No description available.

The internet has provided an easier way to trade goods and services through online stores. As an effect of internet and e-commerce, companies restructure the trade from the physical store to online store. This affects the physical stores because most things become more easily accessible by the internet, as a result, customers buy goods online instead of going to the actual store. The purpose of the study is to find out how the physical stores experience that the internet has affected their store and how online stores work with internet marketing. A SWOT analysis of the companies has been done to see any connections between the companies' strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, and the perception of the impact of the internet. This to be able to analyze these against each other and find similarities in the companies. The study is a qualitative study with empirical data collected through interviews. The study's empirical data is based on interviews with three physical stores and two online stores, all of which are active in retail. The result of the study shows that the physical stores have experienced that they have been affected by the internet to varying degrees. The SWOT analysis that was done showed that the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats revolved mostly around digitization. Furthermore, the empirical evidence also suggests that online stores have adopted social media to a large extent for their marketing. / Internet har möjliggjort ett enklare sätt att handla varor och tjänster via nätbutiker vilket har resulterat i att företag omstrukturerar sin handel från fysisk butik till nätbutik. Detta påverkar de fysiska butikerna eftersom de flesta saker blir mer lättillgängliga via internet, vilket resulterar i att kunderna köper varor online istället för att besöka den fysiska butiken. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på hur de fysiska butikerna upplever att internet har påverkat deras butik och hur nätbutiker arbetar med deras internetmarknadsföring. En SWOT-analys av företagen har gjorts för att se eventuella samband mellan företagens styrkor, svagheter, hot, möjligheter och uppfattningen om internets påverkan. Detta för att sedan kunna analysera dessa mot varandra och hitta likheter hos företagen. Studien är en kvalitativ studie med empiriska data som har samlats in genom intervjuer. Studiens empiriska data baseras på intervjuer med tre fysiska butiker och två nätbutiker, som alla är aktiva inom sällanköpshandeln. Resultatet av studien visar att de fysiska butikerna har upplevt att de blivit påverkade av internet i olika grad. SWOT-analysen som gjordes visade att de upplevda styrkorna, svagheterna, möjligheterna och hoten cirkulerade mestadels kring digitalisering. Vidare antyder även empirin att nätbutikerna har anammat sociala medier i en hög utsträckning i deras marknadsföring.

This ethnography is a study of the cultural scene at one store of a chain of twenty-eight retail "discount department stores"--the Bi Mart Company, a subsidiary of the Pay 'n Save Corporation. It is an exercise of an ethnographic method developed by James Spradley that is used to uncover and describe the cultural grammar of acquired knowledge which Bi Mart employees use to define and interpret their situation and to generate and understand their work. The method is based on the assumption that culture is best learned and best described (as much as possible) from the "native" point of view.

Problemformulering: Vår studie handlar om konsumenters relation till butikspersonalen inom dagligvaruhandeln, alltså butiker som i första hand säljer livsmedel men även andra dagligvaror. Hur interaktionen mellan konsument och produkt är och hur situationen vid konsumtionen ser ut är faktorer som Laaksonen (2010) menar påverkar den engagemangsnivå konsumenten upplever. Vi vill därför studera hur relationen till butikspersonalen kan påverka hur konsumtionssituationen upplevs av konsumenten och hur den påverkar engagemangsnivån, då dagligvaror ofta anses som lågengagemangsprodukter. Det behövs mer studier som skapar förståelse om vilken påverkan personalen har på konsumentens upplevelse av relationen, då relationen är en faktor som bidrar till konsumentens lojalitet. Syfte: Studien syftar till att få större kunskap om vilken betydelse relationen med butikspersonalen har för konsumentens upplevelse av lojalitet. Lojalitet innefattar många faktorer, vi har valt att fokusera på faktorn relationer. Detta för att bidra till en ökad förståelse om konsumentens relation till butikspersonalen då det kan hjälpa butiken att förstå hur de kan arbeta vidare med relationsskapandet till konsumenten. Detta är viktigt för butiken att ha förståelse om då relationen även påverkar konsumentens relation till butiken som i sin tur påverkar konsumentens lojalitet. Metod: För att få större kunskap om hur viktigt konsumenter upplever att personalen i butiken är och vad hos butikspersonalen som konsumenten efterfrågar i relationen, valde vi att samla in data från konsumenter och analysera svaren, vilket i detta fall gjorts via intervjuer. Teori: Den teori som vi främst använt oss av är lojalitetsbegreppet och relationsmarknadsföring. Slutsats: Priser, öppettider och sortiment är viktiga faktorer vid skapandet av en långvarig relation med butiken men för att konsumenten ska välja en butik framför en annan måste bemötandet från personalen vara bra. Det finns många dagligvarubutiker att välja på i konsumenternas närområde vilket gör att faktorerna priser, öppettider och sortiment inte blir avgörande. Det är istället relationen till butikspersonalen och att konsumenten känner sig speciell, respekterad och betydelsefull som blir en konkurrensfördel och avgörande faktor för konsumenternas val av butik. En tillmötesgående och positiv personal gör att relationen stärks och konsumenterna får en mer positiv inställning till butiken. Även i de fall där konsumenterna inte upplever personalen som så viktig bidrar ändå en tillmötesgående personal till att konsumenten uppfattar butiken som mer attraktiv. / Problem: Our study is about consumers' relationship with the store staff in the grocery store, then stores that primarily sell food but also other consumer goods. How the interaction between the consumer and the product is and how the situation looks at consumption are factors Laaksonen (2010) argues affect the commitment level of the consumer experience. We therefore want to study how the relationship with the store staff can affect the consumption situation experienced by the consumer and how it affects the level of commitment, then consumer goods often considered low-engagement products. It needs more studies to create understanding about the impact staff have on the consumer's perception of the relationship, then the relationship is a factor contributing to consumer loyalty. Objective: This study aims to gain greater knowledge of the importance of the relationship with the store staff for the consumer’s experience of loyalty. Loyalty involves many factors, we have chosen to focus on the factor relationships. This will contribute to a better understanding of the consumer's relationship with the store staff as it can help the store to understand how they can work on creating relationships with the consumer. This is important for the store to have an understanding of because the relationship also affects the consumer's relationship with the store, which in turn affects the consumer's loyalty. Method: To gain greater knowledge of how important the consumer experience that the staff in the shop is and what the consumer request of the staff in the relationship, we chose to collect data from consumers and analyze the responses, which in this case was collected by interviews. Secondary data that we used was collected from books and scientific articles. Theory: The main theory that we used was the concept of loyalty and relationship marketing. Conclusion: Prices, opening hours and range are important factors in creating a long-lasting relationship with the store, but for the consumer to choose one store over another the personal treatment from the staff must be good. There are many grocery stores to choose from in the immediate area of consumer, making the elements of prices, opening hours and range not crucial. It is instead the staff and their attitude that becomes a competitive advantage and crucial factor in consumers' choice of store. An accommodating and positive staff makes the relationship stronger and the consumer gets a more positive attitude to the store. Even in cases where consumers do not experience the staff as an important contribution they still experience that an accommodating staff makes the shop more attractive.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / Customers expect from a store that displays expensive products to make an effort to decorate the store with atmospheric elements to create a prestige atmosphere. The four stores that the participants visited target upper-class customers and display expensive products. One of the participants mentioned that the atmosphere in Hip Hop remind her of a take-away restaurant. Hip Hop was making no effort to decorate its stores to create a hedonic experience for its customers. They were relying on their well-known brand name to sell their products. In the long run, this strategy will not be effective as the competition gets tougher and more brands enter the market. High-class fashion stores focus more on hedonic customers. Customers do not need to buy expensive clothes as there are many discount stores that could fulfil their clothing needs. In order for high-class fashion stores to attract customers they need to create a hedonic experience for their customers in the store. The customers must want to enter the store and spend time in the store. Atmospheric elements can attract customers to the store and influence the time they spend in the store. It is important that new fashion stores have the right atmospheric design in their stores. New stores cannot rely on a name as this is not well known. The atmospheric design of a store tells customers what they can expect in the store. One of our main findings is that there is a difference between the atmospheric designs in shopping centres. The fashion stores in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town use atmospherics in their stores to create a prestige atmosphere for their upper-class customers. On the other hand, the atmospheric designs in the fashion stores in Canal Walk, which attracts middle-class customers, had a lower quality and were not regarded to be as prestige as those of the V&A Waterfront stores. The most expensive merchandise was also found in the fashion stores in the V&A Waterfront. Most of the stores in our sample use some atmospheric elements. However, the combination of the atmospheric elements in the stores did not always match. The participants viewed the atmospheric design as a whole and it was important to them that all the atmospheric elements fit together. The participants were noticeably disappointed with a store that did not make use of atmospherics to enhance its customers’ shopping experience. They found the store too plain as the storeowner did not make any effort to decorate the store. When they entered a store that did make use of atmospherics, the participants mentioned that they would like to spend more time in the store.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Master / Master of Business Administration

Information-seekers use a variety of information stores including electronic systems and the physical world experience of their community. Within electronic systems, information-seekers often report feelings of being lost and suffering from information overload. However, in the physical world they tend not to report the same negative feelings. This work draws on existing research including Collaborative Filtering, Recommender Systems and Social Navigation and reports on a new observational study of information-seeking behaviours. From the combined findings of the research and the observational study, a set of design considerations for the creation of a new electronic interface is proposed. Two new interfaces, the second built from the recommendations of the first, and a supporting methodology are created using the proposed design considerations. The second interface, the Collaborative Index, is shown to allow physical world behaviours to be used in the electronic world and it is argued that this has resulted in an alternative and preferred access route to information. This preferred route is a product of information-seekers' interactions 'within the machine' and maintains the integrity of the source information and navigational structures. The methodology used to support the Collaborative Index provides information managers with an understanding of the information-seekers' needs and an insight into their behaviours. It is argued that the combination of the Collaborative Index and its supporting methodology has provided the capability for information-seekers and information managers to 'enter into the machine', producing benefits for both groups.

To meet global competition many companies have reorganized work process systems, eliminated management levels, formed employee work groups and implemented variable compensation systems. This study investigated the effect of group incentives on individual sales performance in two specialty shops located in a large metropolitan hotel. Two questions were addressed: What effect would adding a group bonus plan have on individual employee's sales performance who had previously received hourly wages in one shop; and, what effect would changing an individual incentive plan to a group plan have on the individual employee's sales performance in the other shop. In one shop 5 of 7 employees' productivity increased: in the other, 1 of 3 subjects' productivity increased. Contingencies in both shops are analyzed and suggestions offered for future research.