About the Centre for Retail Research

An interdisciplinary centre of excellence in retail research. Active between 2014–2024 the centre was a platform for researchers from a range of disciplines, including ethnology, engineering and logistics, marketing and management.

The centre had around 60 affiliated researchers, including international guest researchers, and numerous affiliated projects. Seminars and workshops were arranged regularly for both researchers and practitioners with an interest in retail and the Centre's researchers were regularly featured in news stories about the growth and development of the retail sector in Sweden and internationally.

The retail sector is one of Sweden’s largest employers and is an important part of the economy as a whole and people’s everyday lives. A large portion of consumer income is spent in the retail sector. At the same time the international retail environment is ever changing and this poses new challenges for the retail sector, including its companies, employees and consumers. The question of sustainability and other future-focused issues are extremely salient and the Centre worked actively with these on many fronts.

The Centre for Retail Research was dedicated to providing retail professionals with access to excellent, cutting edge retail research. It did this via newsletters, think-pieces published on our blog under the title Centrum kommenterar, and regular workshops both online and face-to-face.

Be a platform for researchers and practitioners with an interest in retail research.
Strengthen and stimulate retail research nationally and internationally.
Be a focal point for knowledge transfer between academia and the retail industry.
Support existing and new retail research and education at Lund University.

The Centre was founded with financial support from the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Development Council in March 2014. When our initial five-year funding (of 5 million Swedish crowns per year) expired, the Centre transitioned to a new finance model of around 1 million Swedish crowns per year (from Lund University and the Hakon Swenson foundation, among others).

Johan Anselmsson
Britt Aronsson
Devrim Umut Aslan
Jon Bertilsson
Cecilia Cassinger
Javier Cenamor
Annette Cerne
Pernilla Derwik
Ida de Wit Sandström
Ulf Elg
Ebba Eriksson Ahre
Lena Eskilsson
Cecilia Fredriksson
Christian Fuentes
Kerstin Gidlöf
Clara Gustafsson
Nils Holmberg
Farrukh Javed
Joakim Kembro
Stefan Larsson
Matthias Lehner
Rui Liu
Micol Mieli
Jonas Nordström
Andreas Norrman
Annika Olsson
John Olsson
Henrik Pålsson
Carin Rehncrona
Hossain Shahriar
Henrik Sternberg
Patrik Stoopendahl
Anette Svingstedt
Veronika Tarnovskaya
Ola Thufvesson
Burak Tunca
Sofia Ulver
Yulia Vakulenko
Annika Wallin
Philip Warkander
Erik Wengström

Prahalad Kashyap Haresamudram
Réka Ines Tölg
Marcus Klasson
Annabell Merkel
Monica Mora Chaves
Jörgen Wettbo

Heleen Buldeo Rai
Arno de Caigny
Katherine Casey
Jack Waverley
Katherine Duffy
Ashleigh Logan-McFarlane
George Maglaras
Jens Nordfält
Eleonora Pantano
Francesca Serravalle

Celebrating 10 years of retail research

In 2024 the Centre for Retail Research turned ten years old. We celebrated this milestone with a celebration at which Ulf Johansson, the Centre's director, reflected on some of our achievements.