AN EXAMINATION OF SHOPPING MALLS IN SINGAPORE: SPATIAL CLUSTERING AND OPERATING PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Shopping clusters are becoming more concentrated in the Regional and Subregional Centres. This raises the question of whether there are incentives for retailers and mall owners to locate in a shopping cluster. As such, four clustering indices were adopted to study the clustering patterns of shopping clusters in Singapore, mainly in Tampines Regional Centre and Jurong Lake district. These clusters were also compared with that of Orchard Road’s to establish the characteristics of the agglomerated malls and better understand the mechanisms of Singapore shopping clusters. From the findings, the four clustering indices provided a good description of the clustering patterns of shopping malls in Singapore. With the knowledge of these characteristics, it enabled the agglomerated malls to identify their consumer base and retail competitors, allowing them to better manage the mall to gain more clustering benefits.

Furthermore, the clustering pattern revealed that a shopping cluster not only requires close cooperation among the shopping malls but also faces intense competition in the cluster. In order to measure the magnitude of the clustering benefits, a multivariate analysis was conducted. The research hypothesis states that agglomerated malls are able to enhance the REIT performance, as they tend to perform better than the stand-alone malls. From the results, it was discovered that there were indeed more clustering benefits in the cluster than competition, resulting in a positive relationship between the agglomerated malls and the REIT performance.

In a nutshell, the study had successfully proven that clustering effects exist in the shopping clusters of Singapore despite its competitive retail landscape. Findings from the study could shed light on the retail planning for new town centres as well as the retail development of Woodlands Regional Centre.