SHOPPERS' PERCEPTIONS OF "PASAR MALAM" AND SUBURBAN SHOPPING CENTRE

Abstract

Over the last decade, "pasar malam" or night markets has been making its presence felt within public housing estates. Such night markets are organized by grassroots organizations with the aim of raising funds for the many community activities. Similarly, within the last decade, suburban shopping centres have been sprouting up within public housing estates and situated next to MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) stations. An example of such suburban shopping centre is Northpoint shopping centre which is also the first of such suburban shopping centre. Both "pasar malam" and suburban shopping centre belong to different components of the marketing system. The former belongs to the bazaar sector whereas the latter belongs to the firm centered sector. In view of their differences, using sequential mixed method involving firstly a qualitative research followed by a separate quantitative research, this dissertation aims to investigate how shoppers perceive both retailing entities. Altogether, shoppers were asked to rate 27 variables to ascertain their perceptions of "pasar malam" and suburban shopping centre. The mean score perception ratings shows that respondents rated suburban shopping centre higher than "pasar malam". The ratings of respondents are also factor analyzed to identify the image structures of shoppers' perceptions of "pasar malam" and suburban shopping centre. The factor analysis shows that "pasar malam" and suburban shopping centre have different image structures notwithstanding that there are some common images between them.