Urban design and tenant variety influences on consumers' emotions and approach behavior

This paper extends Mehrabian and Russell's Stimulus-Organism-Response framework to investigate the influence of two selected environmental variables – esthetic design and tenant variety – relating to an urban shopping area on consumers' emotional states and actual shopping responses. Results of a survey conducted in an Italian town center show that the variety of tenant-mix positively affects both pleasure and arousal while esthetic design has a significant influence only on pleasure. Moreover, emotional states induced by the urban environment exert a different influence on shopping outcomes, with pleasure increasing the amount of money and time spent, and arousal positively influencing unplanned shopping and negatively affecting time and money. The paper concludes by discussing managerial and research implications for both retailing and urban marketing.     

Radius Restrictions on Retail Chains and the Similarity of Neighboring Shopping Centers

In Canada and the US, shopping center developers may impose ‘radius restrictions’ on tenants in their shopping centers, prohibiting tenants in a particular shopping center from opening another store within a certain radius. Whether a radius restriction is imposed on a chain will depend upon the relative bargaining positions of the chain and the developer. This paper presents an empirical analysis of regional shopping center composition in Canada, using variables that reflect the bargaining power of retail chains and shopping center developers. We find that large, well established, and growing chains are more likely to enter neighboring malls, consistent with the hypothesis that whether a chain enters neighboring malls depends upon its bargaining power. As well, we find that a chain is more likely to enter neighboring malls owned by large developers, consistent with large developers trying to keep retail chains out of the malls of small developers.     

美国购物中心的规模效益分析

通过分析美国购物中心的发展历程、规模结构和规模效益,发现,美国购物中心在零售业中占主导地位,2003年美国购物中心零售额比重为35．6%。尽管美国经济发达,消费水准很高,但购物中心的发展并不贪大和盲目攀比,购物中心以中小型为主体,平均单个购物中心出租面积规模为1．15万平方米/个,地区分布较为均衡。美国不同规模购物中心的单位面积效益差异不明显,“规模和效益成正比”的结论不能成立。     

购物中心规划和运作的经济分析

购物中心是指在一个大型建筑中,由许多商场和专卖店所组成的零售业综合体。近半个世纪以来,购物中心在发达国家发展得很快,现在在我国大中城市里也有发展壮大之势,但国内相关的理论研究还较少。因此,从购物中心规划和运作两个方面介绍了相关的经济理论,简要总结了国外学者的研究成果,并分析了其具体运用。     

Shopping streets versus shopping malls – determinants of agglomeration format attractiveness from the consumers' point of view

The decline of shopping streets and the rise of shopping malls have been major trends in European retailing for decades. So far, research has failed to investigate this shift of agglomeration format (AF) patronage from a marketing perspective, including the consumers' point of view. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the generic similarities and conceptual differences between shopping streets and shopping malls. Subsequently, the AF-specific characteristics perceived by consumers are compared and discussed with respect to their impact on agglomeration attractiveness. This leads to the development of a conceptual framework which is empirically tested using a web-based survey of almost 1000 consumers representing a typical urban central European retail market. The relative importance of nine distinctive AF characteristics on attractiveness was analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings proved to be quite similar for both shopping streets and shopping malls; the retail tenant mix and atmosphere had the highest relative importance.     

The role of fashionability in second-hand shopping motivations

Second-hand consumption has been quietly undergoing a makeover in recent years. As part of this shift, the concept of shopping for second-hand goods has been redefined. In today's retail marketplace, a mix of thrift stores, high-end stores, and online retailers are recognising the value of second-hand and hosting flea markets or launching their own vintage product collections. However, limited research attention has been paid to role of ‘fashionability’ as a motivation for consumers to shop for second-hand goods. In this study, we explore modern consumer second-hand shopping behaviour and motivations, inclusive of fashionability. Through a segmentation of second-hand store shoppers, we identify four distinct segments. While we find a polarisation of fashionability motivations, the vast majority (83%) of second-hand shoppers are driven by fashion when shopping in second-hand stores. The findings present several implications for second-hand retailers, including new ways to expand their customer base by tapping into elements of fashionability.     

Main-format dominance in consumers’ FMCG cross-format shopping patterns

Although cross-format patronage has become a common phenomenon in markets for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), research on consumers’ specific cross-format combinations is limited. We study such shopping patterns by focusing on retail format utilization. A qualitative pre-study demonstrates consumers’ patronizing combinations of typical retail formats in FMCG with main-format usage and provides underlying differences in consumers’ perceived shopping utility for cross-format selection, which results from their utilized main-format. Our quantitative study reveals three clusters with main-format dominance, that is, mainly supermarket, discount store, and hypermarket shoppers complementarily utilizing fill-in formats to a much lesser extent. Whereas we found high inter-format loyalty in each consumer group, intra-format loyalty significantly varies between clusters. ANOVA and post hoc-tests concerning perceived shopping utility dimensions show that consumers’ perceived acquisition utility rather than perceived transaction costs significantly differs between consumer groups.     

Is showrooming really so terrible? start understanding showroomers

The customer journey is more omni-channel than ever. In this scenario, so-called showrooming behavior emerges as a growing trend that is usually considered by retailers as a threat. The purpose of this research is to analyze whether showrooming, when compared with online buying behavior in which the customer does not visit the store prior to the purchase, has a positive effect on the price paid online by the customer. The empirical research is based on the database compiled by GfK, which contains detailed information about the shopping journey of 4067 customers who purchased products from different retail sectors. The results, derived from the estimation of several regression models, reveal that showroomers who use their smartphones in store are more likely to purchase products at a higher price, which explains why these customers can be of special interest to retailers.     

The geography of lifestyle center growth: The emergence of a retail cluster format in the United States

Just as geographers have given much attention to the evolution of shopping malls and power center retail complexes, it is equally important for research in business geography to continue to provide developmental evidence as new and distinctive retail cluster formats emerge and grow. The lifestyle center is a unique type of retail complex that has experienced much expansion across the United States yet has not received much research attention from location researchers. This study provides answers to basic questions, including the geography of lifestyle center development, the relationship of lifestyle center development to traditional mall activity, and the characteristics of lifestyle center market areas in comparison with the trade areas of their mall counterparts. The results show that lifestyle centers are developing in distinctive locations and markets within American cities that are not well-served by traditional malls. The study results also establish that lifestyle centers have a significant bias toward location in large cities, representing a clear contrast with traditional malls and their locational orientation toward smaller centers. The study summarizes these findings and argues that the emergence of the lifestyle center format has important implications for retailers, commercial property developers, and local economic development officials.     

Retail atmospherics: The impact of a brand dictated theme

Although retail atmospherics has been an active area of study, a glance around a typical mall indicates many retailers still do not actively differentiate their retail environment from competitors. This is likely due to retailers considering the atmospheric elements (lighting, music, etc.) individually and making decisions regarding the elements based on what is “standard” for their customers, merchandise, and format. This approach leads to very little differentiation and fails to consider that today’s consumer is often expecting a more multi-sensory, interactive, and holistic shopping experience. This paper considers an alternative approach, where a brand dictated “theme” is used to guide the manipulation of the atmospheric elements. This allows retail brands to break free from standard design to create a more interactive, immersive, and authentic environment. Outcomes include increases in shopping enjoyment, positive brand attitudes, and brand loyalty. T-tests are utilized to compare the two approaches within both the apparel (Study 1) and restaurant (Study 2) industries.     

Determinants of switching intention from web-based stores to retail apps: Habit as a moderator

Online retailers seek to motivate their customers to switch from web-based stores to retail apps as using the latter as a shopping channel has many benefits for retailers compared to web-based stores. This study aims to examine the drivers of customers' intention to switch from web-based stores to retail apps by applying the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) model. The moderating role of habit was investigated. Data were collected from 389 Malaysian individuals through an online survey and analysed using the partial least squares technique. The results indicated that performance expectancy has a significant influence on switching intention and is driven by mobile characteristics. Furthermore, effort expectancy has a positive effect on both performance expectancy and switching intention and is triggered by visual complexity and aesthetic quality. The moderating effects of habit on the associations between performance expectancy, effort expectancy and switching intention were not supported. The findings extend the literature on retail apps by exploring the switching intention drivers and testing the moderating effect of culture, which have received less attention. The results enable retail apps' developers and marketers to strategise retail apps development and marketing activities in a way that encourages current web-based stores’ customers to use retail apps as a better alternative.     

Navigating the ‘retail apocalypse’: A framework of consumer evaluations of the new retail landscape

Strong signals exist for a permanent restructuring of retailḍing, where traditional physical retailers may not fully recover. Such transformation will have vast implications for consumers, the industry, and society in general. This study explores U.S. consumers’ evaluations of these profound changes sometimes referred to as the ‘retail apocalypse.’ Two studies, a content analysis of reader comments in response to articles featuring reports on large-scale store closures, and structured online consumer interviews, provide insights into consumers’ perspectives. We include consumer-derived explanations for the decline in physical retail, and the growth of online shopping, as well as anticipated consequences for both, individual consumers and society in general, in a conceptual framework. We find many consumers lamenting the disappearance of physical retailers. Most expect negative consequences for themselves and society. However, many consumers also describe physical retailers as often unable to deliver on basic retail functions, and many are accepting of a future with very few physical stores. Based on these findings, we develop practical implications for the retail industry and public policy, as well as future research opportunities.     

Anatomy of shopping experience for malls in Mumbai: A confirmatory factor analysis approach

The city of Mumbai has not yet exhausted its potential in terms of availability of mall space. Yet shoppers of Mumbai seem to prefer high-street locations even if the product or format is operating from inside a shopping mall also. It means that shoppers look beyond the basic chore of shopping and experience plays a vital role. This study was undertaken to understand the composition of shopping experience so that mall developers and managers succeed in generating exciting among shoppers by orchestration of shopping experience using components as identified at the end of this research. It is based on empirical investigation of 400 respondents selected from four shopping malls in Mumbai. The study identifies ambience, convenience, marketing focus, safety & security and physical infrastructure as factors vital in defining shopping experience. Results were confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis.     

Revenge buying: The role of negative emotions caused by lockdowns

With the stabilizing of COVID-19 and the lessening of isolation measures, the consumption market is gradually recovering. Consumers exhibit a tendency to compensate for the previous pent-up demand, triggering the phenomenon of revenge spending. Nevertheless, research on revenge buying during the pandemic has been limited thus far. Moreover, the role of negative emotions and retail therapy has not been well explored. Therefore, drawing from retail therapy theory and the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study aims to investigate how negative emotions, physiological motivations, and self-seeking stimulate consumers to form positive perceptions that revenge buying can provide therapeutic utilities, and consequently choose revenge buying. Empirical data were collected from China. The structural equation modelling results reveal that anxiety, boredom, self-seeking, and psychological motivation have a positive influence on therapeutic shopping motivation, therapeutic shopping value and therapeutic shopping outcome, which subsequently influence revenge buying behavior. The theoretical model provides a novel perspective to research revenge buying. Additionally, the results provide managerial implications for consumer, retailers, and policymakers to make preparedness for revenge buying in future health crises.     

Testing Retail Marketing-Mix Effects on Patronage: A Meta-Analysis

Retailers have always worked to establish close relationships with customers through the retail marketing mix. Thus, the literature has a long tradition of testing the effects of various instruments on retail patronage. This meta-study synthesizes prior research into one comprehensive framework. We use 14,895 effect sizes reported by more than 239,000 shoppers from 41 countries extracted from 350 independent samples, to test the impact of 24 marketing-mix instruments on retail patronage. Specifically, we investigate the direct and indirect effects of these instruments on store satisfaction, word of mouth, patronage intention, and behavior. Product and brand management related instruments display the strongest effects on most outcome variables, whereas price, communication, service and incentive management instruments affect only selected outcomes. Distribution management turns out to be of secondary importance. However, the effectiveness of these instruments depends on the specific shopping context (food/non-food, shopping frequency, single store/agglomeration, hedonic/utilitarian), the retail environment (gross domestic product, country innovativeness, retail sales share, retail employment, Internet era), and the employed method (participant type, study design, data source). Specifically, we reveal most differences for hedonic shopping environments and developed countries. Also, the store’s advertising and atmosphere have gained importance in the Internet era, while purchase incentives, in-store orientation, and store location have lost relevance. This study contributes to a synoptic understanding of the comparable effectiveness of retail marketing instruments on retail patronage. It offers insights into the effectiveness of marketing-mix instruments and provides guidance on whether and when to invest in them. It also presents an agenda for future research on marketing-mix instruments.     

A Next Generation Multimedia Call Center for Internet Commerce: IMC

Human assistance, as well as automated service, is necessary for providing more convenient services to customers on the Internet-based commerce system. Call centers have been typically human-based service systems. However, the services of existing public switched telephone network-based call centers are not enough to meet the needs of customers on the Internet. Most of them have been designed without considering the interaction involved in shopping on the Internet. In our research, we design a call center named IMC (Internet-based multimedia call center) that can be integrated with an Internet shopping mall. It contains 2 parts: an Internet multimedia dialogue system and a human agent assisting system. The Internet multimedia dialogue system is an Internet and multimedia version of the interactive voice response service of computer telephony integration-based call centers because it provides access to the multimedia Web page along with the recorded voice explanation through the Internet. The human agent assisting system aims to select the most appropriate human agents in the call center and support them in providing high-quality individualized information for each customer. IMC is a real-time, human-embedded system that can provide high-quality services cost-effectively for Internet commerce.     

An unplanned commercial district in a fast-growing city: a case study of Shenzhen, China

From a planning perspective, this paper addresses a new format of retail found in China through a case study of Shenzhen City. The city has grown very fast in the last two decades from a small township of 60,000 people to a city of over 6 million. Dramatic economic growth and urbanization left planners behind, and a former industrial district turned into a commercial district within a few years of time in the late 1990s. This unplanned development pushed by market forces has shown some features commonly found in the evolution of ‘high-street’ in the West, while there are some unique features that are typically represented by a group of theme shopping complexes (TSC) in the district of Hua Qiang Bei (HQB).We argue that TSC as a special format of retail appeared in the world fastest growing city has its own reasons. They include (1) the lack of matured shopping center developers, (2) the lack of matured retail chains, (3) the uncertainty of government policy and regulations that resulted in short-term and fragmented leasing of space to small retail tenants, and (4) large and continuing demands from newly immigrated low-to-middle income working class. It is yet to be seen that this TSC format would continue and diffuse to other fast growing but less developed cities in China, or would be replaced by shopping malls soon when retain chains dominate.     

Drivers and barriers for city shopping: Perspectives from retailers and consumers in regional Australia

The decline of retailing in cities is well documented in the international literature, but to date there has been little research in Australia. The objective of this study, conducted in regional Australia, is to examine drivers and barriers for city shopping, and motivations for out-of-town shopping. Surveys were administered to retailers and city shoppers. Qualitative data were analysed using Leximancer to draw out relevant themes and concepts. Responses (n = 367) show store variety, customer service, car parking and the overall offering and experience are important drivers of city shopping, whilst expensive parking, empty shops, lack of amenities and store variety are commonly cited barriers.     

An empirical analysis of tenant location patterns near department stores in planned regional shopping centers

The location of a store within a mall can affect the sales and profits of the store and its neighbors, and those of the mall׳s owner/developer. Because the interests of retail stores and the mall׳s owner/developer with respect to choice of location might not coincide, bargaining power might come into play. To assess empirically whether relative bargaining power as between a retail store and the mall owner/developer affects store location within a center, we focus on locations of stores near the department store tenants of malls. Department stores might have the bargaining power necessary to affect which tenants are chosen as neighbors of the department store.Using data collected from 148 regional shopping centers (malls) in 2007 in the five westernmost provinces of Canada, we examine the relationship between variables that reflect store location patterns near a department store׳s entrance, and variables associated with the bargaining power of developers. We find that the density of stores selling comparison shopping goods is larger near department stores within centers that are older or have a larger gross leasable area. In addition, such density is negatively related to the number of department stores contained in the center. Because a shopping center׳s age, gross leasable area, and the number of department stores in a center are expected to be associated with a developer׳s bargaining power, the above findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the store location patterns near department stores depend on the relative bargaining power of the developer and the department stores.     

The ‘online high street’ or the high street online? The implications for the urban retail hierarchy

The U.K. has the greatest proportion of online sales in Europe. This study seeks to explore the differential effects of online retailing on the (evolving) hierarchy of shopping centres by examining current trends and underlying forces. The overall objectives of the paper are to qualify and explore the influence of online retailing in the decision-making processes of leading retailers today; and to assess how virtual influences become manifest in the tangible built environment and have impacted the retail hierarchy? It differentiates online retail trends by sector and retailer size, and examines the consequences for different types of shopping centres. The empirical research is based on the changing location of stores of a major fashion retailer and interviews with three of Britain’s leading retailers that have seen the more substantial increase in online turnover in recent years. Major retailers are found to have integrated online offerings, such as click and collect, into a ‘multi-channel’ retailing approach. Online retailing has therefore become an inherent and central element within large retailers’ business and therefore real estate strategies, with considerations such as online marketplace penetration and possible ‘cannibalisation’ coming to the fore in decision-making about store location. Online retail sales are, to a degree, drawing sales away from shopping centres but its impact on the existing shopping hierarchy is largely to reinforce established long-term trends driven by the motor age and the shift to out of town retailing. This is symbolised by the largest ‘high street’ fashion retailer now having more branches in retail parks than town centres. Out of town shopping centres for example are benefitting because of the ease of goods collection offered by these locations.