<p>When we talk about shopping for garments, we mostly think of women first. Men also shop, need clothes, spend time and money in stores and dress in various fashion styles. That is why we decided to explore men’s attitudes and behavior in a garment shopping experience. Our main focus was men’s experience when buying fashionable garments.</p><p>The thesis is based on investigation within the area of consumer behavior and its focal point is on men, shopping and how do they feel when they shop. In the study we conducted various qualitative researches which are participant observation method along with a short interview and a focus group method that helped us to get deeper into men’s mind and their perception of shopping and fashion in general. We have also conducted library research in order to obtain more data and information about previous studies made in the same field. While collecting all the possible data for this study, we tried to keep a visible link between our empirical findings and the collected library data.</p><p>Results of the study identified four key traits that greatly help in defining men shopping experience as rather enjoyable or not. These traits are time consumption, uncertainty aversion, prices of garments and companionship while shopping. Time consumption and uncertainty aversion have been indicated as central traits which, in a right balance, can characterize male shopping experience as more pleasurable.</p><p>Our overall findings indicate that men are strongly represented in the global shopping arena and share their own characteristic shopping behaviour. Thus, men should not be neglected nor ignored as consumers of fashionable garments.</p>

Background and problem: During the last decade people have become increasingly aware of their health which has led to the establishment of a new market: Over-the-counter test. These tests enable a consumer to individually monitor and examine their health. A decease where such a test could have a large impact is breast cancer. The Breast self-examination pad AWARE has provided women with an opportunity to prevent the course of the decease to reach beyond treatable. This product is shortly made available to the majority of Swedish women. At present there has been no research conducted in Sweden regarding what women think about such a product. Purpose: The purpose of this research thesis is to identify which factors to emphasize in the advertising of AWARE Frame of reference: In this section theories regarding consumer behavior are presented. The chapter in concluded by the creation of a model which aids the fulfillment of the purpose. Method: In order to accomplish the fulfillment the purpose a quantitative method has been utilized. The data collection constitutes of a market research in the Jönköping region where 354 female respondents were included. Conclusion: The result presents to which degree the specific factors are important to enhance in the advertising of AWARE. The authors reached the conclusion that the Psychological factor is of highest importance.

ABSTRACT The recent years mark the appearance of many Eco-label schemes in the attempt ofhelping consumer to recognize the products with less harm to the environment, forexample: Euro flower, Nordic swan, Blue Angle, Krav. These labels belong to the thirdparties, which get supports from government with object of achieving sustainabledevelopment. However there is still lacking a clear understanding about theeffectiveness of Eco-label in consumer consumption activities due to the lack ofresearch working on that field. We take this challenge as an opportunity to do the studyof investigating about the role of Eco-label in the process of leading consumers topurchase Eco-products. The research focuses on Swedish university students‘ choice onecological food. A number of Swedish students in Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden are selected as thegroup of respondents for this study. In order to understand the effectiveness of Eco-labelin students‘ food products choice, four key factors are taken into account to invest igate:students‘ awareness on Eco-label, students‘ knowledge on Eco-label &amp; ecological food,students‘ environment motivation, and the availability of ecological food &amp; Eco-labelinformation. The demographic characters including gender and education backgroundsare known as the influence factors among these four factors. The results proved the effectiveness of Eco-label as the guiding instrument for students‘product choice towards ecological food. It provided the evidence that three of these fourfactors above (accept the only one external factors: availability) can encourage students‘attention to Eco-label. In additional, student‘s attention to Eco-label can actually leadtheir purchase behavior on ecological food. With findings and recommendations, thestudy is expected to contribute to the field of ecological consumer behavior marketingresearch. However, the representative of the results is risky because of the limitedcontext and sample of the study.

ABSTRACT The new century has provoked the liberalization of the world economy and market globalization. International marketing has opened the borders for all countries, which can compete with the same competitive tools, increasing the rivalry among them. This thesis deals with the wine sector and the changes that this sector has suffered in previous years, due to the entrance of new producer countries and the recession that has been produced by European wines, called “Old World” producers. In this study we will make an analysis of the Swedish wine market, describing how the different players act; from consumers to the special system of alcohol distribution that is controlled by the government, all the way to the producers and kinds of wine that compose the market. Among the different wine producers we will make a thorough study of the Spanish case, given that we come from Spain, where the wine industry has a special relevance. Furthermore, Spain is one of the most important wine exporters to Sweden, but in the last years it has suffered a small decrease in its market share. So apart from studying the current situation of the wine sector in Sweden and how consumers perceive the wine of “Old World” countries, such as France, Italy and Spain and “New World” countries, such as Australia, Chile and South Africa, our main objective is to make some strategic recommendations in order to improve the situation for Spanish wine. The study will focus on a quantitative research through a self completion questionnaire, measuring the main features of wine (quality, price, nationality, etc.) and also on different theories that compose the marketing and strategic fields.

Problem: Environmental awareness was rated as the most current trend in 2006 by the readers of Swedish newspaper DN (Olausson, 2007), and in 2005 97 per cent of the Swed-ish population thought that environmental issues will have or already have had an influence on Sweden (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2005). Higher awareness about environmental issues leads to more environmental friendly products and new processes by companies for lower consumption of energy and harmful materials. However, the impor-tance of the contribution of households and electronics on the environment seems to be underestimated. Therefore, it is of importance to understand how consumers consider the environmental friendliness of electronic products, and computers in specific for this thesis. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how consumers value environmental friendliness when buying computers and how this influences their purchase decision. Method: In order to achieve the purpose stated, a conjoint analysis was first made through an experiment in order to see how the consumer make trade-offs between certain attributes of computers. After the experiment, respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire which has been used to connect computer purchasing and environmental values to con-sumer behaviour theories. Conclusions: The assumption on environmental friendliness being the least valued attrib-ute by consumers has not been supported by the results of the conjoint analysis done; in fact it has instead portrayed environmental friendliness as the second most important, be-fore price and performance, only after accessories. The results have also shown that envi-ronmental friendliness was appreciated in a computer, and that its existence in a computer affects the purchase decision positively. The results of the post-experiment questionnaire have illustrated that environmental friendliness of computers has a strong effect on the purchase decision when combined with other attributes, although it may not be regarded of high value by itself. While a computer by it self are likely to satisfy needs as low as social need, the environmental friendliness of computers appears to satisfy esteem needs. It has also been demonstrated that social factors could have strong effects on purchasing of green computers if more and better information were available. Further, moral obligations and at-titude to behaviour factors concerning green computers seem to be strong, while perceived control and subjective norms appear to be low in today’s society.

Since the implementation of the congestion charge in Gothenburg on the first of January 2013, there has been a debate whether or not the congestion charge would harm the retail business. This concerns, in particular the retail stores located in the charging zone. The general aim of this study was to investigate attitudes and consumer behavior related to the recently introduced congestion charge in Gothenburg and to illustrate the possible impact the congestion charge may have had on retail business performance. In order to do this we conducted a questionnaire survey of visitors to Bäckebol shopping center (n=335). The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions and the response rate was 76 %. In addition, we performed two extensive interviews with key representatives for the local retail business in order to add context and background to the questionnaire findings.  In the questionnaire, consumer behavior was investigated by questions on time of visit, destination, and means of transport. In the analyses we assessed associations between changes in consumer behavior, acceptance and demographic factors. The results of this study showed a low level of acceptance of the congestion charge in the study population. Furthermore, we found a high proportion of subjects reporting a behavioral change related to the introduction of the congestion charge. This was associated to but not explained by a low level of acceptance. It was also related to residency outside the inner parts of Gothenburg.  In this way our results support the theory of an association between behavioral change, degree of acceptance as well as demographic factors. However, in a comparison of certain aspects of behavioral change to a previous study conducted prior to the introduction of the congestion charge we found no difference. It is likely that behavioral changes related to the congestion charge have taken place but they may have been exaggerated in the questionnaire responses. The interviews implied that the congestion charge has had an effect on business performance in Gothenburg but in this investigation we have not been able to find firm proof of this. We can conclude that there appears to be a low acceptance of the congestion charge in particular in suburban areas of Gothenburg and this is most likely associated with a consumer behavioral change.  For further research it would be interesting to obtain information on business performance and customer frequencies before and after the introduction of the congestion charge. In addition it would be of interest to investigate in greater detail the association between acceptance and behavioral change and if retail stores that handle bulky goods are more likely to be affected by a congestion charges than other businesses.

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Date: June 1st, 2011 Program: MIMA – International Marketing Course name: Master Thesis (EFO705) Title: Differences of Consumers’ Perception and Attitude towardsMarketing Communication through media: comparison generation X, Y, and ZinThailand Problem: How each generation perceive and react to marketingcommunication differently: comparison Generation X, Y, and Z. Research question: What are the particular differences ofperception and attitude towards marketing communication through media among eachgroup of consumers: comparison Gen X, Y, and Z in Thailand? Purpose: To compare differences of perception and attitude betweengeneration X, Y and Z towards marketing communication through the chosen media(television, print, and internet). Method: A qualitative method was used to achieve the purpose ofthis thesis. The primary data was gathered by using semi-structured interviewwith twelve respondents in three different generations: X, Y and Z. Secondarydata such as online documents and textbooks were also supported to enhance thevalue of the findings. Conclusion: Comparing the perception and attitude toward marketingcommunication by media between generation X, Y and Z are almost the same. Thereason is that the technology is changing over time and has more impact fortheir life. As a result their lifestyle is dominated by internet. Advertisingon TV is still much alive while print ads are almost end for generation Y and Zsince this kind of media is unattractive as well as the new generations are readless.However, print ads are effective for generation X.

This thesis is a study of Thai consumer behavior that affects the purchasing and servicing in the furniture retail industry. A market survey was conducted in Thailand to support this study. The target group of this study is people residing in Bangkok aged 25 year old and above. In order to find a suitable strategy for the new IKEA in Thailand, the data gathered was analyzed and discussed by applying the type of Kano’s model with IKEA’s strategies. It was also analyzed in terms of conceptual level between Kano’s model and research strategy. The study reveals that consumer behavior and characteristics of consumer requirements in Thailand are different from others counties. IKEA has to adapt suitable strategies that are consistent with Thai consumer behavior to achieve consumer satisfaction. This thesis also discussed that Kano model can inform strategy making process in term of quality and customer satisfaction as the results from Kano model quantitative analysis provide understanding of customer requirements and their attributes.

Abstract Introduction Word-of-mouth (WOM) is based on personal recommendations where the sender is known by the consumer, thus, the persuasive nature of WOM is attributed to trust between the sender and the receiver of a message. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) however, eliminates the consumer’s ability to judge the credibility of sender and message. Nevertheless, a high amount of people read online reviews about products and therefore make use of eWOM. Online reviews can be anonymous or can offer additional personal details of the sender and can have an influence on the credibility of the message, which in turn, can induce different attitudes towards specific products. Purpose This study aims to identify as well as understand the relationship between anonymous and semi anonymous eWOM and its corresponding characteristics in regards to the attitudes of consumers towards a laptop computer. Methodology A qualitative research method was conducted with the intention to understand the relationship between anonymous and semi anonymous eWOM towards consumers attitude. Primary data was collected, as the authors of this study were not able to locate research studies concerning the difference between anonymous and semi-anonymous eWOM and its relationship towards consumer’s attitudes. For this reason, four focus groups were carried out with students from the Jönköping University. During a pilot study, differences between male and female participants became visible therefore the focus groups were separated between men and women with the intention of collecting significant data. Conclusion The research was successful as it led to identify a relationship between the personal attributes of an online reviewer and the consumer attitudes towards a laptop. By reading online reviews and thus, observing the opinion of other people as well as using comparisons of different laptops, consumers form attitudes towards laptops. Moreover, it appears that consumers’ attitudes are more likely to be influenced by the message if it is perceived as credible. Several personal attributes of a reviewer such as name, photograph of a person, pseudonym, age, gender, country of residence and profession were identified to have an influence on the credibility of a message, whether they might increase or decrease the credibility. Additionally, it became visible, that women are relatively more likely to be influenced by personal attributes of a reviewer than men.