Background & Problem: As society becomes more aware of what climate change is provoking in the environment, urgent action toward a more sustainable way of living is being called for. Businesses need to find ways to become more sustainable. One of the fastest-growing industries in the market is the fashion industry, despite it being part of the second-largest polluting industry. It is up to the business but also the consumers to make drastic changes in order to sustain the planet. There are multiple factors that affect consumers purchasing decisions, such as Price and Environmental Knowledge. The problem found when conducting the literature review was that no previous articles could be found in Sweden regarding consumers’ purchasing decisions when buying clothes within the fast fashion sector regarding sustainability.   Purpose: This study aims to understand what substantial factors affect consumers' purchase decisions on clothes. The authors aim to explain existing literature on the chosen topic while providing new insights and data to understand the effect of different variables on consumers’ purchase decisions within Sweden.   Method: A quantitative approach was used, where a questionnaire was sent out to consumers in Sweden. The theoretical framework and the two hypotheses were built on previous literature collected through search engines. The data gathered from the questionnaire was analyzed through the statistical data analysis tool IBM SPSS with a regression model and a descriptive model to answer the research question.   Conclusion: The results of this study show that individuals in Sweden often prioritize Low Prices over the environmental impact of their choices, as well as showing that having Environmental Knowledge affects consumers purchasing decisions. However, not as much as it was expected. The two hypotheses tested were both accepted. Environmental Knowledge and Low Prices affect consumers’ purchasing decisions when buying fast fashion products in Sweden. The results are coherent with previous literature.

The emergence of online stores specializing in fast fashion apparel has presented a significant challenge to brick-and-mortar stores and has had detrimental consequences for the environment. Consequently, it is essential for physical stores to stay informed about emerging trends in physical store design. Currently, the fashion industry is acknowledged as a highly detrimental sector in terms of its environmental impact, attributable to its extensive utilization of harmful chemicals, substantial consumption of energy and water resources, and contribution to waste generation and pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to adopt more sustainable practices when it comes to purchasing apparel, particularly in light of sustainability concerns. Moreover, physical second-hand stores play a crucial role in promoting sustainability by offering pre-owned items. To attract customers, these stores need to cultivate a more appealing ambiance and atmosphere. To achieve this, the implementation of a sensory marketing strategy within physical second-hand stores can be employed to enhance the customer experience. By engaging the senses of smell, touch, vision, and hearing in a cohesive manner, a sensory marketing strategy can potentially contribute to a more enjoyable shopping experience and attract customers to physical second-hand stores. This study adopts a qualitative approach, collecting empirical data through semi-structured interviews with female participants aged between 18 and 60 years old in Sweden. The interviewees consisted of individuals who frequently made purchases in physical second-hand stores, as well as those who did so less frequently. The empirical findings were subsequently analyzed in conjunction with the existing literature. The research findings conclude that the implementation of sensory marketing techniques in physical second-hand stores has the potential to enhance the store's image, market position, and overall attractiveness. Creating congruence among the senses can result in a positive customer experience and a pleasant atmosphere, thereby increasing the likelihood of customers choosing to purchase apparel from second-hand stores. Additionally, the study reveals a growing interest among customers in sustainable shopping choices, leading to an increased inclination to opt for second-hand items.

Background: Reshoring refers to the process of bringing back manufacturing activities from foreign countries to the home country. The phenomenon is receiving increasing attention from companies and academics for factors such as increasing labor costs in offshore locations, supply chain disruptions, and a growing preference for locally made products. Sweden is home to many world-renowned multinational companies and multinational brands, many of which have established production operations in developing countries. However, reshoring from a consumer-side perspective has not received much research attention, especially from a Swedish consumer perspective. Purpose: This study investigates factors influencing Swedish consumers’ purchase intention on reshored products. This study focuses on five factors: brand attitude, social acceptability, individual ethnocentrism, made-in effect, and perceived social responsibility.  Methodology: This study adopts a quantitative research design and conducts a questionnaire regarding reshored apparel among Swedish consumers to test hypotheses. The data was collected through a web-based survey that 151 respondents answered. Findings: The empirical results indicate that brand attitude, social acceptability, and perceived social responsibility positively affect Swedish consumers' purchase intention on reshored apparel, while individual ethnocentrism and made-in effect do not have any significant effect.  Contributions: This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the implications of reshoring from a demand-side perspective, complementing the reshoring literature that primarily focuses on the business perspective. As the study is limited to a Swedish context, it provides a deeper understanding of Swedish consumers and their influence on reshored products.

The internet has enabled billions of online transactions with customers transacting in real-time from various geographical points, while ecommerce could make more for Quebec traders dealing in various commodities. Quebec's ecommerce is still underdeveloped. This thesis seeks to understand the factors behind an e-consumer making a purchasing decision on a Quebec ecommerce site by using the Online Purchase assessment tool (OPAT) model to pinpoint emerging e-commerce trends, a literature review, and a questionnaire to discover the reality of why consumers purchase online. It discovered that e-commerce is not well-developed in Quebec because platforms use French and leave out English-speaking shoppers, most residents prefer physical shopping, and poor pricing strategies by foreign ecommerce platforms. This study aims to uncover why the Quebec retail industry is underdeveloped when it has enormous potential to lead among Canadian provinces. It evaluates consumer purchasing behaviors from online stores based on three moments that happen during the purchasing process. Summarily, it measures the first moment a retailer visits the platform, when they decide to purchase, and loyalty when they return to purchase again. It also provides recommendations for Quebec retailers regarding factors to consider when setting up their ecommerce stores to be successful.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly integrated aspect of daily life. Particularly, businesses have been incorporating AI into many of their features from customer support to product personalization. While there has been a body of research exploring the interpersonal impacts of AI and human participants, there is limited research on the effects of human-like AI on its influence in the purchasing process. Taking the theoretical framework of the Computer Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm, I utilized a 2 x 3 experiment to measure if the perceived sex of an artificial intelligence impacts consumers' purchase intention, trust, and sense of agency. Participants interacted with either a male-gendered or female-gendered AI chatbot, or a static website, which then recommended a water bottle based on the participants' preferences. The study indicated significance with both male and female participants preferring the control website over both AI sexes. The study also indicated significance in women participants feeling more overall agency than men participants during the experiment. The results indicate a potential need for a new level of human realism before CASA can be framed within some AI applications. / MACOM / Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly integrated aspect of daily life. Particularly, businesses have been incorporating AI into many of their features from customer support to product personalization. While there has been a body of research exploring the interpersonal impacts of AI and human participants, there is limited research on the effects of human-like AI on its influence in the purchasing process. Taking the concept that people naturally treat human-like technology as real humans, I have evaluated whether consumers' purchase intention, trust, and sense of agency are impacted while interacting with either a male-gendered or female-gendered AI chatbot , or a static website, which then recommended a water bottle based on the participants' preferences. The study showed that both male and female participants preferred the control website over both AI sexes, and women participants overall felt more agency than men participants during the experiment. The results indicate that there may need to be a new level of human realism before users will treat some AI applications as fellow humans.

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AbstractBackground:  Knowing consumers' perceptions and behaviour concerning baby care products is an important topic. One of the main reasons for choosing the baby care products industry is my professional interest and work experience in this field. There is a lack of information about the consumers' perceptions and what factors determine consumers’ buying behaviour about baby care products in Sweden. As Covid-19 is comparatively a new case globally, the ways Covid-19 impacts consumer behaviour in the baby product industry are rarely found in the literature.  Purpose:  The purpose of this study is to know consumers’ buying behaviour and identify the factors that influence the buying decision in purchasing baby care products. It also explored the ways Covid-19 impacted consumer behaviour in the baby product industry.  Method:  This study is primary data-based research. It uses quantitative research approaches. The targeted sample is the parents who have the experience of buying baby care products in Sweden. The size of the sample is 102, including fathers and mothers of the baby. It is designed as a set of a questionnaire in Google docs to collect the necessary data. Respondents are found in the Facebook groups and among friends & family members. It is used Google docs’ automatic data analysis tool and SPSS to visualize the data in the tables and charts. Conclusion:  Price and quality of products moderately influence consumers’ behaviour toward buying baby care products in Sweden. Organic factors, plant-based materials, and eco-friendly materials have a little influence and 100% natural elements of the product have a moderate influence on customers to purchase baby care products. Closing stores during Covid-19 led to a reduction in demand for baby care products. Consumers changed their purchase items during the pandemic but it was not a major problem for consumers. For marketers, it needs to address wellness, sustainability, and environmental issues and launch safe, clean, and sensitive baby care products.

Flera undersökningar har under de senaste åren visat på hur företag använder sig av miljömässiga budskap i sin marknadsföring för att framhäva sina produkter som mer miljövänliga än vad de i själva verket är, så kallad greenwashing. Genom det enorma utbudet som finns tillgängligt för nutidens konsumenter och de olika influenser de får till sig genom reklam kan det vara svårt för den enskilda konsumenten att avgöra om produkten är trovärdig eller inte. Tidigare forskning inriktat på ämnet har i första hand utgått från en yngre åldersgrupp. Uppsatsens forskning har utformats för att undersöka den brist på forskning som rör åldersgapet genom att studera vilka attribut på dagligvaror som konsumenter mellan 35–60 år upplever som hållbara utifrån ett klimatperspektiv. Undersökningen syftar till att bidra med ökad förståelse för hur attribut på produkter i dagligvaruhandeln påverkar konsumenter inom åldersintervallet att tro att de väljer hållbara produkter. Företag kan framgent dra nytta av resultatet från studien i marknadsföringen av hållbara produkter, samt hur de undviker greenwashing. Andra uppseendeväckande aspekter av ämnet tas upp som hypoteser och testas genom chitvå. I studien undersöks konsumenternas kännedom och attityd till vilseledande marknadsföring och miljömässigt hållbara val i dagligvaruhandeln genom en enkätundersökning. Resultatet analyseras sedan med hjälp av den valda teorin, kognitiv dissonans och köpbeslutsprocessens sista delar, vilka är köpbeslut och efterköpsbeteende. Undersökningen visade att det finns flera attribut som övertygar konsumenten att produkter i dagligvaruhandeln är hållbara. 85 % av respondenterna uppgav att de helst handlade varor som var paketerade av papper och kartong utifrån ett miljöperspektiv. 29 % uppgav att hållbarhetsmärkningar är det som är mest övertygande på produkter att de är hållbara tätt följt av 20 % som uppgav att innehållsförteckningen var det som övertygade mest. Svaren från enkäterna pekar på att det finns många faktorer som påverkar konsumenters gröna köpbeslut i dagligvaruhandeln och att de visuella attribut som en produkt har spelar roll, men att även andra, mer subtila faktorer också är med och påverkar det slutliga valet av att köpa produkten. Ett steg för företag att minska risken för att stämplas för greenwashing är att vara ärliga och transparenta och att det också speglar sig på produktens attribut. Studien är skriven på svenska. / In recent years, several studies have shown how companies use environmental messages in their marketing to highlight their products as more environmentally friendly than they are, so-called greenwashing. Due to the huge range available to today's consumers and the various influences they get through advertising, it can be difficult for the individual consumer to determine if the product is credible or not. Previous research in this field has primarily been based on a younger age group. This study has been designed to investigate the lack of research concerning the age gap by studying which attributes of groceries that consumers between the ages of 35-60 perceive as sustainable from a climate perspective. The survey aims to contribute to an increased understanding of how attributes on food products affect consumers in this age range to believe that they choose sustainable products. In the future, companies can benefit from the results of the study in the marketing of sustainable products, as well as how they avoid greenwashing. Other startling aspects of the subject are taken up as hypotheses and tested by chi square. The study examines consumers' knowledge and attitudes to misleading marketing and environmentally sustainable choices in the grocery trade through a survey. The result is then analyzed with the help of the chosen theories, cognitive dissonance and the last parts of the purchase decision process which are purchase decision and after-purchase behavior. The survey showed that there are several attributes that convince the consumer that products in the grocery trade are sustainable. 85% of the respondents stated that they preferred to buy goods that were packaged from paper and cardboard from an environmental perspective. 29% stated that sustainability labels are the most convincing on products that they are durable, closely followed by 20% who stated that the table of contents was the most convincing. The answers from the surveys indicate that there are many factors that influence consumers' green purchasing decisions in the grocery trade and that the visual attributes that a product has play a role, but that other, more subtle factors also play a role in influencing the final choice to buy the product. One step for companies to reduce the risk of being stamped for greenwashing is to be honest and transparent and that this is also reflected in the product's attributes. This study is written in Swedish.

Amongst production industries, the fashion industry is one of those with the most negative impact on the environment. Globalization has driven consumption of contemporary fashion products, such as clothes, to the highest quantities ever recorded in history. Where, to globally maintain a lifestyle based on the Swedish population alone, at least four earths would have been needed. Post-purchase behaviour is an influencer on future consumer decision-making and therefore a potential driver of collaborative consumption, yet little research has focused on this field in the second-hand clothing setting. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the post-purchase behaviour of the Swedish second-hand clothing consumer. The research extends expectation confirmation theory into the new scope of double hybrid business models, where consumers make second-hand clothing purchases within a mesh of both online and offline services, from a mixture of C2C and B2C transactions. The study utilizes a qualitative method, and the result is collected from eight in-depth one-on-one interviews with Swedish consumers. The findings show that expectations, when purchasing second-hand clothes, may differ between online and offline platforms. Subsequently the concepts of post-purchase behaviour are also experienced differently depending on the purchase having been made in a physical store or from an online seller. Practical implications are connected to the risk minimizing strategies that consumers adopt when trying to avoid disappointing and regretful purchases. The study provides new information about the differences in expectations and post-purchase behaviour between online and in store purchases of second-hand clothing and examines the Swedish consumer from a collaborative fashion consumption perspective.

In the last five years, the world has experienced unexpected tragic events and natural disasters. However, international tourism is expected to grow continually and tourists are therefore becoming more concerned with safety and security during their international travel. This dissertation investigated individuals' risk perception of vacationing at two scenario international destinations, Australia and Japan. While ten dimensions of perceived risk in international leisure travel were identified in the literature and one additional dimension of "Communication Risk" was proposed for this study, only seven dimensions were found in this study: "Health Risk," "Value Risk," "Psychological Risk," "Social Risk," "Terrorism Risk," "Equipment Risk," and "Communication Risk." The other four dimensions — "Financial Risk," "Time Risk," "Satisfaction Risk," and "Political Instability Risk" — were either merged into other dimensions or did not appear as an independent dimension in this study. The "Communication Risk" which was proposed in this study was found to be a valid dimension of perceived risk in vacationing at international destinations. The relationships of perceived risk to other factors were also examined. Individuals' characteristics of novelty seeking were negatively related to their risk perception, as were individuals' proficiency of the destination's native language. Those who have experience visiting the destination tended to perceive less risk in vacationing at the destination; the more familiarity/expertise with the destination, the less risk was perceived. When an individual perceived a higher level of risk towards a destination, s/he was less likely to vacation at the destination. Individuals were more likely to choose a packaged tour than independent travel when they had a higher level of risk perception towards vacationing at a particular international destination. / Ph. D.