Assessment of customer satisfaction with their online shopping experience, including their point of purchase, inventory picking and delivery quality as well as a comparison of their online versus in-store shopping experiences. / To establish an online grocery shopping service and to attract customers to it is an expensive operation. In order to recoup those expenses, and ultimately make a profit, an online retailer needs to ensure that customers remain loyal and make repeat purchases for as long as possible. Although customer satisfaction does not guarantee loyalty, dissatisfied customers generally take their business elsewhere at the first opportunity. This study investigates the overall level of satisfaction amongst a small sample of Woolworths’ online customer base. In pursuit of this, a multi-dimensional model was developed for assessing customer satisfaction in various areas, highlighting those which may require improvement. The impact of certain key demographic data on these dimensions was also investigated. Since satisfaction is not enough to guarantee loyalty, an assessment of the perceived value in making purchases online is also undertaken in an attempt to ascertain purchase intentions. The key findings of this study revealed a relatively high level of customer satisfaction as well as significant perceived value in shopping online when measured against the sacrifices made. However, a main area for improvement is to enhance the customer’s perception of the value they receive. The demographic variables of age, gender and language had no significant impact on any dimension, while the customer’s connection type was found to have a significant impact on their satisfaction pertaining to the performance of the Web site. Finally, it was established that there is a strong association with the Woolworths brand and corporate image, even though the online shopping initiative was launched as a separate brand.

Assessment of customer satisfaction with their online shopping experience, including their point of purchase, inventory picking and delivery quality as well as a comparison of their online versus in-store shopping experiences. / To establish an online grocery shopping service and to attract customers to it is an expensive operation. In order to recoup those expenses, and ultimately make a profit, an online retailer needs to ensure that customers remain loyal and make repeat purchases for as long as possible. Although customer satisfaction does not guarantee loyalty, dissatisfied customers generally take their business elsewhere at the first opportunity. This study investigates the overall level of satisfaction amongst a small sample of Woolworths’ online customer base. In pursuit of this, a multi-dimensional model was developed for assessing customer satisfaction in various areas, highlighting those which may require improvement. The impact of certain key demographic data on these dimensions was also investigated. Since satisfaction is not enough to guarantee loyalty, an assessment of the perceived value in making purchases online is also undertaken in an attempt to ascertain purchase intentions. The key findings of this study revealed a relatively high level of customer satisfaction as well as significant perceived value in shopping online when measured against the sacrifices made. However, a main area for improvement is to enhance the customer’s perception of the value they receive. The demographic variables of age, gender and language had no significant impact on any dimension, while the customer’s connection type was found to have a significant impact on their satisfaction pertaining to the performance of the Web site. Finally, it was established that there is a strong association with the Woolworths brand and corporate image, even though the online shopping initiative was launched as a separate brand.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine what kind of factors that can influence consumers’ intention and how do Swedish consumers evaluate these factors to purchase grocery products through the Internet. Background: E-commerce has been a widespread environment for consumers and online shopping also becomes more and more popular nowadays. However, in Sweden, although there is huge amount of online users, online grocery shopping is still in an early stage. Theory: For this paper the Theory of Planned Behavior was used, as well as a range of factors that are commonly used in existing literature on this field of research. Method: Both quantitative and Qualitative method were used to collect primary data and semi- structured interviews were conducted with participants with similar demographics. Conclusion: Combined with previous literature, questionnaire and interviews conducted, relevant factors are brought up to be analyzed. Situational factors which include perceived product quality, perceived product price, weather, perceived potential risks, delivery cost, delivery time, types of product, and time saving. The study shows that above factors all have impact on online consumers’ purchasing intention with different levels.

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This dissertation comprises of three essays that examine different aspects of e-commerce. Given that e-commerce is growing exponentially around the globe, these essays makes contributions to the literature that might continue to spur this growth.

Traditional grocery shopping has been the only option for Swedish consumers to purchase groceries for a long time. However, the relatively new format, online grocery shopping is rapidly growing in popularity. Hence, consumers are presented with a completely new grocery shopping experience which has different advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this thesis is to explore which advantages and disadvantages consumers experience with offline, and online grocery shopping to answer the question why consumers chose to buy groceries online. A conceptual model has been developed based on earlier research on grocery shopping, consumer experience and the four dimensions of the marketing mix; product, place, price and promotion. Qualitative data has been collected from two focus groups and five semi-structured interviews to explore what advantages and disadvantages consumers experience connected to offline and online grocery shopping and to understand why consumers chose to buy groceries online. All respondents shared most of the experienced advantages of online grocery shopping. The main reasons why consumers chose to purchase groceries online was to save both time and effort. Moreover, consumers experienced that they saved money due to less spontaneous purchases and fewer shopping trips per week. Online grocery shopping is growing in popularity. Hence, this thesis gives insights relevant to practitioners and academics on why consumers experience a desire to purchase groceries online. The findings of this thesis could help online grocery retailers to respond more efficiently to consumers’ needs and preferences.

Purpose: The aim of this research is to investigate if positive attitudes influence the intentions to purchase groceries online. In order fulfil the purpose and test the relationship between attitudes and intentions, the Theory of Planned Behaviour is used as the underlying theoretical model. Background: The e-commerce market in Sweden is regarded as one of the most developed e-commerce markets in Europe, however the grocery market is still striving for an online breakthrough. One of the largest obstacles for the online grocery market is the lack of consumer adoption. Previous research has emphasized the importance of understanding consumer attitudes and its influence on the consumers’ intention to adopt an e-commerce behaviour. Existing theories recognize a gap within positive attitudes’ and their influence on the intentions to adopt e-commerce. Method: An explanatory strategy and a deductive approach were applied in order to test the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Three hypotheses were developed based on the model. The empirical study was based on a quantitative approach and the data collection was made possible through an online survey targeted towards adults in Sweden. Furthermore the analysis of the data was done in SPSS through factor analysis, correlation matrix, descriptive variables and multi linear regression analysis, this provided answers for the hypotheses with a 95% confidence interval. Findings and conclusion: The analysed empirical findings presented overall positive attitudes, as well as a strong correlation between positive attitudes and intentions within online grocery shopping. This answers the research question and fulfils the purpose of examining the influence that positive attitudes have on intentions within the field of online grocery shopping. This research successfully tests the Theory of Planned Behaviour and suggestions for further research is to examine the underlying factors in a qualitative study.

This Masters thesis deals with the topic of marketing communication. The first part of this thesis is devoted to the theory of marketing, marketing tools, marketing and promotion mix, marketing communication, e-commerce and STDC framework. In the following part of thesis are used the tools and analysis described in the theoretical part and applied on online grocery store Košík.cz. At first there is the application of situation analysis, then application of analysis of marketing mix, current marketing communication analysis and application of SWOT analysis. All points recognized in previous analysis are reconsidered and confirmed through survey and used in proposal of marketing communication based on marketing framework STDC.

This research examined the factors contributing to the performance of online grocers prior to, and following, the 2000 dot.com collapse. The primary goals were to assess the relationship between a company’s business model(s) and its performance in the online grocery channel and to determine if there were other company and/or market related factors that could account for company performance. To assess the primary goals, a case based theory building process was utilized. A three-way cross-case analysis comprising Peapod, GroceryWorks, and Tesco examined the common profit components, the structural category (e.g., pure-play, partnership, and hybrid) profit components, and the idiosyncratic profit components related to each specific company. Based on the analysis, it was determined that online grocery store business models could be represented at three distinct, but hierarchically, related levels. The first level was termed the core model and represented the basic profit structure that all online grocers needed in order to conduct operations. The next model level was termed the structural model and represented the profit structure associated with the specific business model configuration (i.e., pure-play, partnership, hybrid). The last model level was termed the augmented model and represented the company’s business model when idiosyncratic profit components were included. In relation to the five company related factors, scalability, rate of expansion, and the automation level were potential candidates for helping to explain online grocer performance. In addition, all the market structure related factors were deemed possible candidates for helping to explain online grocer performance. The study concluded by positing an alternative hypothesis concerning the performance of online grocers. Prior to this study, the prevailing wisdom was that the business models were the primary cause of online grocer performance. However, based on the core model analysis, it was hypothesized that the customer relationship activities (i.e., advertising, promotions, and loyalty program tie-ins) were the real drivers of online grocer performance.

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the attitude of Czech consumers to online grocery shopping and to confirm or refute expected interest in this service. To accomplish this goal, I used the following methods - collection of secondary data (especially statistics related to Czech e-commerce and information about current food e-shops in the Czech Republic) and the results of a questionnaire survey. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. In the first chapter of the theoretical part I describe the development of electronic commerce in the world and in the Czech Republic as well, including basic models of e-commerce, its advantages and disadvantages or current trends. The second chapter is focused on customer behavior, customer segmentation and characteristic of Czech online customers. The practical part provides detailed information about the grocery e-shops in the Czech Republic (such as information concerning range of products, design of websites, registration of new customers or availability of services), the results of the questionnaire survey and recommendation for online grocery shops.