Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Also available on the Internet. Includes bibliographical references.

Bakgrund: Konkurrensen inom livsmedelsbranschen har de senaste åren ökat genom exempelvis större utbud av matvaror och fler varumärken av samma produkter. I livsmedelsbranschen finns både stora och små livsmedelsbutiker där stora butiker kan anses ha fördelar över små butiker, genom större sortiment och lägre priser, vilket kan locka fler kunder. Därför behöver små livsmedelsbutiker differentiera sig för att bättre skapa konkurrensfördelar och fånga kundernas uppmärksamhet. Butiker kan differentiera sig på olika sätt, till exempel genom att använda sina produkter och försöka utmärka butiken med dessa, eller genom att marknadsföra sina produkter genom produktexponeringar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka och beskriva hur butikschefer och medarbetare i små livsmedelsbutiker använder produkter och produktexponering för att differentiera sig från konkurrenter. Vidare undersöker studien varför små livsmedelsbutiker använder produkter och produktexponeringar på det sättet dem gör. Detta för att få ökad förståelse över hur små livsmedelsbutiker kan nyttja dessa faktorer för att bland annat bättre fånga kundernas uppmärksamhet och behålla en stark position på marknaden. Metod: I studien tillämpades en kvalitativ metod bestående av intervjuer med sju respondenter fördelat på fyra livsmedelsbutiker samt observationer i form av ”site vists” fördelat på fem livsmedelsbutiker. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes för att erhålla djupare förståelse angående butikschefernas och medarbetarnas tankar, uppfattningar och erfarenheter om studiens forskningsproblem.   Resultat: Resultatet visar att butikschefer och medarbetare i små livsmedelsbutiker använder sina färskvaror och mer unika, lokala och självtillverkade produkter för att bättre differentiera sig. Detta används för att kunna tillfredsställa de lokala kundernas behov och förväntningar. Resultatet visar även att butikschefer och medarbetare i små livsmedelsbutiker främst använder skyltar till kampanj- och veckovaror för att presentera sina produkter, och i de butikerna som är lite större till ytan finns möjligheten att ge olika produktkategorier större utrymme. Små livsmedelsbutiker som är mindre till ytan kan således inte ge större utrymme till vissa produktkategorier och inte heller använda skyltar i lika stor utsträckning för att presentera produkterna. Varför produktexponeringar används som de gör menar butikscheferna är för att öka försäljningen, medan medarbetarna menar att det är för att underlätta för kunderna. Slutsats: Denna studie visar att butikschefer och medarbetare i små livsmedelsbutiker använder produkter mer medvetet för differentiering än vad de använder produktexponeringar, vilket innebär att det finns förbättringsmöjligheter inom detta område. Dock är butiksytan avgörande för små livsmedelsbutikers möjlighet att använda produktexponeringar. / Background: The competition in the food industry has grown over the past few years, for example through a larger range of food products and more brands of the same products. In the food industry there are both large and small grocery stores where large stores can be considered to have advantages over small stores, through larger assortments and lower prices, which can attract more customers. Therefore, small grocery stores need to differentiate in order to better create competitive advantages and capture customer attention. Stores can differentiate themselves in different ways, for example by using their products and trying to distinguish the store with them, or by marketing their products through product exposures. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate and describe how store managers and employees in small grocery stores use products and product exposure to differentiate themselves from competitors. Furthermore, the study investigates why small grocery stores use products and product exposures in the way they do. This is to gain more insight into how small grocery stores can use these factors to better capture customers' attention and maintain a strong position in the market. Method: The study applied a qualitative method consisting of interviews with seven respondents, divided into four grocery stores, and five site visits observations in five grocery stores. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain deeper insight into the thoughts, perceptions and experiences of store managers and employees regarding the research problems of the study. Results: The result shows that store managers and employees in small grocery stores use their fresh products and more unique, local and self-manufactured products to better differentiate themselves. This is used to satisfy the local customers' needs and expectations. The result also shows that store managers and employees in small grocery stores mainly use signs for campaigns and products of the day to present their products. In those stores that has a slightly larger surface there is the possibility of giving more product categories more space. Small grocery stores that has a smaller surface can thus not give more space to certain product categories, nor use signs to the same extent to present the products. Why product exposures are used as they are used is according to store managers to increase sales, while according to employees it is to facilitate for the customers. Conclusion: This study shows that store managers and employees in small grocery stores use products more consciously for differentiation than using product exposures, which means there are improvement opportunities in this area. However, the store area is crucial for small grocery stores possibility to use product exposures.

This diploma thesis deals with consumer behaviour when choosing a store for food purchase. The main aim is to evaluate the importance of individual factors that play role in the selection of grocery store using a questionnaire survey. Secondary goals are to characterize how consumers currently behave in the selection of the store and to confirm or disprove established hypotheses. The thesis is divided into two main parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with issues related to the topic of the work, the practical part focuses on the marketing research itself, through which all the goals of this work have been fulfilled. As a method of collecting the primary data an electronic questionnaire was used. The data obtained were evaluated using MS Excel and "R" program. Based on the findings possible recommendations for the retailers are also formulated at the end of the practical part.

This study investigates the marketing perception of grocery store retailers belonging to black business associations in Gauteng. In determining what the black grocery store retailer should know about marketing in order to be successful, an extensive literature study was undertaken on the basic components of marketing, namely the marketing concept, marketing environment and target market selection, and the retail marketing mix and strategy. An empirical study was conducted to determine the black grocery store retailer's present knowledge and practices of the basic components of marketing. In the study, grocery store retailers who are members of Nafcoc in Gauteng, were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire which covered the basic components of marketing. The research results reveal various prominent gaps in the black grocery store retailer's marketing perception of the marketing concept, marketing environment and target market selection, and the retail marketing mix and strategy. The most significant findings are that successful black grocery store retailers have certain unique characteristics and perceptions and follow specific marketing practices: they care what customers think of their stores and they see it as their responsibility to conduct marketing research on a regular basis; they are more sensitive to the diverse cultural backgrounds and needs of the customers and infrastructural problems of the townships in which they live; they do not focus only on providing the basic necessities but also keep an expanded product range, including shopping and emergency products; they use the self-service store concept to sell to their customers; they add value by providing after-sales services such as attending to defective goods; they have a broader perception of competitors and do not focus only on intratype competition inside the townships; they use more advanced accounting and financial management techniques; they accept their role as a socially responsible retailing business in the township community; they eliminate the middlemen in the distribution system whenever possible by buying directly from manufacturers and the fresh produce market; and they use more marketing communication elements to promote their stores and range of products and services. / Business Management / DCom (Business Management)

The aim of the thesis was to analyze shopping behaviour of online supermarket customers in South Bohemia region and to suggests, which strategies could help the company improve its marketing communication. For this thesis was chosen an e-shop with grocery Plná taška ltd. Plná taška is the first e-shop with grocery in South Bohemia. The whole thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. Theoretical part is based on study of scientific literature and especially on more recent internet resources. In theoretical part are described terms such as consumer behaviour, specifics of retailing, e-commerce and details of online sale of food are defined. The practical part includes analyses of buying behaviour in the field of the purchasing grocery online. The analyses are based on results of questionnaire survey with data collection from 404 respondents. Based on the results of research three target groups were defined. For these groups more specific consumer behaviour was determined. Based on this consumer behaviour personas and recommendations for marketing communication for them were defined. The thesis includes proposals of banner, which can be used on social network Facebook.

First of all, we want to inform the readers that this thesis is written in Swedish before addressing the abstract.The possibility to buy groceries online has been a possibility since 1996 in Sweden, but the growth of the service did actually begin a few years ago. The two latest years of shopping food online – e-grocery has become one of the most fast growing markets online, and it is still growing. More and more customers have been drawn to this type of alternative to shop food. It is a quite relatively new market in progress, both for consumers and companies and the online market has still a few obstacles to overcome, for instance the delivery time and the online payment. The consumer today is in a changing phase and starts to see the advantages of buying groceries online. In this research the barriers and advantage factors have been identified towards the online grocery shopping, in ability to examine the situation today.In order to find these barriers and the advantages of e-grocery, a case study with ICA City in Borås was an optimal approach. With the help of ICA City's digital customers, a qualitative study with focus groups was performed and a quantitative data collection with questionnaires was made. The purpose of the qualitative research was to identify barriers and the advantage factors, and the quantitative study was to measure their importance of these. These barriers and advantages have been placed against the purchase decision process to identify when and how the consumers are affected.The conclusion of this study resulted in both old and new barriers against e-Grocery. E-Grocery needs to be better developed; especially when it comes to the interface, it needs to be user friendlier, as well as inspirational. The groceries online, is today inadequate, which affects many consumers' and the shopping experience. The trading strategy must be adapted to the digital customer, which leads to the conclusion of a need for a better and stronger website to attract more and loyal customers. The biggest advantages for e-Grocery in this research were the conveniences and the time the consumers save, on not having to go to a physical store and shop for food. Many of the participants who participated saw the benefit of the e-Groceries availability, when they could buy food whenever and wherever. / Att handla mat på nätet är något som har funnits möjlighet att göra sedan 1996, men det var först för några år sedan som det började växa kraftigt. De två senaste åren har försäljningen av mat online ökat kraftigt, och fler kunder lockas till detta alternativa sätt att handla mat. Det är en relativt ny marknad för både konsumenter och företag. Det finns många faktorer som hindrat kunder, men dessa barriärer är nu i en förändringsfas och konsumenterna börjar se de främjande faktorer som den digitala mathandeln tillför framför barriärerna. I denna forskning har barriärer och främjanden faktorer mot digital mathandel mäts för att se hur de ser ut idag.För att kunna ta reda på dessa barriärer och de främjande faktorerna blev ansatsen och tillvägagångssättet en fallstudie på ICA City i Borås. Med hjälp av ICA Citys digitala kunder utfördes en kvalitativ studie med fokusgrupper och utifrån den en kvantitativ insamling med ett frågeformulär. Syftet med den kvalitativa undersökningen var att identifierade barriärer och främjande faktorer, och med hjälp av den kvantitativa studien i mäta deras betydelse. Dessa barriärer och främjanden faktorerna har sedan placerats ut efter den köpbeslutsprocess för att identifiera när och hur konsumenten blir påverkad.Slutsatsen av studien resulterade i att de barriärer som funnits förr börjar försvinna och i samband med detta uppkommer nya. E-livsmedel är något som behöver utvecklas, speciellt när det kommer till användarvänlighet och inspiration. Sortimentet online är bristfälligt vilket påverkar många konsumenters upplevelse. Handelstrategin måste anpassas till den digitala kunden vilket leder till slutsatsen om ett behov av en bättre och starkare hemsida för att locka fler och trogna kunder. De främsta främjande faktorer för respondenterna i forskningen var bekvämligheten med e-livsmedel samt tiden som de sparar med att inte behöva åka till en fysisk butik och handla. Många deltagare såg även fördelen med butikens tillgänglig, närsomhelst och var som helst.

The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to present to the reader a comprehensive overview on how the characteristics of grocery products and apparel products influence the customer behavior and the choice of an offline or an online sales channel within an omnichannel marketing strategy. This thesis takes a company’s point of view in order to investigate the reactions and the resulting marketing and channel strategies the different retailers apply while taking into account the varying customer behavior. In order to fulfill this purpose, we formulated and presented two research questions and three propositions that helped to investigate the chosen subject matter of this thesis. The research philosophy of this Master’s thesis is based on an interpretivist epistemological perspective and a subjectivist ontological view. The research conducted within this thesis has an exploratory nature. In addition, the deductive approach is used to study the research questions, while adopting a qualitative research method. The practical method employed in this thesis in order to fulfill the purpose is based on conducting multiple semi-structured, non-standardized interviews. The respondents and the companies they represent are divided according to the industry they belong to, namely the apparel retail or the grocery retail, and the geographically located in Europe. The final results are then gained by the combination of the primary data, yield from the interviews, and secondary data, collected during a literature search and an undertaken literature review. The contribution of this Master’s thesis is represented by an analysis that combines the theoretical perspectives and empirical findings. They provide an overview on how do the characteristics of products influence the customer behavior and the choice of an offline or an online sales channel within an omnichannel marketing strategy while focusing on apparel and grocery retailers in Europe. In addition, the findings also provide an overview on how the apparel and grocery retailers react on the varying behavior of their customers and based on this, what marketing and sales strategies they employ.

This diploma thesis elaborates on the customer behavior on the Czech grocery market. The emphasis is particularly put on the customers' reaction to the special offer flyers. This research paper describes the real special offer price campaigns of the retailer Globus and analyses the customer behavior that is caused by these special offer prices. Furthermore this thesis also develops the concept of better reaction to such a customer behavior. By applying this concept, better and more effective realization of special offer price campaigns could be generated.

The goal of the Master´s Thesis is to make a business plan which would reflect the business intention of its author for an online food delivery service, to be able to asses its viability and possibly its feasebility. The first part is theoretical and it is dealing with the necessities of such plan. Special attention is put on the structure of a business plan. Practical part of the thesis is dedicated to the individual parts of the plan. Firstly the business opportunity and the form of personnel is introduced. Secondly the analysis of the market, competition, suppliers and marketing strategy. The financial plan is than testing the feasibility of the idea form the economic perspective.