Perception and Consumers' Choice of Shopping Centres

PERCEPTION AND CONSUMERS' CHOICE OF SHOPPING CENTRES A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Town Planning at University of New South Wales Annie To 1988 PREFACE Shopping, at times, may be a discomfort activity, rather than a pleasure maximising one. The negative feelings can be associated with many reasons, but most probably with the shopping experience itself, such as congestion, lack of choice, difficulty of parking, poor service and unreasonable prices. All these reflect intangible aspects of the quality of shopping centres and, although important to shoppers, are usually insignificant, as compared to economic parameters, in the planning process. The main interest of the author is in people's subjective views of the centres. Unfortunately, there is a lack of published material available in the public domain, and an in-depth understanding of the perceptions, needs and aspirations of consumers could only be gained through a survey. As a result, considerable effort was necessary to carry out a case study on the North Shore of Sydney metropolitan area. Pilot surveys were conducted early in 1986 prior to the major fieldwork which began in mid-1986 and it then took the author about three months to obtain 257 responses. In retrospect, the difficulties encountered collecting interviews in the evenings and on weekends, and the indifference of some residents have proved to be a particularly instructive part of the process. The results were very fruitful, however, in that they generated a wealth of information and formed an integral part of this thesis. I am most grateful to Dr. Bob Zehner for his super vision of the survey and guidance for statistical analysis. Certainly, my gratitude must be given to my supervisors, Dr. Danny Wiggins, as well as Bob, for their invaluable advice, critical comments, and especially their patience in reading my draft chapters. My thanks are extended to Dr. Peter Murphy of the School of Town Planning and Dr. Peter Simons of the School of Geography, who provided precious ideas during the protracted preparation of this thesis, and to Municipal Council of Willoughby, Municipal Council of Ku-ring-gai, Plant Location International as well as Macquarie Centre, for their supply of materials. I am heavily indebted to my friends, Kin Hong Kau and Nevill Inglis, who input the data and prepared computer graphics, Helen Wong and Treasa Yan, who typed the draft chapters. Special thanks are given to my sister, Daisy To, and all my friends, especially Samuel Leung and Grace Huang, who helped me in many ways, including their support in the survey, assistance in the amendments of the thesis and constant encouragement throughout the project. i ABSTRACT Traditionally, planners have been concerned with macro models of consumer behaviour, which include central place theory and gravity models. In some circumstances these provide a reasonable description of the empirical regularity of the aggregate shopping pattern of consumers. But they cannot fully explain these observed patterns and give little insight into why consumers are behaving in a certain way. This thesis aims to examine consumer behaviour from a cognitive-behavioural perspective. In order to develop a framework for an empirical study, the first part of the thesis reviews a range of approaches to the study of shopping behaviour and traces the origin of the cognitive-behavioural approach, with an emphasis on individual-environment interaction. The second part deals with a case study. In an attempt to obtain data from individuals, a significant study of consumers' views of centres was carried out on the North Shore of Sydney, where two regional centres, Chatswood and Macquarie Centre are located. It analyses consumers' sources of information, the nature of centre images, and the links between image and behaviour. The results show that consumers have varying levels of information and possess incomplete knowledge of shopping facilities. Although their information level is not strongly associated with the length of residence and socio-economic characteristics, it does contribute to the development of images of centres. A subjective centre image which is composed of three underlying dimensions: assortment, physical layout and facilities and functional characteristics, exerts an influence on consumers' choice of a shopping centre. The conventional 'least effort strategy', that is, the attribute of 'location' plays a relatively insignificant role in the observed pattern. This study supports the basic contention that consumers are acting and behaving in a subjective environment, according to their needs and wants. Nevertheless, there is a lack of strong correlation between image and actual behaviour. This indicates the high complexity of consumer behaviour and perception of a centre may not be a single determinant for patronising a centre. This study has envisaged the importance of qualitative aspects of an image. In establishing an efficient, equitable and flexible retailing system, the significance of these subtle and intangible factors should not be overlooked in the planning process. Undoubtedly, the broader adoption of a more behavioural approach in planning will improve the quality of shopping experience. ii CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 PAST RESEARCH 15 1.1 Normative Models 17 1.1.1 Central place theory 17 1,1,2 Gravity models 21 1.2 Behavioural Approaches 23 1,2,1 Trade Area Studies 24 1.2.2 Aggregate Consumer-Behaviour 25 Studies 1.2.3 Cognitive-Behavioural Studies 27 1. 3 An Overview 38 Conclusion 41 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 43 2,1 Environmental Psychology 43 2.2 Individual-environment interaction 46 2,2,1 Perception and Cognition 48 2.2,2 The Concept of Image 51 2,2.3 Image and Behaviour 56 2,3 Consumer Behaviour 60 2.4 Conceptual Framework 64 Conclusion 69 PART~ CHAPTER 3 THE EMPIRICAL STUDY 71 3.1 Design of the Study 71 3.2 Methodology and Data Collection 76 3.3 The Study Areas 79 3.3.1 Choice of Study Area 79 3.3.2 Chatswood and Macquarie 82 Centre 3.3.3 Socio-economic Characteristics 85 of the Study Area Conclusion 90 iii CHAPTER 4 LEVEL AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION 92 4.1 Information Level of the Respondents 93 4.2 Centres Used Most Often and Sources 102 of Information 4,3 Information Level, Length of Residence 106 and Socio-economic Characteristics Conclusion 111 CHAPTER 5 COGNITIVE IMAGE OF SHOPPING CENTRES 113 5.1 Shoppers' Cognition of Specific 114 Centres 5.2 Components of the Centre Image 121 Conclusion 130 CHAPTER 6 IMAGE AND SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR 132 6.1 Cognitive and Actual Measures of 134 Physical Attributes 6.2 Consumers' Actual Behaviour 141 6.3 Centre Image and Shopping Behaviour 147 6.4 Motivation, Constraints and Shopping 153 Behaviour 6.5 Image, Motivation, Constraints and 157 Shopping Behaviour Conclusion 160 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION 163 7.1 Theory and Results 163 7.2 Critique of Results 168 7.3 Implications for Planning 172 7.4 Future Research 176 APPENDICES 179 BIBLIOGRAPHY 204 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig 1.1 A classification of consumer-behaviour 16 studies Fig 2,1 A simplified concept of individual-environment 48 cognitive relationship Fig 2,2 A paradigm of individual spatial cognition 57 and behaviour Fig 2.3 An illustrative representation of consumer 65 decision-making process Fig 3.1 The study area on the North Shore 78 Fig 3.2 Total net selling area of centres in the 81 study area Fig 4.la Centres visited and centres, Chatswood 95 stratum respondents Fig 4.lb Centres visited and centres, Macquarie 95 Centre stratum respondents Fig 4.lc Centres visited and centres, Central 96 stratum respondents Fig 5.la Centre image of Chatswood and Macquarie 117 Centre Fig 5. lb Centre image of Gordon and Lane Cove 118 Fig 5.lc Centre image of Lindfield and Top Ryde 119 Fig 6.1 Subjective and objective measure of location 136 Fig 6.2 Subjective and objective measure of centres' 137 size Fig 6.3 Subjective and objective measure of centres' 138 age Fig 6.4 Subjective and objective measure of compact 139 ness of the centres Fig 6.5 Subjective and objective measure of speciali 141 sation of the centres V LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1 A summary of population and housing in 87 the study area Table 3,2 A summary of occupational groups in the 87 study area Table 3.3a Occupation of the main income earner in 88 the study area Table 3.3b Occupation of the respondents in the 88 study area Table 3.4 Socio-economic characteristics of the 89 respondents Table 4.1 Number of centres visited once of the 93 respondents Table 4.2 Centres not being visited 94 Table 4.3a Distance of sampled clusters from 97 Chatswood Table 4.3b Distance of sampled clusters from 98 Macquarie Centre Table 4.4 Reasons for not visiting the centres 99 Table 4.5 A comparison of the attractiveness of 101 the six centres Table 4.6 Centres used most often and respondents' 102 location Table 4,7 Centres used most often and sources of 103 information Table 4.8 Number of centres visited by length of 106 residence Table 4.9 Number of centres visited and socio 108 economic variables of respondents Table 4.10 Number of centres visited by household 109 income Table 4,11 Number of centres visited by respondents' 110 age vi Table 5.1 Mean values of the attributes of the 115 centres that are used most often Table 5.2 Correlation matrix of shopping centres 123 Table 5.3 Factor analysis of centres' attributes 125 (all centres) Table 5.4 Three most important factors when 128 choosing a centre Table 6.1 Objective measures of some physical

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