The power of in-store technology : A qualitative study about how in-store technology creates value for Swedish retail companies and their customers.

Sammanfattning: With an ongoing development in technology, retailers faces new challenges in terms of higher customer expectations. To meet these expectations, retail companies can use in-store technology to enhance the shopping experience and to create more value. This study aims to provide an understanding of in-store technology and how retailers can work with these tools in order to create customer value and improve the customer experience. The purpose of this study will be to investigate the Swedish market and see how Swedish retail companies work with in-store technology.   In this context, the following research questions were formed: (1) How do retail managers use in-store technology to create value for the customers? and (2) How do in-store technology affect frontline employees within retail? In order to answer these questions, a qualitative method was used, where five different retail companies were interviewed, which all have implemented in-store technology. Before the empirical gathering, we chose to keep the companies and the respondents anonymous in order for us to reduce the risk for complications later on in the thesis. This study aims to provide theory and to get an understanding of in-store technology and how companies can use it to develop their business. A conceptual framework was made to clarify which concepts that was used in order to answer these questions. These concepts were in-store technology, customer value creation, convenience, frontline employees, customer engagement and improved customer experience.   The empirical findings generated theory in which the authors developed two models: (1) The value dynamics, which describe how in-store technology and the interplay between managers, frontline employees, and customers generate value to each other. (2) A three step model where the authors have several suggestions of what retail companies should think of when they implement new technology.  The results of this study conclude how retail companies can use in-store technology in order to create customer value to improve the customer experience. In-store technology has created more value for the customer in terms of a more convenient shopping experience, and in-store technology provides the customer with more information which makes the shopping experience more independent as well. In-store technology has also contributed, in some extent, to a better working environment for frontline employees.