This study is designed to examine comparative advertising as a viable advertising strategy in today's competitive business environment. Frequency and use of comparisons by the selected key industries and advertising agencies are investigated. Analysis is conducted to determine similarities and differences between firms who elect or avoid comparative advertising. Based on an analysis of the findings, certain conclusions are presented. The industry leader is not likely to use comparative advertising in most industries. Firms that are fourth or smaller in market share are most likely to use comparisons. However, the smallest firms, in terms of dollar sales volume, are least likely to use comparative advertising.

This paper examines the effects of Ikea store establishment in Kalmar and Karlstad on the trade and retail inside the two cities, and as well on the trade and retail in the close neighboring municipalities and in further peripheral municipalities in both regions. After the establishment of Ikea store, Kalmar and Karlstad have experienced significant growth in trade and retail. The question, however, is how big this growth is in both cities? And how different locations on different distances from Ikea have been affected? What impact there was on different segments of the retail? How different business branches have been affected? How large the catchment area for the emerging new large-scale retail locations is? These questions, in addition to few others, are investigated in this paper. The thesis starts with an introduction chapter containing a background of the topic, problem description, the investigated questions, the purpose, and the outline of the paper. The next chapter includes the frame of reference which consists of literature review and theoretical framework about the external shopping centers and their impact on retail and regional trade development. It includes also information gathered from previous studies technical reports and other available sources about the subject. The third chapter includes description for the methods used to collect the primary and secondary data needed for the purpose of this study. Then the empirical framework which demonstrates the results of the conducted research followed by analysis and concluded in discussion and conclusion. Mixed methods are used as research strategy in this thesis, and the method to conduct the research is based on telephone interviews for the primary (qualitative) data, and documents and desk research for the secondary (quantitative) data. The gathered data is analyzed and designed in a way that allows the usage of comparative analysis technique to present the findings and draw conclusions. The results showed that new established Ikea retail store outside the city boundaries results with many effects on the city center and on the neighboring municipalities as well. The city center seems not to be affected negatively, but on the contrary positive effects were witnessed in both regions, these positive effects are linked to the increase inflow of customers from the external retail area which is known as spillover effect. III On the other hand, the neighboring towns and municipalities are more negatively affected especially with the trade of con-convenience goods as the consumers in these towns and municipalities start to go to the area of Ikea and the large external retail center to do their purchasing, the substitution effect is then said to be occurred. Moreover, the further far municipalities do not seem to be significantly affected by the establishment of Ikea. These effects whether positive or negative could be monitored by looking to few trade parameters such as the turnover, the sales index, and the consumers’ expenditure, these parameters can be very useful to measure the developments and changes in the trade and retail in a given place.

This is a study of establishment and development of conveniencestores. The test specimens are two stores established in the northern parts ofSweden during the second half of 1975.The study consists of two parts. In the first part the interest is concentratedon the establishment of the stores and their development during the firstbusiness year. The development afterwards, i.e. up to and included the stores'sixth business year, is taken up in part two.In the first part a model is produced on variables of importance when stores insparsely populated areas are established and developed (chapter 2). Theoreticallythe model is based partly on the marketing mix approach, with theinterest concentrated on the design of marketing mix measures in order to meetthe households' demands, and partly on establishment studies.The empirical studies of the first stage have mainly consisted of personalinterviews with the store owners and their potential customers. Eurther, thestores' potential customers have replied to an inquiry on two occasions. Theplanning and realization of the empirical studies are shown in chapter 4.The results of the first studies are shown in chapters 4-8. In chapter 4 the testareas are presented. The establishment and development of the stores duringtheir first business year are accounted for in chapters 5 and 6. The households'buying behavior, with emphasis on store loyalty and attitudes towards the newstores, is taken up in chapter 7. The results of these studies, which aresummarized in chapter 8, show that the establishment processes of the newstores were in no way unique. An important factor in this connection is the useof local resources. Eurther, the results showed that the two stores differed intheir development of the marketing mix. Here the aim of the activities was ofimportance. There was also a certain connection between the marketing mixpolicy and the households' store loyalty.In the second part the theoretical reference frame is extended to include alsothe social aspects of food supply in sparsely populated areas (chapter 10). Theplanning and realization of the empirical studies, which on the whole agreedwith those of the first stage, are shown in chapter 11. The results of thesestudies show that the development of the stores' marketing mix as well as thehouseholds' store loyalty and attitudes towards the local stores, only hadchanged marginally (chapter 12). The social exchange between sellers andbuyers were of great importance in this connection (chapter 13).In the final chapter (chapter 14) the results are summarized and analyzed. Theimportance of developing the social exchanges between sellers and buyers isstressed here. However, these social exchanges can change over time. In thischapter the importance of continued research in this field, also includingdensely populated areas, is commented on. Einally some alternative perspectiveson food supply in sparsely populated areas are shown. / digitalisering@umu

¡@¡@In recent years, Taiwan's industries actively seeking industrial restructuring in the way of increasing added value to products. That makes many convenience goods brands appeared on the market, but consumer-related studies is scanty; and theoretical studies have indicated that a product¡¦s image will affect the brand image. However, in domestic empirical research, the studies are primarily focus on product image and brand image, and consistency between brand image and product form, and seldom discuss the topic of the product design can enhance brand image. According to the background and motivation, the proposition of this study are as follows¡G (1) Understand the association of product image and brand image. (2) Using demographic variables as moderators to explore how the brand image and product prices affect the perceived value. (3) Analyzing relationships between customers¡¦ perceived value and purchase intention. In this study, product design and product prices are independent variables. First, uses the 24 groups of opposing adjectives that Ming-Chuen Chuang and Ching-Hang Kao (1997) sorted out to do semantic differential analysis on four brands of products to measure the respondents¡¦ feeling toward product form, color, texture, feel, and function. And then, discussing the relationship among product image, brand image, perceived value and purchase intention. The conclusions are summarized as follows¡G (1) Different product design has different effects on brand image. (2) The brand image and product price has a significant impact on the perceived value. (3) Some demographic variables have a moderating effect on brand products. (4) Perceived value has a significant effect on purchase intention. Keywords¡Gconvenience goods, product design, product image, brand image, perceived value, purchase intention

In pace with a growing awareness among customers, so does the demand for sustainable products increase in various markets. Sustainability is even referred to become a mega-trend (Lubin & Esty, 2010). Although, extensive research can be found on sustainability and its three pillars; environment, social and economic, little is known whether there is a general customer demand for sustainability for any type of good. Therefore, this study’s purpose has been to compare sustainability demand for convenience goods and shopping goods, with the research question ‘Is the customer’s sustainability demand different between different types of goods? And if so, what are the differences?’ By using a deductive approach, hypotheses has been drawn by examining existing research in the fields of consumer behaviour, customer behaviour and sustainability in general but also for the food and apparel industry respectively.With a quantitative method using a questionnaire, primary data has been collected of customers’ sustainability demand within the food and the apparel industries as representatives for convenience goods and shopping goods respectively. The questionnaire was designed to capture customers’ sustainability demand based on their perceived importance of the three pillars of sustainability. A comparison between the industries resulted in significant mean answers of 3,97 for food and 3,17 for apparel, on a six-point scale. Further,a marginally equal level was demanded for the three pillars within food whereas the environmental pillar was considerably less ranked within apparel. The study further compares the sustainable attitude against sustainable behaviour. Actual buying of sustainable goods within all three pillars was shown to be lower than demand for both types of goods. Lastly, an exploratory research was conducted on the two types of goods in combination with demographic factors, resulting in indications of what factors companies should take into consideration. The final conclusion of the research question was that there is a difference in customers’ sustainability demand for different types of goods.

Den digitala utvecklingen har lett till en stor förändring kring hur konsumenter utför sina köp. I många branscher, exempelvis detaljhandeln, är e-handeln väldigt förekommande och börjar bli allt vanligare inom dagligvaruhandeln. Bland svenska konsumenter är det vanligt att de någon gång provat att handla dagligvaror på internet, men den totala omsättningsandelen talar för att det inte görs i en större utsträckning, jämfört med andra branscher. Inköp av dagligvaror sker ofta och återkommande och präglas av ett vanebeteende. Förutom detta föreligger flera faktorer som påverkar hur svenska konsumenter handlar sina dagligvaror.   Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse varför svenska konsumenter inte handlar dagligvaror på internet i större utsträckning, då de har god erfarenhet av onlineköp i övriga branscher samtidigt som de bekantat sig med inköpskanalen inom dagligvaruhandeln. Den syftar även till att identifiera de faktorer som påverkar att en konsument köper sina dagligvaror på internet   Det resultat som framkommit i studien är att konsumenter som väljer att inte utföra sina dagligvaruinköp genom en digital distributionskanal, beror på att de präglas av ett vanebeteende. De har även ett behov av att känna och klämma på produkterna de köper och är inte villiga att betala de extra avgifter som tjänsten e-handel av dagligvaror innebär. De faktorer som gör att en konsument väljer e-handel som distributionskanal är framförallt bekvämlighet, tillgänglighet och tidsbesparing.     Förslag till vidare forskning är att ha ett större urval med respondenter, med ett bredare åldersspann, från hela Sverige. Detta för att kunna göra generaliseringar och dra slutsatser för en större population. / The digitalization has led to a major change in consumer’s buying behaviour. In many businesses, for example retail, e-commerce has become very popular and it is about to influence heavily the convenience goods business too. Among Swedish consumers, it is common that they at least once, have experienced buying groceries online. But the total revenue share for online grocery sales indicates that it is not done in the same extent, compared to other businesses. Purchase of groceries occur often and repeated and is characterized by a habitual behaviour. There is still though more factors that affects how Swedish consumers purchase their groceries.   The purpose of this study is to create understanding why Swedish consumers do not purchase groceries online in a larger extent. They have good experience of online purchasing in the retail business as well as they are familiar with buying groceries online. The study also aims to identify the influencing factors when a consumer chooses online purchasing for grocery shopping.   The result of the study concludes why consumers choose to not purchase their groceries through e-commerce. It depends on consumers’ habitual behavior, but also their need of touch and feel the groceries before purchase. They are also not willing to pay the extra fees that comes with the service of purchasing groceries through e-commerce. The factors that affect a consumer choosing e-commerce for grocery shopping are convenience, availability and time saving.   Suggestions to further research is to have a broader selection of respondents, with a wider range of age, from all over Sweden. This will enable to generalize and draw conclusions of a larger population.

I dagens samhälle är hållbarhet en viktig aspekt som påverkar både konsumenter och företag. Hur företag väljer att arbeta med detta varierar och effekterna blir därmed olika från företag till företag. Konsumenter har idag hög kunskap gällande hållbarhet och deras krav har höjts när det gäller företags engagemang i frågan samt på deras produkter. En del företag väljer att ta ett genuint ansvar för sin verksamhet medan andra väljer att utföra tomma symboliska handlingar för att leva upp till de förväntningar som ställs från omvärlden, utan att behöva lägga ner arbete på det. När ett företag utför sådana handlingar, att ha minskad miljöprestanda samtidigt som en hög miljöprestanda kommuniceras ut, kallas det greenwashing. Vilket resulterar i att konsumenterna blir lurade. Detta föder en viss misstanke och får många att undra kan företag verkligen leva upp till den bild som de själva skildrar?   Sju butiker inom dagligvaruhandeln i Växjöområdet studerades för att skapa en förståelse kring huruvida det förekommer greenwashing inom dagligvaruhandeln. Genom att studera hur butiker tar ansvar för sina verksamheter och produkter, hur hög kunskaps som de besatt samt hur vilka drivkrafter de drevs av undersöktes området.   Att någon form av greenwashing förekommer inom dagligvaruhandeln går att se. De butiker som är av större karaktär samt ingår i en koncern eller kedja tenderar att ha lägre kunskap kring hållbarhet samt sina produkter och dess ursprung. Ansvarstagandet är även detta lågt hos de lite större butikerna. De mindre butikerna har större kunskap kring sina produkter och dess ursprung, de tar även större ansvar för sin verksamhet. Oavsett vad så förekommer det handlingar som kan ses som tveksamma inom båda kategorierna, drivkrafterna till de här handlingarna är dock olika men resultatet blir detsamma. Större butiker vill tjäna pengar medan de mindre drivs av sina värderingar och tron på ett bättre värld. / Sustainability is an important aspect nowadays which affects both consumers and companies. Regarding how companies are handling their business creates different results. Today consumers have a high level of knowledge regarding sustainability which creates higher expectations towards the company's way of managing their business. Some corporations take a genuine responsibility and act upon the consumer's expectations, meanwhile some only make empty promises or acts to avoid extra time or money which may be required for real, genuine action. When a company behave in that kind of way, it is called greenwashing and the consequences are tricked customers. This creates a suspicion which makes many people wonder whether companies can live up to and fulfill the customer’s expectations.   Seven convenient stores in the convenient goods business in the area of Växjö in Sweden was studied with the purpose to create an understanding regarding whether greenwashing is existing or not. This was done by studying how convenient stores take their responsibility of their businesses and products, what level of knowledge they have and what kind incentives that drove them to act in that way.   Some level of greenwashing is present in some of the studied objects. The bigger convenient store chains tend to have a lower level of knowledge regarding sustainability, their products and the product’s origin. Responsibility is also lower at the bigger convenient store chains. The smaller stores have higher knowledge regarding their products and the product’s origin and they also take bigger responsibility for their businesses. Regardless of what kind of store it is, there exist some kind of actions which can be considered as doubtful. The incentives behind the actions may be different, but the results remain the same. Bigger chains want to earn most money possible, meanwhile the smaller stores are driven by their values and a belief of a better world.

Problembakgrund och problemformulering: Sverige är ett av de länder i världen där ehandel förekommer mest frekvent, dock inte av dagligvaror. Detta är ett problem för de matbutiker som väljer att erbjuda e-handel då det inte är lönsamt. Från ett konsumentperspektiv kan detta bero på bland annat livssituation, vanebeteende och köparpersonlighet. Frågan blir då i vilken utsträckning dessa faktorer påverkar val av inköpskanal. Syfte och frågeställning: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva hur attityder mot en rad butikskomponenter ser ut hos olika konsumenter med olika köparpersonligheter och vilka köparpersonligheter som regelbundet handlar dagligvaror online samt vilka som inte gör det. Frågeställningen som uppsatsen utgår ifrån är därför: “Hur kan attityder till butikskomponenter och köparpersonligheter påverka val av inköpskanal hos konsumenter som regelbundet handlar dagligvaror online via en matbutik respektive konsumenter som handlar dagligvaror i fysisk butik?” Metod: En kvalitativ metod användes i den aktuella uppsatsen. Djupintervjuer utfördes med 14 respondenter från Sverige i två olika grupper: de som regelbundet handlar dagligvaror via en matbutik och de som inte gör det. Frågorna som ställdes handlade om attityder, attribut, vanor, livssituation, erfarenheter och val av inköpskanal. För att behandla alla frågor teoretiskt skapades en analysmodell som verktyg för skrivandet av uppsatsen. Slutsats och förslag till framtida forskning: Inga övergripande skillnader mellan de respondenter som regelbundet handlar dagligvaror online via en matbutik och de respondenter som inte gör det fanns genom studien. Dock sågs nyansskillnader inom respektive grupper och mellan grupperna. Vidare fanns att konsumenters köparpersonligheter och utomstående faktorer såsom livssituation hade ungefär samma grad av påverkan på valet av inköpskanal. Det var omkring samma antal respondenter som påverkats till att välja den kanal de valt på grund av utomstående faktorer som det antal som valt inköpskanal på grund av sin köparpersonlighet. Förslag till framtida forskning skulle kunna vara en mer extensiv studie med respondenter från hela Sverige, då den aktuella studien utfördes i Jönköping och Göteborg samt forskning om hur matbutikerna kan få sin e-handel att öka. / Problem background and problem formulation: Sweden is one of the countries in the world where e-commerce is the most present. This is however not the case within groceries. The problem occurs for the supermarkets that chooses to offer e-commerce of groceries when it is not profitable. From a consumer perspective this can depend on living conditions, habits and buyer personality. The question then is to what degree these factors influence the choice of purchase channel. Purpose and research question: The purpose of this essay is to describe how attitudes toward a range of store components look among consumers with different shopping typologies and personalities and which of these personalities that regularly shop for groceries online through a supermarket and which ones does not. The research question therefore is: “How can attitudes to store components and buyer personalities influence the choice of purchasing channel of consumers that regularly shop for groceries online through a grocery store in difference to those consumers who shop for groceries in a physical store?” Method: A qualitative method was used in the present essay. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 respondents from Sweden in two groups: the ones who regularly shop for groceries online through a supermarket and the ones that do not. The questions asked was about attitudes, attributes, habits, living conditions, experiences and choice of buying channel. In order to treat every question theoretically an analysis model was created as a tool for the essay. Conclusion and recommendations for further research: No general differences between the respondents that shop for groceries online through a supermarket and those who shop in a physical supermarket was found through the present study. However, differences in nuances was seen within both groups and between the groups. Furthermore the analysis showed that consumers’ buyer personalities and external factors such as living conditions had more or less the level of impact on the choice of purchasing channel. It was about the same number of respondents that had been affected to choose the channel that they chose do to external factors, as the number of respondents that had chosen purchasing channel because of their buyer personality. Recommendations for further research could be a more extensive study with respondents from all of Sweden since the present study was conducted in two Swedish cities: Jönköping and Göteborg. Additionally, research about how supermarkets could make their e-commerce efforts be profitable could be of interest.