Enjoyment of the Shopping Experience: Impact on Customers' Repatronage Intentions and Gender Influence

In this paper the authors investigate enjoyment of the shopping experience, its influence on consumers' intention to repatronise a regional shopping centre and the effect of gender differences on shopping enjoyment. Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are proposed and a 16-item measure is developed to assess 536 consumer perceptions of the shopping experience across five counties in the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that shopping experience enjoyment has a significant positive influence upon customers' repatronage intentions. Furthermore, men are found to have a stronger relationship of enjoyment with repatronage than women. The implications of these results are discussed, together with managerial implications, study limitations, and future research directions.     

Conceptualising town centre image and the customer experience

Abstract

Compared with store image literature, the town centre is underexplored as a retail image context. This paper examines what is meant by town centre image by conducting an empirical study of 536 consumers to elicit top-of-mind images of five town centres. Following extensive content analysis and rigorous replication, the findings reveal a broader, holistic image construct than previously assumed in the literature. New psychological, intangible elements of town centre image are identified, confirming the need to measure image specific to the retail context. Further, drawing on the customer experience framework, a conceptual model of town centre image is developed. The model provides the basis for future conceptualisation and operationalisation of town centre image, combined with an approach for managing the customer experience in town centres.