EXAMINATION OF TENANT MIX ISSUES IN SHANGHAI RETAIL MALLS

Abstract

Between 2005 to 2012 Shanghai retail industry has experienced an explosive growth in the number shopping malls in Shanghai. This hence led to an increasing trend of new and bigger shopping malls competing with old shopping malls. Due to these strong competitions, mall managers are faced with increased difficulties to secure good anchor and non-anchor tenants. These challenges have caused malls in Shanghai to close down with only having high occupancy rates in the beginning years of operation. Hence, this dissertation will examine in detail new strategies in tenant allocation, placements and new insights about the Chinese shoppers preferences and patronage motivations. Firstly, an in depth analysis was carried out to examine good and weak malls. It was found out that good malls performed higher in aspects such as tenant mix, tenant placement and space allocation as compared to a weak mall. From further analysis on the factors that motivate shoppers’ patronage to the shopping mall, out of the 20 factors, 10 were identified and can be grouped into 3 categories. The 3 categories of ‘Accessibility and Convenience’, ‘Product and Tenant Variety’ and ‘Affordability’ were shown to be the most significant factors towards the tenant mix in a shopping mall. All in all, the results of the research provide a good insight to both existing mall operators and also potential developers and investors in Shanghai competitive retail market.