Abstract
In the last two decades, the retail sector has experienced unprecedented upheaval, having severe implications for economic development and sustenance of traditional inner-city retail districts. In the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, this effect has been exacerbated by a series of earthquakes in 2010/2011 which destroyed much of the traditional retail precinct of the city. After extensive rebuild activity of the city’s infrastructure, the momentum of retailers returning to the inner city was initially sluggish but eventually gathered speed supported by increased international visitation. In early 2020, the return to retail normality came to an abrupt halt after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses spending and transaction data to analyze the compounding impact of the earthquake’s aftermath, shift to online shopping, and the retail disruption in the Christchurch central retail precinct because of COVID-19. The findings illustrate how consumers through their spending respond to different types of external shocks, altering their consumption patterns and retail mode (offline and online) to cope with an ever-changing retail landscape. Each event triggers different spending patterns that have some similarities but also stark differences, having implications for a sustainable and resilient retail industry in Christchurch. Implications for urban retail precinct development are also discussed.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe effects on society and businesses from crises and disasters are often felt unevenly across space and time [1]
The key challenges this study considers are theshift localized, once-off ping and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests that the city centre and its retail impact of a disaster, the continued disruption caused by the emergence of online shopping, sector be facing challenges that resilience displayedand in the immediand themight
COVID-19 pandemic with its undermine governmentthe enforced lockdowns movement ate post-quake period give credence to triple-blow some of these observations, we use retail restrictions
Summary
The effects on society and businesses from crises and disasters are often felt unevenly across space and time [1]. This has wide-reaching effects throughout the economy, including the retail sector [2]. With respect to the impact such crises have on consumer behavior within the retail sector, several research streams can be identified [4,5,6,7,8]. One stream examines the effect of different types of crises and disasters on consumer purchasing behavior. Consumer preparedness and stockpiling behaviors pre-hurricane and product availability post-hurricane have been studied [9].
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