Retail research projects (a-journal publications)

The Sales Impact of Using Handheld Scanning: Evidence from the Field

(Grewal, D., S. Noble, C.-P. Ahlbom, and J. Nordfält, 2020,  Journal of Marketing Research)

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In-Store Mobile Phone Use and Customer Shopping Behavior: Evidence from the Field 

(Grewal, D, C-P Ahlbom, L Beitelspacher, S Noble, and J Nordfält, 2018, Journal of Marketing)

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An Empirical Analysis of the Joint Effects of Shoppers’ Goals and Attribute Display on Shoppers’ Evaluations

(Guha, A., A Biswas, D Grewal, S. Bhomwick and J. Nordfält 2018,  Journal of Marketing)

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The future of in-store technology

(Grewal, D, S. Noble, A. Roggeveen, and J Nordfält, 2020, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science)

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Reframing the Discount with a Comparison to the Sale Price: Does It Make the Discount More Attractive?

(Guha, A., A. Biswas, D. Grewal, S. Verma, S. Banerjee, and J Nordfält, 2018, Journal of Marketing Research)

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MORE research...

Here are some selected projects and a little about their background. 

Three truths about my research philosophy:

ONE. I see myself as a retailer with a scientific toolbox, not the other way around. I always start my research projects with a practical question. This does not mean that I can't enjoy theoretical or qualitative research. It is quite the opposite actually. However, the research I do is quite practical and normative. TWO. I listen to my gut feeling and try to follow it. By doing what I think is interesting and relevant I ensure that I can work hard on my projects. If I find it hard to see the relevance in a project; or if I do not think it is interesting I often drop it. I almost always work in teams and it is often I who take the first steps in new projects. I like finding practically relevant problems and make the initial tests before the other tetam members get involved. THREE. I am a strong believer in triangulation in the sense that I do not want my research result to be dependent on a single data source. With multiple studies and multiple data sources I think you get more reliable results. This might be especially important if you work with field studies.
Jens Nordfält
On this site I am trying to share my research (research where I have participated in the creation) as well as giving some background on the projects. I also try to give anyone interested an idea of where my thoughts come from and what my point of departure as a researcher is. I consider myself to be very fortunate to be able to explore something that I am really interested in. Moreover, I do this together with people and companies that I really like. Honestly I think I have created my own fortune but at the same time I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunities and met with the people that I have. Without the help of numerous people and organisations I would not be where I am today.

Ongoing projects

PLEND

I am involved in a series of studies all going under the common acronym PLEND (path, landmark, edge, node, & district). The purpose of these studies is to study the role of the physical store in a digital world.

Sensory 1
Sensory 2

Sensory projection

In this project we study the effects of sensory projectors, adding projected films, sound and scent on shopping behaviour.

In-store music

This project involves large field studies and a meta analysis of in-store music and its effects on shopper behaviour.

Does the music and the image seem incongruent to you? In the project we found that if music is congruent with your mind set or shopping goal, then music enhances sales. If the shopping environment is not congruent with your mindset, then music will decrease the sales.

A fascinating project that hopefully soon is published.

Play Video

Here you can find research that has had a great influence on my thinking. I have tried to limit it and make a somewhat even number of references per decade. In some cases it is individual papers that have meant a lot to me. In other cases it could be an academic, a course or a whole life’s effort by someone.

My academic inspiration

This book meant a lot to me during the writing of my doctoral thesis. I included several of its models in the introductory chapter. At the time there were not many books on cognition that occurred beyond consciousness even though it was growing as a field of research. The book was a bit hard to get but once I had a copy I read it from cover to cover without stopping.
Having read through the major general textbooks on psychology, social psychology, and cognitive psychology as well as all the research I could find by Bargh I finally invested in this treasure. It was especially the chapter on automaticity, by Bargh, that was important for my understanding of non-conscious cognition.
Fiske & Taylor was the no. 1 source on associative network theories of memory. I needed this book to better understand spreading activation and priming. I was, for instance, intrigued by the findings by Nedungadi (1990) where shoppers based their choices on memory rather than preferences; and that exposure to one brand could trigger the recollection of related brands.
Academic inspiration

My inspiration from practice

It is not only academia that has served as a source of inspiration for me over the years. Various retailers and other organisations too, have made great impact on me and my way of doing what I do. In this section I will try to give an overview of the practical encounters I have made that has meant a lot to me.

 

 

It is possible to create visual disruptions also in grocery stores. This is from a Swedish ICA store displaying new items.
ICA breakout shelf
A constant source for inspiration is IKEA. The way they show merchandise in use is just fantastic and an inspiration to the rest of the retail world.
IKEA podium china
IKEA solve the problem by having shoppers walk straight towards displays. The areas straight front of the shopper is called "hot spot". IKEA produces numerous hot spots with the help of their maze.
IKEA podium kitchen
IKEA is catering many things when it comes to visual merchandising. One of them is that they are really good at showing products in use., This helps the shopper visualise what the product could do for them.
IKEA wardrobe
"My store" under construction. We tried to create rooms without using walls but rather various atmospherics. In the fruit and vegetable department we created a ceiling looking like the sky and put tape looking like grass on the floor.
Kallhäll sky is the limit
LED-lights on the shelves can Crete a great visual effect. The effects can be even stronger than in the picture if the products on the shelf are made of glass or another see throw material.
LED lights on shelves
LED lit-up shelves
LED lit-up shelves
Sky LED ceiling store-under construction
LKXC7634
Loblaw PLEND
Loblaw PLEND
Norrviken diary floor
Norrviken diary floor
The floor can also make a huge difference. This is from ICA Supermarket on Sjöhagsvägen in Västerås. A beautiful deli department.
Sjöhagsvägen tile floor
Walton's 5-10
Walton's 5-10
WFM bananas
WFM bananas
In this picture we can see Wholefoods solution to "the grid layout problem". By putting the shelves in a stair-like fashion the shoppers eye movements are altered and shoppers start paying attention to a larger share of the assortment.
WFM stairway layout 1
Disrupting the straight lines of a traditional grid layout has a massive effect. Instead of only looking at the far end of the perimeter and perhaps glancing at the endocarps, the shopper really gets a nice view of what is put on the shelves.
WFM stairway layout 2
WHF rounded shelves
WHF rounded shelves
Retail-friend Jocke Enerstrand with cross-merchdisinpg display including both chilled and non-chilled ingredients.
Cross-merchandising fridge + dry
Rounded shelves make a huge difference. With these concave shelves shoppers stop further from the shelves and therefore view more different packages and receive the variety to be larger.
Coop Extra Åkersberga 1 svängd
More inspiration from retail practice

Contact information

  • 133 Fairfield Park Rd, BA1 6JT, Bath, UK
  • j.g.nordfalt@bath.ac.uk
  • +44 (75) 39 436 118
  • +46 (70) 680 43 18

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