Mit der COVID-19-Pandemie erlebte das Geschäftsmodell des Quick-Commerce, das auf schnelle Lebensmittellieferungen setzt, einen regelrechten Boom. Heute hat sich der Markt weitgehend konsolidiert, und die verbleibenden Anbieter kämp-fen mit der geringen Profitabilität des Geschäfts. Vor diesem Hintergrund unter-sucht die vorliegende Arbeit, ob die Zahlungsbereitschaft der Konsumenten eine Preiserhöhung zulässt und welche Zielgruppen besonders attraktiv sind. Zu die-sem Zweck wurden eine Online-Umfrage und eine Preiserhebung durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Liefergeschwindigkeit, die Bedarfssitu-ation und der Warenkorbwert entscheidende Faktoren für die Zahlungsbereit-schaft sind. Darüber hinaus scheint ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Zahlungsbe-reitschaft und Merkmalen wie Alter, Haushaltsgröße und Wohnort zu bestehen. Jedoch übersteigt der aktuelle Marktpreis bei einem Großteil der Befragten bereits die individuelle Zahlungsbereitschaft. Die Ergebnisse liefern wichtige Erkenntnisse für die Praxis und beleuchten ein bisher wenig erforschtes Themenfeld.:1. Einleitung 2. Theorie und Forschungsstand 2.1. Online-Lebensmittelhandel 2.2. Quick-Commerce 2.3. Zahlungsbereitschaft 2.3.1. Theoretische Grundlagen 2.3.2. Methoden zur Messung individueller Zahlungsbereitschaften 2.3.3. Zahlungsbereitschaft im Online-Lebensmittelhandel 2.4. Hypothesenentwicklung 3. Erhebung von Zahlungsbereitschaften 3.1. Methode 3.1.1. Untersuchungsdesign 3.1.2. Operationalisierung 3.1.3. Fragebogenentwicklung 3.1.4. Stichprobe und Datenerhebung 3.1.5. Datenaufbereitung 3.1.6. Datenanalyse 3.2. Ergebnisse 3.2.1. Beschreibung der Stichprobe 3.2.2. Überprüfung der Hypothesen 3.2.3. Weiterführende Analysen 4. Erhebung aktueller Marktpreise 4.1. Methode 4.1.1. Produktpreise 4.1.2. Liefergebühren 4.2. Ergebnisse 4.2.1. Produktpreise 4.2.2. Liefergebühren 4.2.3. Gesamtpreis 5. Diskussion 5.1. Interpretation der Ergebnisse 5.2. Limitationen 5.3. Praktische Implikationen / The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant boom in the business model of quick commerce, which focuses on fast grocery deliveries. Today, the market has largely consolidated, and the remaining providers are struggling with the low profitability of the business. Against this background, this study investigates whether con-sumers' willingness to pay allows for a price increase and which target groups are particularly attractive. For this purpose, an online survey and a price analysis were conducted. The results indicate that delivery speed, the urgency of need, and the shopping basket value are key factors influencing willingness to pay. Additionally, there appears to be a correlation between willingness to pay and characteristics such as age, household size, and place of residence. However, the current market price already exceeds the individual willingness to pay for the majority of respond-ents. The findings provide valuable insights for practical application and shed light on a relatively under-researched field.:1. Einleitung 2. Theorie und Forschungsstand 2.1. Online-Lebensmittelhandel 2.2. Quick-Commerce 2.3. Zahlungsbereitschaft 2.3.1. Theoretische Grundlagen 2.3.2. Methoden zur Messung individueller Zahlungsbereitschaften 2.3.3. Zahlungsbereitschaft im Online-Lebensmittelhandel 2.4. Hypothesenentwicklung 3. Erhebung von Zahlungsbereitschaften 3.1. Methode 3.1.1. Untersuchungsdesign 3.1.2. Operationalisierung 3.1.3. Fragebogenentwicklung 3.1.4. Stichprobe und Datenerhebung 3.1.5. Datenaufbereitung 3.1.6. Datenanalyse 3.2. Ergebnisse 3.2.1. Beschreibung der Stichprobe 3.2.2. Überprüfung der Hypothesen 3.2.3. Weiterführende Analysen 4. Erhebung aktueller Marktpreise 4.1. Methode 4.1.1. Produktpreise 4.1.2. Liefergebühren 4.2. Ergebnisse 4.2.1. Produktpreise 4.2.2. Liefergebühren 4.2.3. Gesamtpreis 5. Diskussion 5.1. Interpretation der Ergebnisse 5.2. Limitationen 5.3. Praktische Implikationen

Sammanfattning Titel: Billigt eller dyrt, udda eller jämt? - Hur prisprecisionseffekten påverkar Willingness to pay Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Lovisa Axenfalk Pettersson och Wilhelm Ericsson. Handledare: Jonas Kågström. Datum: 2018 - Maj. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka hur prisprecisionseffekten i samband med Willingness to pay påverkar bostadstransaktioner. Metod: Kvantitativ metod, enkäter med experimentella inslag. Resultat och slutsats: Denna studies resultat visar att när det kommer till priser på bostäder, är det inte enbart priset som påverkar köpet och WTP. Gällande det marknadsförda pris som lockar flest spekulanter, bör det antingen vara avrundat pris eller just below pris. Det mest ärliga marknadsmässiga priset är avrundat pris. Ett precist pris är det utgångspris, som anses vara satt av en seriös fastighetsmäklare och visar att fastighetsmäklaren är kunnig och sätter ett seriöst pris utifrån vad bostaden faktiskt är värd. Gällande vad som leder till det högsta slutpriset, kan det vara avrundat pris, precist pris samt just below pris. Varför resultatet av slutpriset skiljer sig åt är beroende på situationen på marknaden och tillgänglig information för köparen. Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie har bidragit med att skapa en ökad förståelse till personer som är delaktiga i en köpprocess utifrån prisprecisionseffektens prissättningar. Vidare är bidraget att människor påverkas av tillgänglig information, vilket påverkar köparens WTP och vad köpare anser om olika priser. Med kunskap från denna studie kan köpare av bostäder få en bättre förståelse för hur det marknadsförda utgångspriset kan påverka köparens WTP av bostaden de är intresserad av att köpa och den bostadens slutpris. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien fastställer att det finns flera möjligheter till fortsatt forskning. Det skulle kunna vara att studera prisprecisionseffekten i en verklig miljö. Att studera hur ankareffekten och prisprecisionseffekten påverkar varandra. Väva in andra prispåverkande faktorer än bara själva priset. Samt att vända perspektiv och utgå från säljaren istället. Nyckelord: Prisprecisionseffekten, WTP - Willingness to pay, avrundat pris, precist pris, just below pris, utgångspris och bostadstransaktioner. / Abstract Title: Cheap or expensive, odd or even? - How the price precision effect, affects willingness to pay Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. Author: Lovisa Axenfalk Pettersson and Wilhelm Ericsson. Supervisor: Jonas Kågström. Date: 2018 - May. Aim: The aim is to further investigate how the price precision effect associated with willingness to pay affects sales of real estate transactions. Method: Quantitative method through a survey with experimental elements. Result and conclusion: The results in the study indicates, regarding prices on the housing market, that it is not only the price that affects pursues and WTP. Regarding the marketed list price, which attracts the most potential buyers, they should either be a rounded or just below price. The most honest market price is a rounded price. A list price set at a precise price, is considered to be listed from a serious real estate broker. It also indicates that the real estate broker is knowledgeable and puts a serious price based on what the residence is actually worth. To get the highest selling price, it can be all of the price precision effect prices, rounded price, precise price or just below price. Why the result of the highest selling price differ, is depending on the situation on the market and available information for the buyer. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution for this study has been to create an increased understanding about the price precision effect and its prices for the persons involved in a buying process. Furthermore, the contribution is that people are influenced by available information, affecting the buyer's WTP and what buyers consider about different prices. With knowledge from this study, buyers can gain a better understanding of how the marketed list price may affect the buyer's WTP for the real estate they are interested in buying and its final selling price. Suggestion for future research: To summarize the possibilities for future research this paper suggests; to analyze the price precision effect from the sellers point of view. To analyze the price precision effect in a real setting instead, where actual transactions are being made. To further investigate the ratio between the anchoring effect with the price precision effect, and how they affect each other. The final suggestions for future research is to involve other aspects into the price precision effect, despite only the price, because it is not only the price that affects the house buying market. Keywords: Price precision effect, WTP - willingness to pay, rounded price, precise price, just below price, list price and real estate transaction.

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis was to develop a method for how practitioners can utilize value-based pricing of smart services. In order to fulfill this purpose, the following research questions were addressed: RQ1) How can firms identify value drivers for their smart services in order to understand customer perceived value? RQ2) How can firms match the perceived value of their smart service and what type of revenue model to use (i.e., how to price and how much to price)? RQ3) How can firms use value-based pricing for calculating the optimal price of their smart service? Method - This thesis adopts a mixed method. This is done by collecting data through interviews and surveys. This data is then analyzed and utilized to develop a method for value-based pricing of smart services.  Findings - Based on the insights gathered through the explored methods for identifying and measuring value drivers, concluding customers’ willingness to pay, matching it with revenue and pricing mechanisms and finally deriving an optimal price a holistic and structured process that connected these different activities has been proposed (see Appendix S). Theoretical contribution - The major theoretical contribution is the synthesis of three different literature streams (i.e., VBP, revenue model design and smart service commercialization). These areas have, to our knowledge, previously never been integrated in one study. In addition, the developed method successfully addresses identification of value drivers, which previously has been labeled as the biggest barrier for B2B firms wanting to transition towards VBP (Liozu et al., 2012).  Practical implications - This thesis supports management in commercialization of smart services by providing a holistic and systematic process for identifying and measuring value drivers, concluding customers’ WTP, matching it with revenue and pricing mechanisms and finally deriving an optimal price based on VBP. The final developed method is presented in Appendix S. / Syfte - Syftet med detta examensarbete var att utveckla en metod för hur praktiker kan utnyttja värdebaserad prissättning av smarta tjänster. För att uppfylla detta syfte togs följande forskningsfrågor upp: RQ1) Hur kan företag identifiera värdedrivare för sina smarta tjänster för att förstå kundens upplevda värde? RQ2) Hur kan företag matcha det upplevda värdet av sin smarta tjänst och vilken typ av intäktsmodell de ska använda (dvs hur man prissätter och hur mycket prissätter man)? RQ3) Hur kan företag använda värdebaserad prissättning för att beräkna det optimala priset för sin smarta tjänst? Metod - Detta exjobb använder en blandad metod. Detta görs genom att samla in data genom intervjuer och enkäter. Denna data analyseras sedan och används för att utveckla en metod för värdebaserad prissättning av smarta tjänster. Resultat - Baserat på de insikter som samlats in genom de utforskade metoderna för att identifiera och mäta värdedrivande faktorer, utnytja kundernas betalningsvilja, matcha den med intäkts- och prissättningsmekanismer och slutligen härleda ett optimalt pris har en holistisk och strukturerad process som kopplar samman dessa olika aktiviteter presenterats (se Bilaga S). Teoretiskt bidrag - Det största teoretiska bidraget är syntesen av tre olika litteraturströmmar (dvs VBP, intäktsmodelldesign och kommersialisering av smarta tjänster). Dessa områden har, såvitt vi vet, tidigare aldrig integrerats i en studie. Dessutom tar den utvecklade metoden framgångsrikt in på identifiering av värdedrivare, som tidigare har stämplats som den största barriären för B2B-företag som vill gå över till VBP (Liozu et al., 2012). Praktiska implikationer - Det här examensarbetet stöder ledning i kommersialisering av smarta tjänster genom att tillhandahålla en holistisk och systematisk process för att identifiera och mäta värdedrivare, avsluta kundernas WTP, matcha den med intäkts- och prissättningsmekanismer och slutligen härleda ett optimalt pris baserat på VBP. Den slutligen utvecklade metoden presenteras i Bilaga S

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Xianghong Li / Hikaru H. Peterson / The organic food market in the United States expanded rapidly at annual rates between 12% and 21% from 1997 to 2008, yet the adoption rate of organic farming remained stagnant. Industry sources suggest that the degree of outsourcing organic inputs has been increasing during the most recent years. Organic foods are available at traditional supermarkets and mass merchandisers. Many retailers now offer organic food products in their private labels. This study focuses on organic soymilk, which illustrates these recent trends. China, a major low income country which supplies organic agricultural ingredients to the U.S. , has raised food safety concerns fueled by recent incidents. Organic foods have been marketed in China as eco-products in an effort to promote safer foods to meet domestic needs. While organic soybean is one of China’s primary organic exports, China has been the leading importer of conventional soybeans with U.S. as its largest source, but most U.S. production is transgenic. China has a labeling policy on GM (genetically modified) products, which has been more tightly enforced in recent years. This thesis examines U.S. and Chinese consumers’ valuations of attributes of processed organic products, with an emphasis on eliciting their preferences of organic ingredients from different origins, in the case of soymilk. A survey was designed for each country. The U.S. survey was administered online nationwide. An enumerated survey was administered at three types of food retail channels in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China. Respectively, 316 and 300 responses were collected from the U.S. and China. Choice experiment was used to elicit consumer values for various attributes of soymilk in both markets. The results show that consumers in both countries are willing to pay premiums for processed foods such as soymilk with organic and non-GMO ingredients. The premium for organic soybeans is significantly higher than that for non-GMO beans. The results also indicate that U.S. consumers hold strong preferences for organic soymilk produced with domestically produced soybeans. In terms of brand preferences, U.S. respondents are willing to pay more for national brands relative to store brands, with taste as a major differentiating factor. In contrast, Chinese consumers’ valuations depend greatly on nationalities of certifying agencies. U.S. certified organic product was perceived higher than EU or Chinese certified organic products, but Chinese-certified non-GMO products were preferred over those certified by U.S. agencies. Chinese consumers’ values varied by cities and retail types where respondents were surveyed.

The equine influenza virus is a significant cause of respiratory disease in horses. Even though horses generally recover from this virus, sometimes horses with equine influenza develop secondary bacterial infections which can cause severe pneumonia, thereby increasing recovery times. Owners and managers are faced with the decision of whether to delay preventative treatment in hopes of the horse avoids contracting a secondary bacterial infection (“wait and see”) or aggressively treat the horse with an antibiotic in hopes of avoiding a serious infection (“treat now”). From a decision making standpoint, the economic considerations include explicit treatment costs as well as nonmonetary costs the owner or manager bear when caring for an ill horse. This study investigating horse owner/manager preferences for treatment alternatives is approached in two parts. The first part of the study collects data from field practitioners to estimate the cost of treatment strategies under different scenarios. The second part consists of a questionnaire presented to horse owners and managers and includes four choices between alternative treatment strategies. Analyzing the data using a conjoint analysis approach, respondents’ willingness to pay for different elements of a treatment strategy are estimated. Based on treatment strategies and demographic interactions, a respondent was willing to pay to cover the cost of a horse who became ill with the equine influenza, but individual price sensitivities suggested horse owners and managers are willing to “treat now” versus “wait and see” in order to not see their horse feel poorly and miss training time.

Subsidies to professional sports teams remain a controversial issue, and in most European countries these subsidies have decreased over the past decades. However, in Sweden they are a common occurrence, municipalities are giving generous amounts of money to their local team. To justify these subsidies, proponents of sports team claim their great economic impact on the local area. Nevertheless, in the sport economic literature, most of the researchers cannot find any positive impact and some of them even find negative impact from a hosting a professional sports team. This study will give an explanation and extension to the earlier articles about sport economics written in Sweden by Emelie Värja (2014) and Lars Behrenz (2009). In this essay we will present two models. The idea behind our first model is to investigate if professional sport events should be considered as a substitute to other leisure activities. This model indicates that there is a substitution effect between ice hockey games and cinema admissions in Sweden. The outcome from our other model which studies the condominium market strongly contradicts the generous sport subsidies given by Swedish municipalities. The results indicate that the presence of a professional ice hockey team lowers the condominiums prices.

Bus is the main mode of urban transport in most cities in developing countries. Despite a high mode share, bus service quality is often poor and para-transit services are regarded as a problem in urban transport systems rather than a solution. Using Dhaka as a case study, this thesis investigates bus service quality through identification and valuation of thirteen important attributes using discrete choice models. The attributes examined are travel time, travel cost, waiting time, headway, priority seats for women, crowding inside the bus, boarding and alighting, picking up and dropping off passengers, bus stop facilities, driving quality, driver and crew behaviour, cleanliness inside the bus, and air conditioning. Five focus groups were conducted to identify key qualitative bus attributes and their levels in order to design choice experiments for valuation. A survey of 431 respondents in Dhaka was then undertaken. Two choice experiments were designed and implemented within the survey, each with seven attributes (set A and set B) with travel cost as the common attribute. Multinomial Logit (MNL) models and Mixed Logit (MXL) models were developed using the Dhaka choice data. Twelve of the thirteen attributes were statistically significant at the 99% level. The values of in-vehicle time (IVT), waiting time and headway were BDT 34.80, 47.40 and 64.20 per hour respectively for low income groups in the segmented model. Waiting time has a premium valuation, 1.36 times higher than IVT, which endorses existing evidence. The highest valuation is for the dummy variable seating all the way which is BDT 42.20 for high income females. The next largest was bus stops properly, picks and drops passengers nicely , followed by wide door and mild steps for boarding and alighting , smooth and safe journey , bus stop with shed, but no seating arrangements , and air conditioning . The lowest value was BDT 4.61 for deck and seats are clean and tidy , for the low income group. The WTP for the qualitative attributes is high, but given the poor level of the existing service and low fare levels this seems reasonable. Income has a significant impact on travel cost, as well as gender on priority seats for women and crowding inside the bus. However, household car ownership does not have a significant impact on any of the bus attributes examined. The high income group has 75% higher WTP for A set attributes and 79% higher WTP for B set attributes than low income group. Females have 76% higher WTP for standing comfortably all the way , but 38% higher WTP for seating all the way compared to the male. However, females have a WTP of BDT 0.44 for per percent of priority seats for women in contrast with males who have a WTP of BDT -0.11. There is significant taste heterogeneity for both quantitative and qualitative attributes. The qualitative attributes for picking up and dropping off passengers, boarding and alighting facilities and driving facilities have higher valuation and this attributes came from the existing within the market competition structure in a highly fragmented bus market. Therefore, it is recommended to introduce competition for the market and incentives for bus industry consolidation.

We test our hypotheses on 186 participants designing their own scarves with an MC toolkit. After completing the process, they submitted binding bids for "their" products in Vickrey auctions. We therefore observe real buying behavior, not merely stated intentions. We find that the subjective value of a self-designed product (i.e., one's bid in the course of the auction) is indeed not only impacted by the preference fit the customer expects it to deliver, but also by (1) the process enjoyment the customer reports, (2) the interaction of preference fit and process enjoyment, and (3) the interaction of preference fit and perceived process effort. In addition to its main effect, we interpret preference fit as a moderator of the valuegenerating effect of process evaluation: In cases where the outcome of the process is perceived as positive (high preference fit), the customer also interprets process effort as a positive accomplishment, and this positive affect adds (further) value to the product. It appears that the perception of the self-design process as a good or bad experience is partly constructed on the basis of the outcome of the process. In the opposite case (low preference fit), effort creates a negative affect which further reduces the subjective value of the product. Likewise, process enjoyment is amplified by preference fit, although enjoyment also has a significant main effect, which means that regardless of the outcome, customers attribute higher value to a self-designed product if they enjoy the process. The importance of the self-design process found in this study bears clear relevance for companies which offer or plan to offer MC systems. It is not sufficient to design MC toolkits in such a way that they allow customers to design products according to their preferences. The affect caused by this process is also highly important. Toolkits should therefore stimulate positive affective reactions and at the same time keep negative affect to a minimum. (authors' abstract)

Nanotechnology is one of the key innovative technologies in the present century. The food industry has applied this technology in each of its sectors. Nanotechnology has tremendous potential in food and agriculture, including advancing agricultural cultivation and food production, enhancing food nutrition and flavor, and improving food packaging and preservation. However, the novel properties of nanoscale materials that allow beneficial applications are also accompanied with uncertainties, even unknown risks. A number of studies have examined public understanding as well as acceptance of nanotechnology via surveys in both the US and Europe. However, most of these studies concentrated on public attitudes in general. Few works focused on specific products, let alone food or food related products. This project will contribute to the literature by calculating monetary valuations (i.e., willingness-to-pay) for canola oil where new techniques are utilized. Using choice experiment survey data, consumers’ valuations for nano attributes were estimated with choice models. As implied, consumers were willing to pay $0.95 less for a typical bottle (48 fl. oz.) of canola oil if it was produced from nanoscale-modified seed; $0.51 less if the final products were packed with nanotechnology-enhanced packaging technique; and no significant difference was found for oil that was designed with health enhancing nano-engineered oil drops, which would require interaction with the human digestive system. Additionally, the results revealed unobserved heterogeneities among respondents in their willingness-to-pay for canola oil attributes. Aligned with descriptive results, 46.7% of the respondents reported that they were optimistic about new technology applied to food products. While a significant portion of the respondents (42.8%) indicated that they might gain benefits at the same level as risks, there were a slightly larger proportion of the respondents who feared they might be exposed to more risks than benefits through nanofoods. Further analysis included respondents’ attitudes and opinions as well as their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics toward the goal of understanding the underlying behavior difference. Findings from this study will help bridge the gap between scientific innovation and public policy and social-economic concerns. Implications for government policy that can be efficiently used to monitor and regulate these technologies were also investigated.

The Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a national student movement that is trying to harness student power to shift $1 billion'roughly 20% of college and university food budgets across the country towards local, ecologically sound, fair, and humane food sources, what they call "real" food, by 2020. The University of Vermont (UVM) was the fifth university in the country to sign the Real Food Campus Commitment, pledging to shift at least 20% of its own food budget towards "real" food by 2020. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the implementation of the Real Food Campus Commitment at UVM. In order to examine the demand for "real" food on the UVM campus I analyzed a survey of 904 undergraduate students that used contingent valuation to evaluate students' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the "real" food attributes. I found that a majority of students are willing to pay a positive premium for "real" food, but that the average premium is quite small. Furthermore, I found that student characteristics and attitudes significantly influence WTP. Specifically, gender, residency, college, and attitudes about price and origin of food are significant predictors of WTP. To evaluate the potential of the RFC to significantly transform the food system I analyzed the activities and components of the RFC using the framework of food democracy. In addition to analyzing the activities and components of the RFC as a national movement, I analyzed the movement as it is being realized on the ground at UVM. My analysis reveals that the RFC has the potential to transform the food system because it promotes all five dimensions of food democracy as both a national movement and as realized on the ground at one university. Both of my analyses suggest that the RFC has significant potential to transform the food system at UVM, but that food systems education for the greater student body will crucial to see that potential fulfilled. This thesis can contribute to the success of the Real Food movement at UVM by identifying areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement in terms of increasing student preference for "real" food and promoting food democracy. Moreover, this thesis may be useful for national RFC staff and other campuses that are implementing the RFC, as it demonstrates how the RFC is being played out on the ground at an institution that is at the forefront of the movement.