Abstract
AbstractIn order to turn the trend of decreasing numbers of visitors in shopping areas, retailers seem to agree on the importance of creating experiences for consumers. Yet sense of place research focusing on shopping areas is limited and has not yet fully explored the extent to which sense of place is related to shopping behaviour within physical shopping areas. In this study, we used the concept of sense of place to study a consumer's experience in inner‐city retail environments. The main objective was to investigate (1) the relationship between shopping area evaluation and sense of place, (2) the relationship between sense of place and shopping behaviour, (3) the presence or absence of a relationship between shopping area evaluation and shopping behaviour, and (4) the moderating effect of personal and situational characteristics on these relationships. We estimate a path analysis model using survey data that were collected among 380 consumers in 3 shopping areas in the Amsterdam region. The findings suggest that sense of place is a better predictor of shopping behaviour than consumers' evaluation of shopping area characteristics. Therefore, it is important for retailers and shopping area managers to focus on creating a retail environment that stimulates formation of a sense of place.
Highlights
Shopping area evaluation is only indirectly related to shopping behaviour, via sense of place, and in this work, we considered a range of alternative explanations that we share here
There is no direct relationship between shopping area evaluation and sense of place, only an indirect effect
In line with H1, we found that shopping area evaluation is positively related to sense of place, but no direct relationship is found with any of the shopping behaviour variables, which is in line with H3: sense of place mediates the relationships between evaluation of the area and the shopping behaviour variables; there is no direct effect of evaluation on the behaviour
Summary
This trend results in lower numbers of visitors in many shopping areas, a decline in the number of independent local retailers, and a shift to out-of-town retailing (Jones & Livingstone, 2018). No funding was received for this study. Pandemic is reinforcing these pressures (Slob, 2020). The retail real estate market has suffered from increasing vacancy rates. In order to maintain viability and vitality, shopping areas should not just be environments in which consumers can purchase their goods and services but arguably should be environments that offer experiences for consumers, that give them a feeling of happiness, and that reflect their identity and can fulfil their needs. As Baker and Wood (2010, p. 66) put it: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/geor
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