Signs From Above

This thesis looks into cross-cultural in-store marketing and how, with the use of contemporary symbols, marketing messages can cross language barriers. In the context of cosmopolitan cities with large populations of international inhabitants, being able to market to all individuals regardless of linguistic abilities and cultural backgrounds is critical for firms to stay competitive. Simply replacing the local text in marketing messages with English can prove to neglect the local culture, therefore another strategy is necessary. With the utilization of an online questionnaire, this thesis produced empirical material from 702 respondents. The questionnaire tested individual’s comprehension of food category signs with Swedish text only versus signs with Swedish text and descriptive symbols. It further gathered data from international individuals living in Sweden about their perception of Swedish grocery stores and other complementary elements related to the research. The findings show that the addition of symbols greatly increased the understanding of the food category signs by individuals with a beginner level of Swedish understanding, but actually slightly decreased the understanding of the signs by advanced Swedish speakers. When this phenomenon was examined further, results pointing to the complexity of the symbols increasing comprehension were also found. Other findings suggest that the addition of these contemporary symbols can increase the comfort of international individuals with limited understanding of the local language, which in turn could lead to increased sales. These results gathered from a large amount of empirical data, allow for many possible directions for future research and also add to theory in the world of cross-cultural in-store marketing