A comunicação boca a boca está fortalecendo-se e popularizando-se, principalmente a partir do advento das mídias sociais. A cultura da população em buscar informações referentes a produtos e serviços está cada vez mais forte, uma vez que a dose de incerteza na compra é grande, em especial em serviços ou serviços aplicados a produtos, por sua intangibilidade. Dessa forma, a comunicação boca a boca tradicional ou via mídias sociais tem se intensificado, tanto na busca quanto na emissão de opiniões. Neste contexto de mercado, uma das formas de uma empresa se tornar competitiva no mercado é criando um relacionamento a longo prazo com seus clientes, facilitando a existência de uma identificação do consumidor com a empresa. Partindo do cenário de serviços, este estudo tem o objetivo de avaliar as relações simultâneas entre três conceitos: experiência do consumidor com o serviço, identificação do consumidor com a empresa e o comportamento de recomendação deste consumidor. Este estudo teve por propósito avaliar estas relações, e, para isso, validou escalas para mensuração destes conceitos no contexto brasileiro. Foi aplicado um questionário online com 500 respondentes, sendo que o pré-requisito era que o respondente escolhesse um estabelecimento (bar ou restaurante) com o qual se identificasse. A análise de dados incluiu uma análise fatorial exploratória e uma confirmatória, dando seguimento à modelagem de equações estruturais (MEE por meio do software LISREL) para analisar a relação entre os três conceitos. Como resultados, encontrouse que tanto a identificação do consumidor com a empresa quanto a experiência do consumidor com o serviço possuem impacto no comportamento de recomendação, neste estudo, representado pelas dimensões de frequência e motivação para recomendar. Entretanto, ambos possuem maior impacto na motivação de recomendação do que na frequência. Ao comparar a identificação do consumidor com a empresa e a experiência do consumidor com o serviço, o primeiro possui uma maior influência nos constructos de recomendação, indicando que ainda que ambos tenham impacto no comportamento de recomendação, a criação de um relacionamento forte e embasado na identificação do consumidor com a empresa se torna um diferencial para a mesma. Com relação à validação das escalas utilizadas no estudo, tem-se que uma das escalas utilizadas para mensurar o constructo de identificação não possuiu validade convergente nem divergente, indicando sua fragilidade para seu uso na academia. / Word of mouth communication is becoming stronger and more popular mainly from the advent of social media. The consume culture of seeking for information about products and services has become very popular, especially when it is about services or services applied to products. The main characteristic of the services is its intangibility, which leads to a higher amount of uncertainty prior to purchasing. Thus, word of mouth communication via traditional or social media has been growing significantly both in pursuit and in issuing opinions. In this context, in order to gain competition, companies should focus on creating and developing a long term relationship with their clients, facilitating the identification of the consumer with the company. Based on the service scenario, this study aims to assess the simultaneous relationships among three different concepts: customer experience with the service, consumer-company identification and the consumer recommendation behavior. Therefore, validating the scales to measure these concepts in the Brazilian context was necessary to achieve the goals of this study. 500 people participated in an online survey about those three concepts. In the beginning of the survey, the respondent had to choose an establishment (a bar or a restaurant) with which he/she identified. Data analysis included an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis, followed by the structural equation modeling (SEM using the LISREL software) in order to analyze the relationship between those three concepts. As a result, it was found that both concepts (consumer-company identification and consumer experience with the service) have a positive impact on the recommendation behavior of the consumer, represented on this study by the dimensions of frequency and motivation to recommend. However, both concepts had a greater impact on the motivation for recommending than on the frequency of recommendation. By comparing the performance of those two antecedents, consumer-company identification showed a greater influence on the dimensions of the recommendation behavior, indicating that although both concepts have an impact on this behavior, developing a strong relationship with the consumer becomes a differential for the establishment. Regarding the validation of the scales, one of the scales used to measure the construct of consumer-company identification did not possess convergent nor divergent validity, indicating its weakness to use it in other academic studies.

A comunicação boca a boca está fortalecendo-se e popularizando-se, principalmente a partir do advento das mídias sociais. A cultura da população em buscar informações referentes a produtos e serviços está cada vez mais forte, uma vez que a dose de incerteza na compra é grande, em especial em serviços ou serviços aplicados a produtos, por sua intangibilidade. Dessa forma, a comunicação boca a boca tradicional ou via mídias sociais tem se intensificado, tanto na busca quanto na emissão de opiniões. Neste contexto de mercado, uma das formas de uma empresa se tornar competitiva no mercado é criando um relacionamento a longo prazo com seus clientes, facilitando a existência de uma identificação do consumidor com a empresa. Partindo do cenário de serviços, este estudo tem o objetivo de avaliar as relações simultâneas entre três conceitos: experiência do consumidor com o serviço, identificação do consumidor com a empresa e o comportamento de recomendação deste consumidor. Este estudo teve por propósito avaliar estas relações, e, para isso, validou escalas para mensuração destes conceitos no contexto brasileiro. Foi aplicado um questionário online com 500 respondentes, sendo que o pré-requisito era que o respondente escolhesse um estabelecimento (bar ou restaurante) com o qual se identificasse. A análise de dados incluiu uma análise fatorial exploratória e uma confirmatória, dando seguimento à modelagem de equações estruturais (MEE por meio do software LISREL) para analisar a relação entre os três conceitos. Como resultados, encontrouse que tanto a identificação do consumidor com a empresa quanto a experiência do consumidor com o serviço possuem impacto no comportamento de recomendação, neste estudo, representado pelas dimensões de frequência e motivação para recomendar. Entretanto, ambos possuem maior impacto na motivação de recomendação do que na frequência. Ao comparar a identificação do consumidor com a empresa e a experiência do consumidor com o serviço, o primeiro possui uma maior influência nos constructos de recomendação, indicando que ainda que ambos tenham impacto no comportamento de recomendação, a criação de um relacionamento forte e embasado na identificação do consumidor com a empresa se torna um diferencial para a mesma. Com relação à validação das escalas utilizadas no estudo, tem-se que uma das escalas utilizadas para mensurar o constructo de identificação não possuiu validade convergente nem divergente, indicando sua fragilidade para seu uso na academia. / Word of mouth communication is becoming stronger and more popular mainly from the advent of social media. The consume culture of seeking for information about products and services has become very popular, especially when it is about services or services applied to products. The main characteristic of the services is its intangibility, which leads to a higher amount of uncertainty prior to purchasing. Thus, word of mouth communication via traditional or social media has been growing significantly both in pursuit and in issuing opinions. In this context, in order to gain competition, companies should focus on creating and developing a long term relationship with their clients, facilitating the identification of the consumer with the company. Based on the service scenario, this study aims to assess the simultaneous relationships among three different concepts: customer experience with the service, consumer-company identification and the consumer recommendation behavior. Therefore, validating the scales to measure these concepts in the Brazilian context was necessary to achieve the goals of this study. 500 people participated in an online survey about those three concepts. In the beginning of the survey, the respondent had to choose an establishment (a bar or a restaurant) with which he/she identified. Data analysis included an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis, followed by the structural equation modeling (SEM using the LISREL software) in order to analyze the relationship between those three concepts. As a result, it was found that both concepts (consumer-company identification and consumer experience with the service) have a positive impact on the recommendation behavior of the consumer, represented on this study by the dimensions of frequency and motivation to recommend. However, both concepts had a greater impact on the motivation for recommending than on the frequency of recommendation. By comparing the performance of those two antecedents, consumer-company identification showed a greater influence on the dimensions of the recommendation behavior, indicating that although both concepts have an impact on this behavior, developing a strong relationship with the consumer becomes a differential for the establishment. Regarding the validation of the scales, one of the scales used to measure the construct of consumer-company identification did not possess convergent nor divergent validity, indicating its weakness to use it in other academic studies.

During the last decades, fashion brands and retailers in Sweden have experienced the effects of technological advancement and changes in customer behaviour, which have opened up new ways of doing business. Customers expect online and offline marketing and sales channels to be integrated through instant interaction, which have made the concept of omnichannel retailing, gain momentum. This thesis explores this concept in relation to four small Swedish fashion brands based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Using a qualitative method, in-depth interviews have been made with the companies in order to understand what these companies are focused on and in what way omnichannel strategies are encouraged in their business. A solid theoretical framework was collected in the early stage of the process and has worked as a foundation for relating previous studies to current developments. This research presents a literature review that is based on topics such as brand identity, omnichannel marketing and customer experience in order to investigate this topic further. The findings in this research  shows that these small fashion brands are integrating channels through working with a few media channels and do not put significant attention on data analyses. Their focus has proved to be on finding a few, right channels and enforce the brand values in all activates, which creates a connection between channels, rather than on creating technologically advanced solutions between online and offline channels.

Background: Due to arising shifts in customers’ digital expectations, businesses need to adapt current strategies to dynamic environments in order to stay competitive in today’s digital era. These shifts, which are to set new directions for entire industries, is also known as a digital transformation. To digitally transform a firm entails both opportunities to thrive and challenges to face. The technological advances create a need for new roles and skills to be mastered. In addition, the rise of the sharing economy has led to the need for certain industries to adapt accordingly, including the car rental industry. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the identification of necessary internal and external factors that firms need to consider in order to digitally transform their services. Further, this study aims to provide guidelines for firms aspiring to transform their service to become a MSP. Methodology: This study has adopted a qualitative research strategy and the design of a single case study of a car rental company. In order to collect empirical data, semi- structured interviews were conducted within related fields. Conclusion: The authors of this study have identified prominent internal and external factors within the fields of digital transformation and MaaS. In addition, the authors have come to the conclusion that the identified factors possess different levels of impact within each perspective, which is illustrated through a constructed analysis model. To conclude, this study has contributed with guidelines regarding possible strategies a traditional car rental company could implement in order to transform its business to become a MSP.

This dissertation offers two essays on the engendering and the consequences of employee brand behavior. The first essay addresses the impact of employee brand behavior on customer experience in the retail environment. Retailers, with some exceptions, paid relatively little attention to the role that employees play in the experience they provide to their customers. While there seems to be a general consensus regarding both the importance of customer experience and the role of employees in delivering it, there has been no study attempting to measure the impact front-line employees have on the overall customer experience process from the consumer point-of-view. In essay two the antecedents that make up the customer experience construct are explored through the usage of a previously tested model with the addition of two new components: the employee in-role brand-building behavior construct and the expansion of the word-of-mouth construct to include social media word-of-mouth. The second essay complements essay one by focusing on the importance of employee branding behavior and examining its two variants: in-role and extra-role brand-building behavior. Both behaviors are engendered within the firm but companies are still struggling to differentiate between the two. The distinction between the two types is important because when developed correctly these behaviors can help companies build a competitive advantage. Since the differentiation gap between companies nowadays continues to shrink, companies must strive to develop a unique competitive advantage that cannot be easily copied by their rivals. The tailoring of such a specific set of brand oriented behaviors to be performed by employees is one potential solution to this challenge. By directing the behavior of employees that come into direct contact with customers, a firm has a unique opportunity to align all its branding promotional initiatives with those of its representatives in the front lines resulting in a more consistent customer experience.

Today’s society is earmarked by developments in technology so drastic, that our lives are continuously changed, impacted and remolded. When thinking about how many impressions one goes through during a single day, the results will be uncountable. And at an increasing pace, many of these impressions are shifting to the digital realm. This thesis acknowledges these rapid changes in the modern world of marketing, particularly the digital aspects of it. Yet while a great amount of research has been conducted to more closely understand digital marketing and how to conduct it, a significantly little amount of research has been spent focusing on the customer. This while the path that a customer takes from need to purchase may have grown to be more complex than ever. Not all the impressions that a customer gains on a certain product or brand come solely from the company behind it. As such, we decided to focus on exploring this customer journey – a relatively nascent theme in the field of marketing research. More specifically, we aim to answer the following research question: How is the customer purchasing decision affected by the customer’s interaction with touch points throughout the customer journey? Our main purpose was to arrive at a model as an answer to the research question, that could be used as a foundation for future research studies. We were intensely curious at gaining a better understanding of the customer journey and what the customers experience as they are touched by different influential channels during their travel from need to purchase. Our study shows that it is possible to synthesize the state of current research on the topic of the customer journey and support it with empirical data gathered from interviews with a variety of customers. Central to our thesis are the following two definitions that we have constructed based on current literature: The customer journey is the individual experience that a customer has when interacting with touch points in the path from a pre-purchase to a post-purchase setting. Touch points are moments of contact between customer and company that individually and collectively influence customer experience. The third critical element is that of the customer experience, which we don’t explicitly define, but implicitly construe as a distinct construct with a powerful impact by serving as the catalyst between touch points and customer actions and perceptions.The result is a conceptual model of the customer journey that we feel could be a foundation for future research on the customer journey to build upon and perhaps one day could serve as an overarching model for marketing as a whole.

The buying process has become an important outcome for firms to adapt to the changes in B2B buying. With an increased focus on delivering new customer experiences, firms are finding themselves with lots of customer data that needs to be analyzed. Prior literature has found that technology such as artificial intelligence could be the next logical step in marketing for analyzing and managing customer data but sees slow adoption. This study examined how artificial intelligence can be used to attract and retain B2B customers in the buying process. Empirical data was collected as a multiple caste study with semistructured interviews from B2B salespeople, sales managers, CEOs, CFOs and administrators. The data were analyzed through a thematic analysis. Participants expressed a strong interest in efforts that could affect the relationship such as better engagement, enhanced user experience and information to better meet the needs. Throughout the buying process, many of these efforts could influence the final decision and is believed to be critical in attracting but also maintaining customer relationships. These results have implications for implementing artificial intelligence at firms since it creates a better understanding of the customers' wants and needs and how to correspond to it digitally. Based on the empirical findings, this study contributes with a model that shows the relation of artificial intelligence, customer data and the buying process.

This bachelor thesis explores a virtual try-on interface in the context of the fashion product category. It is argued that virtual representations of product offerings can stimulate consumers’ purchase intentions, and thus, enact an online transaction. The purpose is to investigate how market-based AR/VR influences the behavior of consumers along the customer journey. A qualitative research approach was undertaken to answer the exploratory question. The context of the empirical bachelor thesis is the virtual try-on Synsam Style Lab where two qualitative research methods were conducted. These methods consisted of a document study on Synsam Style Lab and three synchronous online focus group interviews that laid the foundation of the thematic analysis. The purpose of conducting these qualitative research methods was to shed light on whether or not Synsam Style Lab could facilitate consumers’ online buying decision process. Consumers who saw convenience in Synsam Style Lab often expressed reasons related to the theme Alleviate. On the contrary, if consumers interaction with Synsam’s virtual try-on yielded negative experience, then their reasons were often in connection with the theme Insufficiency.  The context of this bachelor thesis is restricted to the fashion eyewear segment and does not represent the total fashion industry. Only members of Generation Y, also known as millennials, participated in the synchronous online focus group interviews. Therefore, incorporating the perspectives of other demographics could contribute to a diversified discovery of findings. Previous research has not explicitly investigated the influence of AR/VR applications on consumers’ engagement in a fashion retail setting. Hence, this bachelor thesis provides new dimensions within the field of market-based AR/VR applications.

Most companies' desire is to create customer relationships and the working methods have changed as a result of the increased e-commerce. Because of digitalization, the retailing field has changed dramatically. Consequently, physical stores are facing competition from online companies. Previous literature has stated that physical stores now have to focus on what happens inside the store in order to generate a pleasant experience. The research question focused on examining how Elgiganten, the largest consumer electronic store in Sweden, use customer experience and customer value in order to influence store attractiveness. This was carried out by using a qualitative approach, an exploratory nature and by conducting in-depth interviews with consumers and the company's head managers. The main findings of this study suggest that customers can not take advantage of some services when buying through e-commerce. This ability to provide service is an important part of the handling of competition from e-commerce. The retailers need to find the right balance between engagement and emotions in the physical retail environment in order to appeal to the consumers’ desires of trust & reliability in order to create an attractive experience point. By means of this, the thesis emphasised the imperative of creating experience in offline retailing.

As customers become more and more aware of the threats and limits of the current economic system, joined with the pressure of environmental policies, companies are pressured to rethink their offerings, processes, and business models in order to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. This transition requires significant changes in habits and behaviors, but simultaneously it offers opportunities for innovation. In this regard, business model innovation plays an essential role in enabling this transition via circular business models that close the loop. For the successful development, implementation, and adoption of new business models, a depth understanding of customers' needs is fundamental. However, little is known about the customer perceptions, motivations, and willingness to participate in circular economy. To address this gap, the study explores the transition to circular economy from the customers' perspective by employing a qualitative single case study bounded to the furniture retail company, IKEA, specifically the IKEA Second-Hand pilot store in Eskilstuna, Sweden. Through in-person interviews, observations, and a questionnaire, data from customers donating their used furniture to the recycling mall ReTuna, people discarding furniture at the recycling station, and people selling and giving away their used furniture via the social media platform Facebook, was captured to explore the customer experience in the after-use phase of furniture. Findings of the study present opportunities for the case company to strengthen its product recovery strategies.