I choose Swedish! Or do I? : a case study at supermarkets concerning how managers market food produced in Sweden

Sammanfattning: In Sweden, the population is encouraged to choose food produced in Sweden. This is encouraged since food produced in Sweden includes many sustainable advantages like Sweden’s good conditions for cultivation, the food is produced in a safe way with low antibiotic use and good animal welfare. Despite this, almost 50 percent of the food in Sweden is imported. A large amount of imported food competes directly with Swedish food production such as various meats, fruits and dairy products. Studies in Sweden show that even if consumers express that they purchase sustainable products, they are shown to choose the opposite at the time of purchasing. It has been shown that there is relatively low awareness and knowledge concerning environmental labels and thereof could rather confuse the consumers than help. This could mean that consumers think they choose Swedish food but are actually not. The store managers have the power of influencing the consumers’ buying decisions, whereby the aim is to increase the understanding of how managers at large grocery stores work with marketing of food produced in Sweden. The study is based on two research questions that have been implemented to answer the purpose; How do the department managers at the ICA Maxi stores’ meat, diary, fruits and greens departments work with marketing to promote food produced in Sweden? What are the drivers and barriers affecting ICA’s marketing strategies of food produced in Sweden? To answer the aim, a qualitative case study has been applied. To collect the empirical data, nine semi-structured interviews have been conducted with ICA Maxi's department managers for meat, dairy, fruit and greens at ICA Maxi, in the cities of Stockholm, Uppsala and Gothenburg. The study was based on the theoretical framework that forms the basis for analyzing the empirical data. The theories used in the study are the sustainability marketing mix, labeling and nudging. The results of the study showed that all ICA's department managers apply many different marketing strategies, to varying degrees. Also, the study showed that there were many drivers to increase the marketing of Swedish-produced food shown in table VI, at the same time, there were barriers that affected the grocery stores' marketing of Swedish-produced food table V. The results of this study therefore imply there is a need to implement a clearer marketing strategy at all the ICA stores in order to increase sales of Swedish produced food that could contribute to a sustainable development.