Digitalization in the food industry : An exploratory study on how the digitalizationa affects the food industry in Sweden

Abstract: Abstract Background – The existing literature on digitalization in the food industry is limited. Meanwhile, the literature suggests that digitalization is an issue that is unavoidable at some point in all industries and that companies must adapt in order to maintain their competitive position. In the food industry, large investments into digital projects are currently focusing on e-commerce, even though it merely stands for 2% of the sales. It could, therefore, be seen as digitalization is only about to start affecting the food industry and thus, exploring how it has affected and what it might mean for the actors in the industry is interesting.   Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to explore how digitalization affects the food industry in Sweden. The purpose is fulfilled through the answering of two research questions; How is digitalization viewed upon in the food industry in Sweden? And How does the digitalization affect the food industry in Sweden? Through the fulfilment of the purpose, this thesis helps to fill a gap in the existing literature about the subject.   Method – The study is a qualitative study of digitalization in the food industry and includes insights from 13 individuals working in the food industry in Sweden. As the subject does not have any existing theories and there is limited literature on the subject, the study uses an inductive approach where the data is analysed through a thematic analysis in order to be able to derive a conclusion about the subject.   Findings – When concluding this study, it was found that the food industry is lagging behind other industries in terms of digitalization, which in the food industry is closely connected to e-commerce for many. There are several enormous challenges that the industry is facing, and one of the most significant challenges and also a resistance to digitalization in the food industry is profitability. This means that the industry actors have a hard time maintaining profitability when implementing digital solutions, mainly e-commerce solutions. Opportunities are present to solve the challenges of mainly; deliveries and thus finding a solution to the profitability issue.