Shopping streets versus shopping malls – determinants of agglomeration format attractiveness from the consumers' point of view

Abstract

The decline of shopping streets and the rise of shopping malls have been major trends in European retailing for decades. So far, research has failed to investigate this shift of agglomeration format (AF) patronage from a marketing perspective, including the consumers' point of view. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the generic similarities and conceptual differences between shopping streets and shopping malls. Subsequently, the AF-specific characteristics perceived by consumers are compared and discussed with respect to their impact on agglomeration attractiveness. This leads to the development of a conceptual framework which is empirically tested using a web-based survey of almost 1000 consumers representing a typical urban central European retail market. The relative importance of nine distinctive AF characteristics on attractiveness was analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings proved to be quite similar for both shopping streets and shopping malls; the retail tenant mix and atmosphere had the highest relative importance.

Keywords:

• retail agglomeration
• retail patronage
• agglomeration format
• shopping street
• shopping mall
• agglomeration marketing

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the ‘Festo Fellow Fond’ awarded to the author, who would like to thank the ‘Festo GmbH’ for its support. The author also wishes to thank Professor David B. Grant at the University of Hull for useful comments on drafts of this paper and the three anonymous reviewers and the editors for their helpful suggestions.