AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON FAMILY-FRIENDLY FEATURES IN SUBURBAN MALLS

Abstract

This paper aims to address two questions related to the family-friendliness of suburban malls. First, what are the latent factors that consumers consider vital in making a suburban mall family-friendly? Second, how would the shopping composition of the consumers’ families influence the way they rate the importance of the extracted factors?

The study was conducted though a survey that covers 300 shoppers in six selected suburban malls in Singapore. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 35 mall features using a five-point likert scale. The collected data were used to operationalise an exploratory factor analysis to extract the underlying factors. The factor scores generated from the analysis were then employed in a series of ANOVA tests to compare how the respondents’ family shopping compositions will influence their perceptions of the importance of the extracted factors.

A total of seven factors were extracted from the factor analysis. They include (1) provisions for the children, (2) the retail environment, (3) provisions for the seniors and handicapped, (4) sales and promotions aimed at the whole family, (5) events and activities tailored for the family, (6) additional mall services and security and (7) the parking facilities. Using the weighted factor ratings, the research found that all seven factors are important in making suburban malls more welcoming to families. The three highest rated factors are the retail environment, mall provisions for the seniors and handicapped and the parking facilities.

The findings from the ANOVA tests revealed that families that shop with both young kids and seniors tend to favour mall provisions for children, seniors and handicapped, mall events and parking facilities more than some of the other three family shopping compositions.