How can a company decrease their return rates? And can be this conducted by integrating more with the customer via social media? These two main research questions are the core of this Master-Thesis and are related on the mail-order company BON’A PARTE. The focus on the target markets is Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.Fitting problems, different expectations of the order, and inadequate price-performance ratio are the most return reasons for BON’A PARTE customers. In the fashion industry it is very important to satisfy the customer, especially meeting their demands. Due to the straightforwardness of the Internet it is difficult for mail-order companies to build customer loyalty since Internet users can change via one click to the competitors.In order to reach the study purpose, research question related to e-commerce, returns management, and consumer interaction via social media were focused on.The used methodology during the work was literature, a survey, and a case study. For the theory part literature was used and the survey gave an important overview of the return reasons within the company. By ordering garments from the company a qualitative analysis could be developed which reflected the customers’ expectations.By minimizing the gaps between the customers and the company, which involves keeping the company’s promise the return rate can be decrease and BON’A PARTE can build up a personal relationship to their customers. Social media, like the networks Facebook and Twitter are good possibilities to reach new customers and keep their loyal ones. Through interacting with blogs BON’A PARTE can communicate in a better way with their consumers. / Program: Magisterutbildning i Applied Textile Management

abstract: In the past few decades, there has been a remarkable shift in the boundary between public and private information. The application of information technology and electronic communications allow service providers (businesses) to collect a large amount of data. However, this ``data collection" process can put the privacy of users at risk and also lead to user reluctance in accepting services or sharing data. This dissertation first investigates privacy sensitive consumer-retailers/service providers interactions under different scenarios, and then focuses on a unified framework for various information-theoretic privacy and privacy mechanisms that can be learned directly from data. Existing approaches such as differential privacy or information-theoretic privacy try to quantify privacy risk but do not capture the subjective experience and heterogeneous expression of privacy-sensitivity. The first part of this dissertation introduces models to study consumer-retailer interaction problems and to better understand how retailers/service providers can balance their revenue objectives while being sensitive to user privacy concerns. This dissertation considers the following three scenarios: (i) the consumer-retailer interaction via personalized advertisements; (ii) incentive mechanisms that electrical utility providers need to offer for privacy sensitive consumers with alternative energy sources; (iii) the market viability of offering privacy guaranteed free online services. We use game-theoretic models to capture the behaviors of both consumers and retailers, and provide insights for retailers to maximize their profits when interacting with privacy sensitive consumers. Preserving the utility of published datasets while simultaneously providing provable privacy guarantees is a well-known challenge. In the second part, a novel context-aware privacy framework called generative adversarial privacy (GAP) is introduced. Inspired by recent advancements in generative adversarial networks, GAP allows the data holder to learn the privatization mechanism directly from the data. Under GAP, finding the optimal privacy mechanism is formulated as a constrained minimax game between a privatizer and an adversary. For appropriately chosen adversarial loss functions, GAP provides privacy guarantees against strong information-theoretic adversaries. Both synthetic and real-world datasets are used to show that GAP can greatly reduce the adversary's capability of inferring private information at a small cost of distorting the data. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2018

Packaging has been on the environmental agenda for decades. It has been discussed and debated within the society mainly as an environmental problem. Production, distribution and consumption of food and drinks contribute significant to the environmental impact. However, consumers in the EU waste about 20% of the food they buy. The function of packaging in reducing the amount of food losses is an important but often neglected environmental issue. This thesis focuses on the functions of packaging that can be used to preserve resources efficiently and reduce the environmental impact of the food-packaging system. The service perspective is used to increase knowledge about consumer interaction with packages. Fifteen packaging attributes, for example, ‘easy to empty’, ‘hygienic’ and ‘contain the right quantity’, were identified as influencing the amount of food losses at the consumer. The result showed that there are potentials to both increase consumer satisfaction and decrease the environmental impact of the food-packaging system, when new packaging design reduces food losses. A model was developed that calculates the balance of environmental impact between reduction of food losses, and more packaging material. The result showed that it can be environmentally motivated to increase the environmental impact of packaging, if the amount of food losses is reduced. This is especially true for food items with high environmental impact, e.g. meat and dairy products, and for food items that have a high share of loss, e.g. bread. I have also explored to what extent packaging can influence food losses in households. The study showed that about 20% to 25% of household food waste was related to packaging. The households noted three packaging attributes as the main causes for food losses; ‘too big packaging’, ‘difficult to empty’ and ‘best-before-date’. Finally there is a discussion of packaging research in the context of sustainability principles, and suggestions for further research. / <p>Paper IV was still a manuscript at the time of the thesis defense.</p>

I dagens överfyllda media flöde anser vi att det är svårt för organisationer att nå ut och behållakonsument relationer på grund av den stora konkurrensen. Många strategier bygger idag på attbygga unika konsumentrelationer eftersom detta är svårt för konkurrenter att efterlikna. Detsaknas kunskap i hur organisationer på bästa att kan utforma sina marknadsföringsutskick föratt uppmärksammas och att skapa konkurrensfördelar inom social media. Syftet med dennastudie var att ta få ökad kunskap om hur organisationer bättre kan skapa konsumentrelationeroch konsumentinteraktioner i sociala medier. Denna kunskap tog vi fram genom att utföra sexseparata semistrukturerade djup-intervjuer med social media användare som hölls på CampusVarberg. De blev tillfrågade om deras beteende och hur de såg på social media användningensamt olika typer av utskick. Vi fördjupade oss ytterligare genom att inrikta oss mothälsotrenden. Därigenom utvann vi faktorer som användarna ansåg var avgörande samt doldavärden som vi kunde avläsa. Vi samlade ihop de faktorer som kan inverka på utformningen avorganisationers relationsmarknadsföringsutskick i sociala medier. Faktorerna berörde behov,motiv och värderingar. Därefter delades faktorerna in utefter våra fyra olika kategorier;grundläggande faktorer, konstanta faktorer, icke-konstanta och icke uppskattade faktorer.Studien kommer fram till att grundläggande faktorerna är grunden till alla utskick och dekonstanta faktorerna involverar högsta nivån av de grundläggande mänskliga behoven som vianser oföränderliga. Därefter namngav vi faktorer kopplade utskick med trenden hälsa somicke-konstanta faktorerna. Dessa särskiljs eftersom vi ser dem som föränderliga med tiden ochförändras utefter vilken trend som uppstår. Slutligen involverar de icke-uppskattadefaktorerna de faktorer som kom fram till att organisationerna måste undvika i sina utskick.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to explore the impact that increased availability of digital distribution has on physical distribution. The focus is on the effects that digital distribution has on the value creating processes of game developers with regard to distribution alternatives, strategic networks and consumer interaction. Additionally we examine if there is a future for physical distribution of games in an increasingly digital market. Background: It is estimated that only the online gaming market alone will turn over more than $13 billion in 2013. In terms of market potential this means that video gaming has already surpassed the movie industry and is closing in on the music industry (Jöckel, Will &amp; Schwarzer, 2008). Digital distribution is gaining ground in the game industry (Cook, 2012), and access to high-speed internet connectivity is also increasing at a rapid pace. This creates a choice for game developers to adapt their strategies to the new ways of distribution. The previous view of the market was a linear value chain where developers must use intermediaries to reach an end consumer (Williams, 2002). The network dynamics appear to have changed, consumers have an impact on development and there are more complex interactions between the actors in order to generate better value. Method: The thesis uses an exploratory qualitative research method by conducting semi-structured interviews with developers on how the distribution channels have changed. Secondary data concerning the value chain, networks, and value constellations and was gathered to support the empirical background of the market. Conclusion: The value chain has been reconfigured from the classical value chain to a value constellation as increased online availability has changed the distribution possibilities allowing reciprocal relationships and user co-production as well as disintermedation of middle-hands. Value is created for the game developers through three different paths in our own value constellation: portals, direct sales homepage, and through publisher. In all three paths consumers play an important role through user participation in the value creation through user created content and user feedback through community and fan-base activities.. Our conclusion is that the future of physical distribution in the current format is threatened by digital alternatives, and will likely be discontinued in the long run and/or radically changed to include more physical value adding content.

<p>The purpose of this study has been to examine how customers, by interacting with each other, can communicate and create the image of a brand. We find this topic to be relevant since there are no previous studies conducted concerning the customers influence on the brand image. Our ambition has been to describe in what ways and to what extent the customer can affect and influence the brand image by communicating with other customers. To fulfill our purposed we have targeted three important questions which are:</p><p>• In which ways can the customer affect the communicated image of a brand?</p><p>• To what extent can the customer influence the brand image and the perceived value?</p><p>• Who has control over the brand, the customer or the company?</p><p>For this study we have used a qualitative approach in which we have conducted eight personal interviews with brand consultants and the editor of the magazine Dagens Media which has given us the foundation for our analysis. We choose this qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding and a complete picture for the studied topic. In the final chapter we present our conclusions of the study. We have found that consumers can influence and communicate the brand image in five different ways; by using the brand, through word-of-mouth, buzz, engaging in social groups and through Consumer Generated Media (CGM). Another conclusion we have drawn is that the consumer has gained more control over the information flow in the market and thereby their ability to affect the company’s marketing message has increased. The main reason for the consumers improved power is the explosion of media channels that has developed and increased through Internet. Finally we have drawn the conclusion that the brand image can be divided in to two different aspects; the personal and the general image.</p>

The purpose of this study has been to examine how customers, by interacting with each other, can communicate and create the image of a brand. We find this topic to be relevant since there are no previous studies conducted concerning the customers influence on the brand image. Our ambition has been to describe in what ways and to what extent the customer can affect and influence the brand image by communicating with other customers. To fulfill our purposed we have targeted three important questions which are: • In which ways can the customer affect the communicated image of a brand? • To what extent can the customer influence the brand image and the perceived value? • Who has control over the brand, the customer or the company? For this study we have used a qualitative approach in which we have conducted eight personal interviews with brand consultants and the editor of the magazine Dagens Media which has given us the foundation for our analysis. We choose this qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding and a complete picture for the studied topic. In the final chapter we present our conclusions of the study. We have found that consumers can influence and communicate the brand image in five different ways; by using the brand, through word-of-mouth, buzz, engaging in social groups and through Consumer Generated Media (CGM). Another conclusion we have drawn is that the consumer has gained more control over the information flow in the market and thereby their ability to affect the company’s marketing message has increased. The main reason for the consumers improved power is the explosion of media channels that has developed and increased through Internet. Finally we have drawn the conclusion that the brand image can be divided in to two different aspects; the personal and the general image.