CONSUMERS' PERCEPTION OF RETAIL SPACE ATTRIBUTES OF SHOPPING CENTRES

Abstract

Faced with a very competitive retail environment, retailers may not show good retail performance even if they are situated in the prime location (Orchard Belt). Therefore, it is .a challenge to design a shopping centre that can draw shoppers to practically every square foot of it. Retail space attributes such as the exterior design, layout of the centre, provision of eating facilities and tenant mix are important for drawing traffic into a shopping centre. The objective of this study is to find out the importance of such attributes in attracting shoppers. To achieve it, six shopping centres comprising of CK Tang, Wisma Atria, Ngee Ann City, Shaw House, Centrepoint and Paragon were selected based on the first shopper survey. A second survey was then carried out to determine the importance of the attributes ranked by shoppers. Attributes such as variety of goods, availability of eating facilities and clear directional guides were deemed to be very important by most of the shoppers as opposed to landscaping and atrium design. Centrepoint was rated good for its carparking, eating facilities and tenant mix. Ngee Ann City was ranked first in all attributes by most shoppers while CK Tang held the last position for most attributes. The shoppers' age and gender have significant relationships with the importance they placed on atrium design, carparking facilities, availability of eating facilities and customer services. Retailers should continuously monitor how their consumers perceive their shopping centres and make necessary adjustments to the various attributes to attract the target segment and out shine their competitors.