AFFECTIVE ASPECTS OF YOUTH ZONES

Abstract

Youth zones are emerging into the local retail market recently. These youth zones are targeted mainly at the younger population, and create a special type of retail environment that is unique to itself. Examples of youth zones in Singapore include The Heeren, Orchard Cineleisure, Far East Plaza Level 1, and The Edge at Bugis Junction. This study looks at the environmental aspects within a youth zone, how these aspects stimulate different types of emotions in the youths, and in turn how it affects their repatronage intentions. A survey was done on 228 respondents at 3 different youth zones, and the data was analyzed first using factor analysis, followed by multiple linear regression and finally the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The factor analysis extracted 3 main variables that are responsible for environmental stimuli, they are: atmosphere in the store, various promotional activities organized and the perceived value to the shoppers. The factor analysis also extracted the arousal factor as the most important element from the range of emotions that was included in the questionnaire. The multiple linear regression showed that all the factors have significant relationships with arousal and re-patronage. Atmosphere, promotions and arousal held a positive relationship with re-patronage intentions, while perceived value held a significant but negative relationship. The findings in this study are in line with similar studies conducted previously, and showed significant implications for retail management and developers.