Marketing Strategies during financial crisis

Abstract: The current financial crisis has spread around the world and no business sector has stayed untouched. While companies in some sectors have been forced to close down or lay off employees, companies in the food retail sector mainly have to adapt to their customers´ preferences, which according to Ang, Leong & Kotler (2000) change in times of financial crisis. The purpose of this dissertation was therefore to examine how Swedish food retailers adapt their marketing strategies to the changing consumer buying behavior during the financial crisis. A qualitative method with an abductive approach was chosen for this research, and the empirical data was gathered from three companies in the Swedish food retail sector; ICA, Coop and Axfood. Primary data was collected through phone interviews and was supported by annual information from their websites, annual reports and different articles. The findings show that all three companies have recognized a change in their consumers buying behavior and done several changes in their marketing strategies. This research can be useful for every company in the same or similar situation, in order to see how important it is to have a flexible marketing strategy and be able to adapt to the changing environment in order to either survive or improve their position on the market.