With increasing engagement in on-line shopping accelerated by the events of 2020, what can we learn about prices and their rigidity in the on-line sector? We collect an extensive dataset of scraped daily prices for four on-line grocery retailers from the Czech Republic from January 2020 to April 2021. We find substantial di erences in pricing among the retailers, including the impact of interest rate changes and the introduction of lockdowns on the probability of price change. Price rigidity depends significantly on the retailer and the assumptions imposed on temporary price changes. The mean number of all price changes among retailers ranges between 3.10 and almost 11 per year. Depending on the definition of excluded temporary price changes, retailers change prices permanently on average between 0.68 to 4.04 times per year. We show that a more in-depth analysis of temporary price changes is crucial for a robust assessment of price rigidity. JEL Classification E30, L81, C55, D22 Keywords on-line grocery shopping, price flexibility, tem- porary price changes, scraped prices Title High-Frequency Food Prices: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Personaliserad marknadsföring är betydelsefullt för e-handeln och dess framgång. “Personaliserad marknadsföring definieras som att designa och leverera skräddarsydda produkter och tjänster till enskilda kunder, personaliserad marknadsföring innebär med andra ord differentierade erbjudanden för enskilda kunder” (Chandra, Verma, Marc Lim, Kumar & Donthu 2022, s. 1534).  Denna marknadsföringsstrategi får en ökad betydelse på nätet inom detaljhandel. Det finns bristfällig forskning gällande konsumenternas uppfattning om personaliserad marknadsföring samt bristande forskning kring kulturella aspekter inom personaliserad marknadsföring. Det finns en oro bland konsumenter för hur företag behandlar personliga uppgifter samt säkerheten kring dessa. Samtidigt har hantering av personliga uppgifter blivit ett diskuterat ämne inom EU där lagen om GDPR har tillfört att denna hantering skapat en större kontroll över personliga uppgifter. Denna studie syftar till att öka förståelsen kring personaliserad marknadsföring inom EU utifrån konsumenternas uppfattning samt att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar denna uppfattning. Studien avgränsas till EU då länder inom EU regleras av lagen om GDPR. För att undersöka detta har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi tillämpats, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med konsumenter i Sverige och Tyskland.  De teorier som tillämpats behandlar delning av personlig information, konsumentbeteende, integritet, köpintention vid personaliserad marknadsföring och individualism/kollektivism. Empirin har tillsammans med teorierna analyserats och visat på att det finns skillnader i hur svenska och tyska konsumenter uppfattar personaliserad marknadsföring.  Studiens slutsats fastställer en positiv uppfattning om personaliserad marknadsföring bland de svenska konsumenterna i större omfattning i jämförelse med de tyska konsumenterna. Studien påvisar att de svenska konsumenterna inte uppvisar en oro för integritet, en upplevd påträngning av personliga annonser samt en motvilja till att dela personlig information i lika stor utsträckning som de tyska konsumenterna. Studien kan urskilja att de tyska konsumenterna påverkas i större grad av lagen om GDPR och ytterligare en tysk lag som reglerar hantering av personliga uppgifter. Studien påvisar även att konsumenterna påverkas av två faktorer, personliga och sociala, vid val av livsmedelsvaror. Studien kan även konstatera att konsumenterna påvisar ett individualistiskt beteende vid val av livsmedelsvaror. / Personalized marketing is important to e-commerce and its success. “Personalized marketing is defined as designing and delivering tailor-made products and services to individual customers. In other words, personalized marketing involves differentiated offerings for individual customers” (Chandra, Verma, Marc Lim, Kumar & Donthu 2022, s. 1534).  This marketing strategy is gaining increased importance online in retail. There is inadequate research regarding consumers’ perceptions of personalized marketing. In addition, there is inadequate research regarding cultural aspects of personalized marketing. There is a concern among consumers about how companies process personal data and the security regarding this. At the same time, processing of personal data has become a discussed topic within the EU, where GDPR has contributed to a greater control over the processing of personal data. This study aims to increase the understanding of personalized marketing within the EU based on consumers’ perception and to study which factors influence this perception. The study is limited to the EU as countries within the EU are regulated by the law of GDPR. To investigate this, a qualitative research strategy has been applied, where semi-structured interviews have been conducted with consumers in Sweden and Germany.   The theories that are applied to this study deal with the sharing of personal information, consumer behavior, privacy, purchase intention in personalized marketing and individualism/collectivism. The collected data have been analyzed together with the theories and shown that there are differences in how Swedish consumers and German consumers perceive personalized marketing.  The conclusion of this study establishes a positive perspective of personalized marketing among the Swedish consumers to a greater extent in comparison with the German consumers. The study can prove that Swedish consumers do not show a concern for privacy, a perceived intrusion of personal advertisements and an aversion of sharing personal information to the same extent as the German consumers. The study can distinguish that German consumers are affected to a greater extent by the law on GDPR and another German law that regulates the handling of personal data. This study also shows that consumers are influenced by two factors, personal and social, when choosing food products. The study can also establish that consumers demonstrate an individualistic behavior when choosing food products.

Since the mid-century proliferation of public housing, policy makers and environmental justice advocates have exposed the fact that geographically and economically isolated public housing sites are ultimately detrimental to residents and communities. In recent years, more progressive housing policies have emphasized the importance of site location in the success of housing programs. This study explores the intersection of affordable housing policy and “food desert” research, by assessing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in California, with specific attention to the grocery store category within the Site Amenities section. Since the inception of the LIHTC program in 1986, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) has made multiple revisions to its application process. The study evaluates the current accessibility of grocery stores from LIHTC sites in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties in Northern California. It also critiques the changes in application scoring, criteria, and the indicators of food facility proximity and quality, identifying weaknesses, recommendations, and areas for further research. It finds that despite CTCAC’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of the application, there does not seem to improvement in grocery store access over time. Further research is needed to determine whether this condition is a result of a failure on the part of the application process, or of high land costs and limited availability of developable land.

An extensive number of previous studies have examined the consumption of organic foods from a consumer perspective, and previous studies that have examined Visual Merchandising have primarily focused on the fashion industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate how three physical grocery stores work with Visual Merchandising when displaying organic foods. Furthermore, the marketing strategies Visual Merchandising and the Marketing Mix were combined through a model illustrated in Figure 1. It was considered useful to combine these two marketing strategies as they complement and reinforce each other. The two theories have common characteristics and they therefore contribute to a comprehensive strategy that was considered valuable for the development of how organic foods are displayed in grocery stores. This multiple case study adopts a qualitative design to contribute to an in-depth understanding of the subject and the collected data. The data collection took place through semi-structured interviews with representatives from three different grocery stores in Sweden, who worked as sustainability managers or supermarket managers. The interviews were supplemented with structured observations in each store, where the departments investigated were fruit and vegetables, dairy, and colonial. The results showed that the stores studied have a beneficial display of organic food on regular shelf space, but rarely display organic food on special surfaces. Conclusions that can be drawn from the study are that the stores that were investigated worked with Visual Merchandising of organic foods to a certain extent, but that the conventional products were prioritized. The results of the study provide practical implications for grocery stores by reporting and clarifying how they work with display of organic foods, as well as how they can develop their work with Visual Merchandising desirably. The study's theoretical implications contribute to the revised theories in Figure 1. There a combination of Visual Merchandising and the Marketing Mix is proposed to examine the phenomenon from a new perspective. The study is written in Swedish. / En stor och omfattande andel tidigare studier har undersökt konsumtionen av ekologiska livsmedel ur ett konsumentperspektiv, och många av de tidigare studierna som har undersökt Visual Merchandising har främst fokuserat på modeindustrin. Denna studiens syfte är att undersöka hur tre fysiska Stora Coop-butiker arbetar med Visual Merchandising vid exponering av ekologiska livsmedel. Vidare kombinerades marknadsföringsstrategierna Visual Merchandising och Marknadsmixen tillsammans genom en modell som illustreras i Figur 1. Det sågs användbart att slå ihop dessa två marknadsföringsstrategier till en kombination då de förstärker varandra. De två teorierna ansågs besitta gemensamma egenskaper och bidrar därför till en heltäckande strategi för utvecklingen av exponering av ekologiska produkter i livsmedelsbutiker. Denna flerfallsstudie erhåller en kvalitativ design för att bidra till en djupgående förståelse av ämnet och den insamlande datan. Datainsamlingen skedde genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från tre olika Coop-butiker i Sverige, de arbetade som hållbarhetsansvarig eller stormarknadschef. Intervjuerna kompletterades med strukturerade observationer i respektive butik, där avdelningarna som undersöktes var frukt och grönt, mejeri och kolonial. Resultaten visar att de undersökta butikerna har en fördelaktig exponering av ekologiska livsmedel på ordinarie hyllplats, men exponerar sällan ekologiska livsmedel på specialytor. Slutsatser som kan dras av studien är att de butikerna som undersöktes arbetade med Visual Merchandising av ekologiska livsmedel i viss omfattning, men att de konventionella produkterna prioriterades. Studiens resultat ger praktiska implikationer för livsmedelsbutikerna genom att redovisa och tydliggöra hur de arbetar med exponering av ekologiska livsmedel, samt hur de kan utveckla sitt arbete med Visual Merchandising på ett önskvärt sätt. Studiens teoretiska implikationer bidrar med de omarbetade teorierna i Figur 1. Där föreslås en kombination av Visual Merchandising och Marknadsmixen för att undersöka fenomenet ur ett nytt perspektiv.

New technology is revolutionizing the retail industry by providing new conditions and questioning the traditional way of shopping. Wearable devices have gained popularity lately and smartwatches are one of the most popular among them [12]. However, little research has been made in the area of creating experiences for grocery retail purchases using smartwatches, which is where this study aims to contribute. Through establishing what affordances and challenges there might be when creating a digital experience for people using smart watches with the intent of purchasing groceries. With the support from CompanyX, one of the leading companies with their core business in grocery retail, the study was built around Apple Watch users as the target group. An experience-centered design method was used to incorporate the end user at each stage of the design process. A high fidelity prototype was created based on the decoded material from the semi-structured interviews performed. The prototype was then evaluated in a remote setup using both in-depth test sessions and a broader evaluation questionnaire. The results showed that the prototype proposed added value for the user by providing an experience that would encourage a more structured and inspirational way of purchasing groceries. The attitude towards the prototype was positive. However, further improvements are suggested and discussed aiming to suit the limited interaction options of a smartwatch, better. The study provides insights in what the attitude looks towards different types of functionalities aiming to create an enhanced grocery shopping experience among Apple Watch users. / Nya tekniska förutsättningar revolutionerar handelsmarknaden genom nya förutsättningar som ifrågasätter traditionellt sätt att handla på. Teknologier som Wearables har under de senaste åren blivit mycket populära där de vristburna enheterna är de som står ut särskilt i popularitet. Dock har lite studier gjorts på hur man med hjälp av Wearables skulle kunna skapa en upplevelse ämnad att underlätta shoppingupplevelsen hos personer som handlar matvaror. Vad öppnar en smartklocka upp för förutsättningar och vad finns det för utmaningar att skapa en upplevelse med hjälp av en smartklocka? Med stöd från CompanyX, en av Sveriges ledande företag inom dagligvaruhandel, byggdes studien kring Apple Watch-användare. Användaren var central genom hela studien då den var byggt runt användarbeteenden och användarupplevelser. En prototyp skapades baserat på de resultat som fastställdes kring användandet, samt testad på slutanvändarna. Resultaten visade att prototypen skapade värde för användaren då den uppmuntrade till ett mer strukturerat samt inspirerande sätt att handla matvaror på. Prototypen togs emot positivt men skulle gynnas av ytterligare förbättringar och design iterationer främst kring smartklockans begränsade interaktionsmöjligheter. Studien bidrar med insikter kring hur attityden ser ut kring skapandet av en användarupplevelse för matvaruhandel i en smartklocka hos Apple Watch användare.

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Syftet med detta arbete är att jämföra tre kassar av samma typ som är tillverkade i olika material och undersöka vilken variant som är mest resurseffektiv ur ett livscykelperspektiv. En kasse tillverkad av återvunnen plast, en tillverkad av nyplast och en kasse tillverkad av konventionell bomull. Detta i och med att Sveriges regering har beslutat att införa en skatt på plastkassar som säljs i dagligvaruhandeln. Ett beslut fattat baserat på ett direktiv från EU att år 2025 ska varje person använda max 40 stycken plastkassar per år. För att undersöka detta utfördes en förenklad livscykelanalys samt att flera studier, från olika länder, som använt livscykelanalyser för att undersöka samma fråga analyserades. I den förenklade livscykelanalysen jämförs också bomullskassen med en bomullskasse som återvinns till 100%, båda tillverkade av konventionell bomull, för att se vad effekten blir av att återvinna material. Alla tidigare studier kom fram till olika svar där mängden gånger man behöver använda en bomullskasse för att den ska vara likvärdig en plastkasse, avsedd för engångsbruk, varierade mellan ungefär 50–150 gånger. Livscykelanalysen som utförs i arbetet och analyseringen av de olika studierna visar att en plastkasse kräver mindre resurser än en kasse tillverkad av bomull, men det visar också att det kan vara svårt att utföra korrekta livscykelanalyser utifrån realistiska scenarion. Så vad som kan se ut som rättvist ur perspektiv baserat på siffror kanske inte är rättvist ur ett realistiskt perspektiv. För att spara på de resurser som finns tillgängliga är det viktigt att inte förbruka resurser i onödan. Använd därför, oavsett material, en kasse så många gånger som möjligt och när det inte längre går att använda, återvinn den då så den kan hjälpa till och bidra till att det krävs mindre resurser för att få fram nästa produkt. / The purpose of this report is to investigate three similar bags made from different materials to see what is the most resource-efficient from a life cycle perspective. One bag made of recycled plastic, one made of new plastic and one bag made of conventional cotton. This is because the Swedish government has decided to introduce a tax on plastic bags sold in the grocery trade. This decision is based on a directive from the EU that in 2025 each person should use a maximum of 40 plastic bags per year. To investigate this, a simplified life cycle assessment was performed and several studies, from different countries, that used life cycle analyzes to investigate the same question were analyzed. In the simplified life cycle assessment, the cotton bag is also compared with a cotton bag that is recycled to 100%, both made from conventional cotton, to see what the effect will be if materials are recycled. All previous studies had different answers where the amount of times a cotton bag needs to be used to make it equivalent to a one-time plastic box, varied between about 50-150 times. Both the LCA that was performed and the analysis of the different studies shows that a plastic bag requires less resources than a bag made of cotton, but it also shows that it can be difficult to perform an accurate life cycle assessment based on realistic scenarios. So, what may look fair from a perspective based on numbers may not be fair from a realistic perspective. In order to not deplete the resources that are available, it is important not to consume resources unnecessarily. Therefore, regardless of material, use a bag as many times as possible and when it can no longer be used, then recycle it so it can help and contribute to the use of less resources for the next product.

An exploration to utilize the notion of a screen in order to orchestrate an urban response, an urban mixed-use building. It is an investigation into the contradictions of materiality and the inherent values of organistic and rigid geometries and formations in terms of architecture and the facade. Two screens make use of pattern, texture, and layering to create a sense of order and chaos within the same instance. This is most noticeable through the introduction of light, natural and artificial. These screens are a reflection of the ripples, webs, and vibrations of all human activity. This is an investigation into repetition and layering, covering and wrapping, and ultimately creating an enjoyable environment to live, work, and play. The program is quite simple. On the ground floor there is a grocery store, shops, and offices. On the upper levels, there are townhomes and apartments, one and two bedroom. / Master of Architecture

This is a bachelor's thesis in the area of electrical engineering as well as automation. This thesis investigates motor choice, sensor choices, and the methodology of automating a grocery store picking system prototype. The general structure of the system is composed out of two shelfs with a plane, between them, that is movable in the vertical direction. On the movable plane a conveyor belt was installed. We evaluated the motor choice for the application and the safety aspects of the system to gather a general understanding of potential risk factors involved in realizing a system that can work autonomously. It includes both electrical safety factors as well as mechanical safety factors. Additionally, we considered safety precautions to prevent malfunctions that can lead to these risks. To realize the prototype, a prestudy to investigate motor alternatives was conducted to determine the best motor choice for the application. The chosen motor was a DC steppermotor with snail gearbox. This will ensure simple regulation of the motor to sufficiently handle the weights the system needs to manage. The snail gearbox can eliminate some mechanical risk factors due to its self-locking mechanism, ensuring that if there is an electrical malfunction, such as a power failure, the system will not collapse on itself and drop the payload flat on the floor. Also, a model of the large prototype was made in a 3D-drawing software, which was then 3D-printed and set up to mimic the large prototype. The goal of the miniature model is to test the functionality and evaluate if the algorithms described in this thesis can be preserved and re-used for the large system and prototype.