RETAIL IS DETAIL : Customers’ Attraction to Physical Retail Stores Within Consumer Electronics

Sammanfattning: Most companies' desire is to create customer relationships and the working methods have changed as a result of the increased e-commerce. Because of digitalization, the retailing field has changed dramatically. Consequently, physical stores are facing competition from online companies. Previous literature has stated that physical stores now have to focus on what happens inside the store in order to generate a pleasant experience. The research question focused on examining how Elgiganten, the largest consumer electronic store in Sweden, use customer experience and customer value in order to influence store attractiveness. This was carried out by using a qualitative approach, an exploratory nature and by conducting in-depth interviews with consumers and the company's head managers. The main findings of this study suggest that customers can not take advantage of some services when buying through e-commerce. This ability to provide service is an important part of the handling of competition from e-commerce. The retailers need to find the right balance between engagement and emotions in the physical retail environment in order to appeal to the consumers’ desires of trust & reliability in order to create an attractive experience point. By means of this, the thesis emphasised the imperative of creating experience in offline retailing.