Making Sense of Holistic Sustainability : Customer Experiences through the Consumer Journey with Norrgavel

Sammanfattning

Background: Sustainability has become a central theme in contemporary marketing and branding. However, much of the existing research focuses on strategic communication and quantified environmental claims, while less attention has been given to how consumers themselves experience and interpret sustainability in their everyday interaction with brands. This is particularly relevant for companies that communicate sustainability implicitly through materials, store environments, and human dialogue rather than explicit marketing claims. Norrgavel, a Scandinavian design brand built around craftsmanship, material honesty, and long-term consumption, is one example of this type of brand. Research question: How do customers experience and interpret sustainability-oriented values through their consumer journey? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how customers perceive and interpret Norrgavel’s sustainability philosophy across different stages of their consumer journey, from brand discovery to purchase decision and ownership experience. Methodology: This study adopts a qualitative research design. Data was collected through eleven customer interviews, an in-person interview with a store manager, and written responses from a customer service representative connected to Norrgavel. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling with elements of maximum variation. The material was analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns of meaning-making, value interpretation, and trust formation across the consumer journey. Conclusion: The findings indicate that sustainability-oriented values were primarily experienced through atmosphere, materiality, craftsmanship, and interpersonal interaction rather than through explicit sustainability communication alone. Participants often interpreted sustainability indirectly through emotional and sensory experiences connected to calmness, authenticity, longevity, and mindful consumption. Trust developed gradually through consistency across products, environments, and human interaction. While ownership became associated with identity, emotional meaning, and long-term relationships with products.