight that hedonic website features has a stronger effect on the flow experience compared to utilitarian ones. In addition, the results revealed that hedonic features positively impact brand equity and utilitarian features impact trust towards the hotel booking website. Further, both trust and brand equity have significant and positive relationship with e-loyalty. However, according to study results, flow experience does not have a direct significant effect on e-loyalty. The study findings suggest that consumers who are able to achieve a state of flow while shopping online will perceive higher brand equity and trust. Therefore, their perceptions of the brand are improved. With enhanced levels of trust and brand equity, consumers are more likely to build bonds and stay loyal to the hotel booking website. It is important to note that iv enhancing the brand equity and trust via hedonic and utilitarian website features is important to increase loyalty because flow experience does not directly influence loyalty. This study contributes to existing research on flow experience in several ways. Firstly, it developed and tested a model with precursors of flow experience in ecommerce by establishing a link between website features and flow experience. Antecedents and consequences of flow experience can help researchers understand when this experience occurs and what to expect from this optimal experience in online environments. Thus, this study makes a contribution to the existing literature by examining the effects of features of the website on flow experience. It is worth noting that in the model, hedonic website features had the largest impact on flow experience. This is particularly an important contribution, considering that precious related research examined variables such as attractiveness, novelty, playfulness, personal innovativeness, content of the website, interactivity, teleperesence and perceived ease of use as the precursors of flow experience, but they have not examined the website characteristics that derives from shopping orientations. Study results can give hotel booking website designers and marketers a better understanding of the online consumer experiences and loyalty