THE IMPACT OF THEME ON THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IN SPECIALTY MALLS

Abstract

In view of the growing presence of specialty malls in Singapore, this study attempts to determine whether the portrayed theme, a defining feature observable in many specialty malls, could enhance the overall shopping experience of the mall patrons. By adopting the Stimulus-Organism-Response approach widely practiced in consumer retail behaviour studies, the study attempts to determine the linkage between the concept of theme and shopping experience based on the result of a structured survey with a sample size of 265 from 5 specialty malls. The proposed theme construct constitutes a total of 25 variables in 6 dimensions, namely, architectural design, ancillary facilities, atmospherics, service and entertainment, tenant mix and marketing. The empirical results exhibits that the theme construct yields high validity and internal consistency, while positive linkage between theme and shopping experience are effectively established using multiple linear regression. Lastly, a stronger theme portrayed in specialty malls is also found to result in a better shopping experience for the patrons. Serving as the pioneer study on theme contribution within malls in Singapore, this research shares insights regarding the understudied area of retail theme in both the academic field as well as the pragmatic aspects.