Shopping Centre Patronage: Situational Factors Against Affect

Abstract

The objective of this study is to understand to what extent hedonic and utilitarian consumer profiles are affected by situational factors and how in turn they impact shopping centre patronage. A six step multiple regression analysis corresponding to six different shopping centres has been applied to two clusters of consumers. The data are based on consumers’ hedonic/utilitarian customer profile. First, results show that in general the impact on shopping centre patronage is largely affected by proximity, convenience and accessibility variables, which are more relevant among the utilitarian profile consumers. On the other hand, in the hedonic profile segment, affect, that is, the experience of feeling or emotion is the relevant variable explaining patronage. Second, the predictive contribution of these variables on patronage varied according to the shopping centres’ positioning. With the findings of the present study, retail managers can formulate marketing strategies, which will attract retail consumers towards their shopping centre and also help them to enhance the significant factors that influence retail store consumer’s purchase decision. Also, this investigation contributes to the diagnosis of how consistent is the retailers’ in their positioning strategy in targeting the market segments. The present research integrates both situational factors and hedonic as well as utilitarian consumer profiles along with the role of situational dynamics to explain shopping centres’ patronage.