YOUTHS' PREFERENCES IN SHOPPING MALLS

Abstract

With the increased supply of suburban malls, the retail scene in Singapore is becoming more competitive. It is no longer sufficient for suburban malls to serve as an avenue for convenience shopping. Hence, suburban malls should achieve a unique positioning and differentiate itself from the competition. Suburban malls today are capitalising on the youth market and entertainment facilities are increasingly incorporated in malls. This study investigates the influence of entertainment on the shopping behaviour of youths. This will be examined through three aspects namely, frequency of visits, duration and expenditure spent in the mall. It also aims to find out about youths’ preferences for food entertainment and specialty entertainment respectively. The findings revealed that youths’ main motivation for visiting shopping malls are to meet and bond with friends. Entertainment facilities which serve a key role in promoting friendship bonds has been found to enhance the three aspects of shopping behaviour. Significant differences are evident in expenditure spent in Entertainment Malls for age group, source and income and income or allowance level. This findings also discovered that food entertainment has the strongest correlation with frequency of visits while specialty entertainment share the strongest correlation with duration spent in the mall. Among food entertainment, ‘Cafes’ has been identified as the most frequented venue which youths visit to socialise and bond with friends. While, ‘Cinemas’ is perceived as the most important facility among specialty entertainment for friendship bonding. These findings therefore allow mall managements to understand youths’ preferences and effectively differentiate itself.