Title:              Shopping mall as a brand

Authors:        Josefin Elserth Petersson & Linda Ericson

Institution:    Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics. ELNU

Program:       Retail and Service Management

Course:          Business Administration III–Bachelors Thesis in business economics 15hp

Supervisor:    Carina Lejonkamp (Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics, ELNU)

Examiner:      Leif Rytting (Linnaeus University, School of Business and Economics, ELNU)

Purpose:        The purpose with this study is to examine how Sturegallerian builds a brand. We are solving this by answering three purposes, which is to analyze and clarify how Sturegallerian forms a brand identity, differentiates through positioning and achieve sustainability on the market.

Method:        For this study, we have chosen a qualitative method that has been characterized by an interaction between an inductive and a deductive approach. We chose this scientific method because it gave us the opportunity to examine the subject and to get a deeper understanding.

Conclusions: The conclusions for this thesis are that shopping malls can be perceived as a brand thanks to our case study on Sturegallerian. Brand identity has been shown as the foundation to the structure of a brand and has a substantial significance when a shopping mall creates a brand. Furthermore positioning has a meaningful part for a shopping mall for it to differentiate on the market and strengthen its brand even more. It requires a sustainable brand for a shopping mall to have the possibility to expand and create new innovations. Finally we can establish that the geographical location also can contribute to a sustainable brand but from Sturegallerian’s perspective it can become a consequence rather than an advantage.