Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Daniel A. Andresen / The Online Shopping is a web based application intended for online retailers. The main objective of this application is to make it interactive and its ease of use. It would make searching, viewing and selection of a product easier. It contains a sophisticated search engine for user's to search for products specific to their needs. The search engine provides an easy and convenient way to search for products where a user can Search for a product interactively and the search engine would refine the products available based on the user’s input. The user can then view the complete specification of each product. They can also view the product reviews and also write their own reviews. The application also provides a drag and drop feature so that a user can add a product to the shopping cart by dragging the item in to the shopping cart. The main emphasis lies in providing a user-friendly search engine for effectively showing the desired results and its drag and drop behavior.

This study generated a substantive theory of retail mall brand image construction on the part of consumers for a retail mall in Hong Kong. The primary source of data was generated from face-to-face interviews, and analysed using a grounded theory methodology. From this analysis key categories emerged which provided the foundation for the substantive theory. The theory of retail mall brand image construction proposes that consumers associate the retail mall with a particular stratum of society, through a series of interpretive processes that attach personal and social meaning to the mall. The resultant ‘brand image’ conceptualizes the mall as an integral and representative part of that social stratum and, in consequence, there is an associated series of consumer actions, behaviours, and appearances deemed to be expected and appropriate for that mall. Based on this conceptualization there is a resultant ‘character frame’ - a set of socially acceptable parameters governing action, appearance and behaviour – from which a variety of identities can be adopted or assumed that are considered appropriate to the brand image. Consumers can then determine whether these available identities resonate with their own personal values – either through simple compatibility or through more aspirational desires - and thus their response to these identities ii determines whether they accept or reject the positioning of the mall as ‘suitable’ or desirable to themselves. On a theoretical level this study articulates the link between brand image, social position, and consumer culture, and can be seen to contribute to two of the four areas of theoretical interest to consumer culture theorists, namely the area of mass-mediated marketplace ideologies and consumers' interpretive strategies and, secondly, the field of consumer identity projects. In addition the study addresses the gap in branding literature relating to consumer processes for developing (retail mall) brand images. The implications of this study for professional practice are two-fold. Firstly, they can be seen to benefit the marketing of places and place-related products by providing additional knowledge regarding the consumer brand image construction. Secondly, they have the capability to inform and thus improve the design quality of the built environment.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

<p>In every market, competition is a vital ingredient for any working market economy. Large stores like IKEA, OnOff and El-Giganten are often positioned in locations near each other. Shopping areas like Gekås have proven to have large attraction power towards the customers. In down-town shopping areas it is common that large stores take advantage of each other’s capabilities to invoke customers’ interest. By doing so, businesses work together to create a large customer base.</p><p>The purpose of this paper is to determine how owners and managers of medium sized retail stores should choose location for their shop.</p><p>Both a qualitative and quantitative approach were used in this thesis; the qualitative approach was used for conducting interviews with 6 people involved in running the stores and municipality. This was done to collect information from actors that had the experience and knowledge about the subject of the thesis. The quantitative approach involved a survey done upon shopping habits of consumers in the same area. The reason for conducting both these researches was to diminish the biased answers that we would have got from conducting the research from one group only. By asking the store managers/owner and customers, as well as a representative of the municipality, we were able to provide a complete perspective on the situation.</p><p>Our findings showed that there were some major differences between a down-town shopping area and a shopping mall. It also became clear that the preferences and capabilities of the stores were important for selecting locations. Consumer preference on where to go shop was showed to be almost the same for A6 and down-town with a slight advantage towards A6. Still, the requirements on opening a store in a shopping mall oppose down-town was different.</p>

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The problem examined in this study was the nature of compulsive purchasing behavior. Three proposed models depicting this behavior as a learned adaptive response to anxiety and/or depression, an addiction, and a personality disorder were introduced and discussed in Chapter I. Background information concerning the areas examined in the models was presented in Chapter II. The research methodology was discussed in Chapter III and the findings of the research presented in Chapter IV. A summary, conclusions, implications, and recommendations were presented in Chapter V.

The purpose of this study is to examine the formation of customer e-loyalty to a social shopping website. The formation of customer e-loyalty to a social shopping website is examined based on cognitive-affective-conative-action loyalty framework. This study proposes that customer e-loyalty is strongly associated with website quality, e-satisfaction and participation. Seven website attributes (i.e., visual aesthetics, navigation, efficiency, user friendliness, security/privacy, entertainment and community driveness) identified in previous research are employed to measure website quality that affects e-loyalty formation. There are 449 data collected from a southwestern university in the U.S., but only the responses from 333 Pinterest users are used to test the hypotheses. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify dimensionality of social shopping website attributes, and multiple regression and linear regression analysis are conducted to test hypotheses in this study. Results of the study indicate that five significant factors including efficiency, user friendliness, security/privacy, entertainment and community driveness are directly associated with customer e-loyalty. Indeed, such website quality factors as the determinant of cognitive e-loyalty directly affect overall customer satisfaction (affective e-loyalty), customer purchase/return intention to the website (conative e-loyalty), and customer participation, positive eWOM and co-shopping (action e-loyalty). The findings of this study have provided evidence that social shopping website quality dimensions are directly associated with customer e-loyalty to the website. Also, the findings have shown important implications to ensure quality website attributes to increase customer loyalty to a social shopping website.