The authors of this study analysed the increasing use of personalized marketing and consumer concerns regarding the access to personal information. The purpose was to find out how companies could react to these concerns. Several theoretical concepts were explored, such as Personal Data, Personalized Marketing, Privacy Concerns, Privacy Policies, Consumer Trust and Consumer Behaviour. Facebook Inc. was analysed as an example to address the problem. An online survey was conducted on university students and two interviews were performed with representatives from the Data Inspection Board in Sweden. The main findings were that individuals seem to approve of personalized marketing but are concerned about their privacy. Companies should therefore inform their consumers on how personal data is used for personalized marketing and respect their rights and take governmental regulations into consideration.

The traditional type of marketing is more directed towards big customer segments in specified areas. Due to technological improvement marketing has evolved into an extreme form of segmentation where marketing target the individual consumer based on their personal needs and preferences. This has led to a discussion of whether personalized marketing is something that create privacy concerns or benefits in the eyes of the consumer.     The purpose of this thesis is to explore the consumer perception of personalized marketing and how the perception affects the purchase decision-making process.   A conceptual framework was developed based on earlier research within personalized marketing. A qualitative method with an abductive approach has been used. Our primary data was collected through 8 different semi-structured interviews and consisted of men and women in the age span of 40-59 years’ old who had engaged in e-commerce at least once during the last six months.   Our empirical data has been analyzed out of the literature review, which founds the basis for our findings. Our findings show that the consumer perception of personalized marketing affect the consumer decision-making process in varying ways. A positive perception of the personalized marketing makes the consumer more susceptible to it, which further impacts the different stages in the process.

In recent years there has been an increase in attempts to further increase the efficiency with which advertisement help drive sales. The attempts have largely focused on personalizing adverts to make sure that every person that sees an advert has an interest in it. In order to make the adverts personal, a company needs information about their customer. This is a controversial subject and has as such become a hot topic in Sweden and cause for debate. The thesis reports on our research of what the general Swedish public feel about disclosing personal information. To do this we perform a survey totalling 107 responses and come to a conclusion that there is a need for transparency amongst companies in order for the advertisement to work efficiently. / På senare år har man försökt sig på att effektivisera annonsering. Mestadels har dessa försök fokuserat på att rikta annonser mot enskilda personer, och på så sätt säkerställa att personen har ett intresse av annonsen. För att man ska ha möjligheten att personifiera en annons så behöver företaget information om konsumenten. Detta är en aning kontroversiellt och har dragit till sig en hel del uppmärksamhet i Sverige. Denna forskningsrapport fokuserar på vad den Svenska befolkningen anser om att dela med sig av sin personliga information. Vi har genomfört detta med hjälp av en enkätundersökning som 107 människor deltog i. Tillsammans kom vi fram till att det framför allt behövs genomskinlighet från företagen som använder sig utav personlig information, för att annonseringen ska fungera så bra som möjligt.

Background: Companies collect private data about consumers for marketingpurposes. Mobile devices provide marketers with valuable insights intoconsumers' hyper-context information concerning specific consumersituations such as location, time, and environment. Consumers, on the otherhand, may have a different attitude towards how marketers use their privatedata. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and gain insight into theemotional experience of consumers when receiving personalized marketingmessages that are designed using their private data collected from mobiledevices. Method: A qualitative study was implemented and primary data werecollected from semi-structured interviews. The conducted data were analysedto understand the underlying concepts of this thesis research question. Anabductive approach was used and involved back-and-forth engagement withthe empirical findings of the social world for theoretical ideas and with thesecondary sources of literature. Conclusion: Consumers’ can experience both positive and negative feelingssimultaneously. The authors conclude that it was not the personalizedmarketing messages themselves that created negative emotions amongconsumers, it was the knowledge and the feeling of knowing that theadvertisements were created from their 'private data. The positive emotionswere connected to the benefits of receiving advertisements that matched theirinterests.

Background: In the realm of online digital marketing, personalization tailored around the user’s interests are becoming the norm. It is becoming more and more challenging for marketers to get the attention of relevant consumers and get heard through all the noise. While personalized marketing or individually customized advertisements are very prevalent and a norm when browsing the web, its incredible potential as a marketing strategy has not always been obvious. The implications of the internet, coupled with countless technological advances in both hardware and software, have made personalized marketing incredibly effective, hence so prevalent that many techniques are barely noticeable anymore. However, its usefulness towards the consumer is not possible without the same consumer paying with precious personal data, vital for personalization. Personalized advertising on social media sites offers the opportunity to direct ads specifically to user’s, this form of personalized and targeted marketing has raised concerns surrounding user’s privacy. It could have some serious consequences affecting consumer’s privacy, where privacy breaches could collect information without the consumer being aware of it, by clicking on ads. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of how personalized ads on social media are generating feelings of invasiveness to users, in relation to privacy concerns, trust, perceived usefulness and the perceived amount of personalization felt. And what factors that are determining in, if an ad is perceived as either invasive or not by the user. Method: A quantitative method is used to conduct the research, which is used to test objective theories that examines the relationship between variables. In this study a deductive approach was implemented, the hypothesis development was greatly influenced by previous findings from relevant studies and literature. The choice of research design was to use a quantitative cross-sectional research approach, after considering the factors just mentioned above. This is applied to the study by looking at primary empirical data, collected through the use of an online self-completion questionnaire. This study will be using a multivariate analysis including three variables or more, and the data will be measured through a regression analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) to measure construct validity, and Cronbach’s alpha to measure internal reliability. In the descriptive statistics dispersion and central tendency is analyzed, and the general distribution of the variables is analysed through skewness and kurtosis. contingency tables to analyse the relationship between different variables, and Pearson’s r to examine the relationship between interval and ratio variables. Conclusion: In conclusion, privacy concerns already held by the consumer, plays a huge role in determining whether personalized ads on social media, generates feelings of invasiveness upon the user or not.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka konsumenters inställning till personlig marknadsföring med utgångspunkt i personlig integritet. Vidare är studiens syfte att undersöka om personlig marknadsföring kan leda till kundlojalitet med hjälp av Word of Mouth som proxy. Denna studies metod baseras på ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt och bygger på en deduktiv ansats där datan har samlats in genom en webbaserad enkät. Enkäten publicerades på diverse plattformar där urvalet var alla personer över 18 års ålder. Enkäten gjordes i formulärprogrammet Google forms. Totalt genererade enkäten 115 svar varav 108 av dessa kunde användas i analysen. För att analysera datan har statistikprogrammet Jamovi använts. Resultaten har presenterats och tolkats genom genomförande av deskriptiva analyser, korrelationsanalyser och hypotesprövningar. Resultatet visar en stark positiv korrelation mellan personlig marknadsföring och Word of Mouth, en negativ korrelation mellan personlig marknadsföring och personlig integritet och en svag negativ korrelation mellan personlig integritet och Word of Mouth. Utifrån detta drogs slutsatserna att fördelarna med informationsutlämnande väger tyngre än riskerna med informationsutlämnande och att personlig marknadsföring kan leda till lojala kunder men att det beror på dess initiala inställning. Fortsättningsvis drogs slutsatserna att konsumenter som uppskattar personlig marknadsföring är mer villiga att delta i Word of Mouth aktiviteter medan konsumenter med en hög nivå av personlig integritet, är sannolikt mindre benägna att delta i Word of Mouth aktiviteter. Denna studie bidrar med kunskap och upplysning om hur personlig marknadsföring fungerar. Studiens resultat visar vad konsumenter har för inställning till personlig marknadsföring samt hur de upplever att personlig marknadsföring påverkar deras personliga integritet. Studien visar även hur personlig marknadsföring kan påverka kundlojalitet. Denna studies resultat kan vara till användning i praktiken för företag som vill använda sig av personlig marknadsföring som marknadsföringsstrategi. För att få ett mer representativt resultat, bör denna studie utföras i en större skala med fler respondenter. Det hade även varit intressant att jämföra olika demografiska grupper för att se eventuella likheter och skillnader. Det hade även varit spännande att göra samma studie fast med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där man kan gå djupare in i respondenternas tankar och känslor. Slutligen kan man göra samma studie fast i longitudinell form för att kunna undersöka respondenternas inställning till personlig marknadsföring över tid.

In conjunction with technological development, digital marketing has become a common course of action for marketers to discover potential consumers. A digital form of marketing is personalized marketing, where companies tailor advertising on the internet based on consumer preferences. By storing personal data from social media and websites, it becomes possible for companies to identify potential consumers. Generation-Z has grown up among digital platforms that offer personalized marketing. This thesis will therefore examine when Generation-Z experiences that personalized marketing transitions from being useful to infringing on the individual integrity. The research design used for the empirical data in the study was semi-structured interviews on Generation-Z between the ages of 8-24. During the interviews, it emerged that all respondents felt influenced by individualized marketing. They felt that personalized marketing could infringe on integrity but also be useful when needed. The results of the study show that the risk of collecting personal data like religious opinions, sexual preferences, political stances and audio tracking smartphones, is that trust in the company decreases among Generation-Z. The advantage of personalized marketing is that it satisfies the needs of the targeted audience in question. Generation-Z prefer ads that suit their preferences rather than having inconsequential advertising and are willing to exchange a small amount of personal information for tailored ads in return. Consequently, personalized marketing has a major impact on the internet experience among Generation-Z.

Personaliserad marknadsföring är betydelsefullt för e-handeln och dess framgång. “Personaliserad marknadsföring definieras som att designa och leverera skräddarsydda produkter och tjänster till enskilda kunder, personaliserad marknadsföring innebär med andra ord differentierade erbjudanden för enskilda kunder” (Chandra, Verma, Marc Lim, Kumar & Donthu 2022, s. 1534).  Denna marknadsföringsstrategi får en ökad betydelse på nätet inom detaljhandel. Det finns bristfällig forskning gällande konsumenternas uppfattning om personaliserad marknadsföring samt bristande forskning kring kulturella aspekter inom personaliserad marknadsföring. Det finns en oro bland konsumenter för hur företag behandlar personliga uppgifter samt säkerheten kring dessa. Samtidigt har hantering av personliga uppgifter blivit ett diskuterat ämne inom EU där lagen om GDPR har tillfört att denna hantering skapat en större kontroll över personliga uppgifter. Denna studie syftar till att öka förståelsen kring personaliserad marknadsföring inom EU utifrån konsumenternas uppfattning samt att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar denna uppfattning. Studien avgränsas till EU då länder inom EU regleras av lagen om GDPR. För att undersöka detta har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi tillämpats, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med konsumenter i Sverige och Tyskland.  De teorier som tillämpats behandlar delning av personlig information, konsumentbeteende, integritet, köpintention vid personaliserad marknadsföring och individualism/kollektivism. Empirin har tillsammans med teorierna analyserats och visat på att det finns skillnader i hur svenska och tyska konsumenter uppfattar personaliserad marknadsföring.  Studiens slutsats fastställer en positiv uppfattning om personaliserad marknadsföring bland de svenska konsumenterna i större omfattning i jämförelse med de tyska konsumenterna. Studien påvisar att de svenska konsumenterna inte uppvisar en oro för integritet, en upplevd påträngning av personliga annonser samt en motvilja till att dela personlig information i lika stor utsträckning som de tyska konsumenterna. Studien kan urskilja att de tyska konsumenterna påverkas i större grad av lagen om GDPR och ytterligare en tysk lag som reglerar hantering av personliga uppgifter. Studien påvisar även att konsumenterna påverkas av två faktorer, personliga och sociala, vid val av livsmedelsvaror. Studien kan även konstatera att konsumenterna påvisar ett individualistiskt beteende vid val av livsmedelsvaror. / Personalized marketing is important to e-commerce and its success. “Personalized marketing is defined as designing and delivering tailor-made products and services to individual customers. In other words, personalized marketing involves differentiated offerings for individual customers” (Chandra, Verma, Marc Lim, Kumar & Donthu 2022, s. 1534).  This marketing strategy is gaining increased importance online in retail. There is inadequate research regarding consumers’ perceptions of personalized marketing. In addition, there is inadequate research regarding cultural aspects of personalized marketing. There is a concern among consumers about how companies process personal data and the security regarding this. At the same time, processing of personal data has become a discussed topic within the EU, where GDPR has contributed to a greater control over the processing of personal data. This study aims to increase the understanding of personalized marketing within the EU based on consumers’ perception and to study which factors influence this perception. The study is limited to the EU as countries within the EU are regulated by the law of GDPR. To investigate this, a qualitative research strategy has been applied, where semi-structured interviews have been conducted with consumers in Sweden and Germany.   The theories that are applied to this study deal with the sharing of personal information, consumer behavior, privacy, purchase intention in personalized marketing and individualism/collectivism. The collected data have been analyzed together with the theories and shown that there are differences in how Swedish consumers and German consumers perceive personalized marketing.  The conclusion of this study establishes a positive perspective of personalized marketing among the Swedish consumers to a greater extent in comparison with the German consumers. The study can prove that Swedish consumers do not show a concern for privacy, a perceived intrusion of personal advertisements and an aversion of sharing personal information to the same extent as the German consumers. The study can distinguish that German consumers are affected to a greater extent by the law on GDPR and another German law that regulates the handling of personal data. This study also shows that consumers are influenced by two factors, personal and social, when choosing food products. The study can also establish that consumers demonstrate an individualistic behavior when choosing food products.

Digital tools are rapidly evolving (Quach et al. 2022), and this is a contributing factor to the increase in breaches of consumer privacy. This creates a need to understand how consumers relate to marketing using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and personal information to enable personalization (Kumar et al. 2019). AI can generate benefits both for marketers and consumers. It is also used in personal marketing by collecting and managing data in order to make decisions (Huang & Rust 2021a). In contrast, the privacy risks associated with AI are when data is collected without consent and AI systems draw conclusions from individual customer data or interaction data with other consumers (Hermann 2022). There is a need to understand how consumers relate to personal information being used in marketing. For this reason, a qualitative study is being conducted on consumer privacy in relation to the use of AI in digital marketing and how the approach differs between different generations. The study is based on theories to analyze the data collection from interviews to be able to answer the research question. The theories are used to form key concepts that are the basis for a thematic analysis.  The conclusions show that AI can contribute to influence consumer behavior and that there are differences as well as similarities in the generations' approach to digital marketing and AI. Participants in the study have a negative perspective on the subject, while at the same time, some respondents state that personal marketing is preferred. In addition to this, it appears in the study that all participants have insufficient knowledge of how to assess risks when providing personal information, and that they share a concern of AI managing their personal information. The reasons differ depending on the generation of the participants. / Digitala verktyg genomgår, och har under en tid genomgått en snabb utveckling (Quach et al. 2022), och det är en bidragande faktor till att överträdelser på konsumenters integritet ökar. Detta ger ett växande behov av att förstå hur konsumenter förhåller sig till att marknadsföring använder Artificiell Intelligens (AI) och personlig information för att möjliggöra personalisering (Kumar et al. 2019). AI kan generera fördelar för både marknadsförare och kunder. Det används även inom personlig marknadsföring genom att samla in och hantera data för att kunna ta beslut (Huang & Rust 2021a). De integritetsrisker som finns kopplade till AI är däremot när data samlas in utan samtycke och AI-system drar slutsatser från individuella kunddata eller interaktionsdata med andra kunder (Hermann 2022). Här finns ett ökat behov av att förstå hur konsumenter förhåller sig till att personlig information används i marknadsföring. Av denna anledning genomförs en kvalitativ studie om konsumenters integritet i samband med AI i digital marknadsföring, samt hur förhållningssättet skiljer mellan olika generationer.   Studien utgår från teorier för att analysera datainsamlingen med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer för att därefter kunna besvara forskningsfrågan. Teorierna används för att ta fram värdebegrepp som ligger till grund för en tematisk analys.   Slutsatserna visar på att AI kan bidra med påverkan på konsumentbeteenden och att det finns skillnader samt likheter i generationernas förhållningssätt till digital marknadsföring och AI. Deltagare i studien förhåller sig negativt till ämnet, samtidigt som vissa respondenter framför att personlig marknadsföring föredras. Utöver detta framkommer det i studien att samtliga deltagare har otillräckliga kunskaper för hur de ska bedöma risker när de ska tillhandahålla personlig information, samt att de delar en oro av att AI hanterar deras information, däremot skiljer sig orsakerna beroende på deltagarnas ålder och generation.

Le problème de la sédentarité représente aujourd’hui un des grands enjeux mondiaux et est considéré par l’OMS et l’ONU comme la première cause de mortalité liée aux maladies non transmissibles. Dans le même temps, bien que l’exercice physique se soit révélé comme la meilleure parade contre ces maux, la plupart des consommateurs évoquent une série de freins pour adopter sa pratique régulière.L’objet de cette thèse est de proposer des approches alternatives basées sur le concept de la valeur perçue en marketing qui s’est révélé dans le cas des autres types de biens et services comme un élément permettant de motiver et de fidéliser les consommateurs.Nous avons abordé les sources de la valeur perçue par le consommateur dans le cas du marketing de la personnalisation, du marketing communautaire et du marketing expérientiel dont nous avons intégré les différentes facettes dans une approche combinatoire pour proposer la notion de composante de l’exercice en tant que trade-off entre les coûts et les bénéfices.Nous avons également validé que, d’une part, les valeurs perçues des différentes composantes liées à la pratique de l’exercice se combinaient pour former la valeur globale perçue de l’exercice, et que, d’autre part, celle-ci influençait in fine l’intention de pratiquer régulièrement l’exercice et de le recommander.Les résultats de la recherche nous ont permis de suggérer que l’offre d’exercice devrait être proposée comme un menu à la carte afin de faciliter le processus décisionnel des consommateurs et ainsi les motiver et les fidéliser à la pratique. / Nowadays, the problem of physical inactivity is one of the major global issues and it is considered by the WHO and the UN as the leading cause of mortality due to non-communicable diseases. At the same time, although the physical exercise has proven to be the best way to fight against these sicknesses, most of the consumers evoke a series of barriers against the adoption of regular exercise.The purpose of this thesis is to propose alternative approaches based on the concept of perceived value in marketing which has proven to be a good tool to motivate and retain consumers in the frame of other types of goods and services.We focused on the sources of consumer perceived value in personalized marketing, community marketing and experiential marketing, the aspects of which were integrated in a combinatorial approach, the aim of this method being to propose the concept of the exercise composite variable as a trade-off between costs and benefits.We confirmed that the perceived values of the different composites of the practice of exercise combined to form the overall perceived value of the exercise. In addition, we also confirmed that this overall perceived value of the exercise ultimately influenced the consumer’s intent to practice regular exercise and to recommend it.The results of this research allowed us to suggest that the offer of exercise should be made as à la carte menu in order to facilitate consumers’ decision-making process and so to motivate and to retain them.