Creating Value for Mall Customer: Analyzing Mall Strategy to Attract Visitation during Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the world economy. One of those affected is the shopping center or mall sector. The number of visitors has fallen drastically, sales are getting minimal, but operating costs are still high, making shopping centers one of the sectors most affected by Covid-19. Along with increasing public awareness in implementing health protocols and the development of the number of vaccinations, as well as improving conditions during the pandemic, the Indonesian government has begun to give concessions to shopping centers or malls. However, this relaxation policy did not directly increase the level of visits. This is due to the shift in people's behavior from the initial tendency to transact offline to online transactions. Therefore, shopping center must identify factors that can encourage people's desire to visit shopping centers again after the relaxation policy is enforced. Consumer motivations are often categorized in terms of shopping typologies. In its most basic form, consumer typologies are divided into rational (utilitarian) and hedonistic categories. This research seeking a typology of shoppers based on the shopping motivation, experiences during the visit, and significant variables that help create shopping delight. These insights could in turn be valuable in different strategic decisions such as differentiation, penetration, or market development. The research result show that out of four variables, only entertainment and place attachment have a significant effect on mall visitation, while selection and exploration have no significant effect. The interesting thing was found in the effect of Health Protocol, when standing as an independent variable, health protocol had a positive and significant effect, but when standing as a moderator variable, the Health Protocol variable had a negative effect, although not significant.