Carl-Philip Ahlbom

Feature article written by Kris Lindsey Hall – Updated (11/21/23) -.

Dr. Carl-Philip Ahlbom was our VP of finance between 2020 and 2023.

Dr. Carl-Philip Ahlbom (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden) is a Prize (Research) Fellow at the University of Bath. Prior to academia, Carl-Philip worked for H&M’s Global Expansion team at their HQ, as a Quality Assurance Manager for a consultancy firm, and prior to college as an airport agent and alarm central operator.

 

Carl-Philip was a natural fit for marketing as he has always been fascinated with what makes people make purchases. He shares, “As a child, I experimented with a vast number of different enterprises that aimed to sell small stuff to unsuspecting bypassers. Anything. Candy, charity pins, ice creams… And it wasn’t so much about making money. Rather, it was just fun to try out different things to make the products fly faster, like what to sell, where to put up shop, and so on.” Carl-Philip indicates that he still has this same fascination with marketing, and in particular with the challenge of putting yourself in the customers’ shoes and trying to provide satisfying products and services, while at the same time creating value for yourself and society at large.  

“Marketing is a wide and fascinating discipline that touches everyone’s everyday life, every hour of every day. So, what can be more fun than to research marketing?”

Carl-Philip’s passion for marketing is evident. He is most interested in shopper marketing, namely as it relates to in-store marketing activities. He suggests that most shopping decisions are directly influenced at the point of sale and emphasizes the important role that marketers play in aiding shoppers in decision making. Carl-Philip shared, “I know a lot of people may think I sound old-fashioned by my love for research in physical stores, but the fact is that they still account for the vast majority of consumer sales.” This is especially true for grocery shopping, one of his favorite research topis, because most everyone needs groceries, and given the high inventory turnover for grocery stores, he proposes that it is often easy to quickly see what type of marketing stimuli impacts shoppers in what way. 

So where does Carl-Philip suggest academics need to focus more research attention? He advises that the link between how shoppers use digital aids such as phones while they are in physical stores warrants much more field research. He proposes several questions for exploration including: How, when, and how do shoppers use their smartphones? How do they interact with digital displays, touch screens, and so on? What impact does that have on the sales in the physical store as well as the digital one? While quite a bit of research is being done in this area, he indicates more is definitely needed, and especially in terms of field, which are needed to ensure external validity for complex store environments.  

Carl-Philip’s best advice for Ph.D. students is to “only work on projects you have a genuine interest in. And try to only work with people that you like. It makes life so much easier.”

Other great advice that he shared for new scholars includes, “The doctoral student life is a journey and it has its ups and downs, so make sure you have a good support network when you are having a rough time. And enjoy the peaks!” Carl-Philip also emphasizes the value of great mentors. His own? Dhruv Grewal at Babson College. On Dhruv, Carl-Philip says, “He’s just a fantastic scholar, mentor, and a just a genuinely nice and caring person. I wish every academic has a Dhruv in their life.”

In his own work, Carl-Philip is most proud of having manuscripts published in the Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Research, saying that it was “priceless” after all the hard work he and his team put forth. So how does he celebrate such worthy accomplishments? He enjoys going out for a good dinner and a nice cocktail.

Some of Carl-Philip’s non-academic interests or hobbies include:   

1. Singing
2. Traveling (He’s an air mile junkie!)
3. Hiking

More “fun facts” about Carl-Philip…  

• The first concert he ever attended was a Swedish artist, Magnus Uggla.  
• He has been singing in choirs all his life and went to a music school for nine years with daily classes. He shares that he has been a tenor in the opera chorus for professional productions of The Tales of Hoffmann, Turandot, and Carmen, and has even been touring Japan with his choir. He is certainly a man of many talents!