SHOPPING MALLS FOR THE AGEING POPULATION

Abstract

While the ageing phenomenon in Singapore may pose challenges, it still presents business opportunities for many industries, including the retail sector. This paper aims to identify mall features that could influence malls’ attractiveness in the elderly’s perspective. The study was carried out through an extensive survey covering 500 elderly shoppers in five selected shopping malls. Their perception of various mall dimensions, namely convenience, services, promotional activities, tenant mix, and physical environment, was examined using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Relationships between mall dimensions, satisfaction, and patronage were examined using structural equation modelling (SEM). The shopper typologies among the elderly were identified using cluster analysis. The survey results demonstrated that tenant mix and physical environment are the important dimensions to the elderly. The physical environment was found to have the greatest influence on the elderly’ mall satisfaction. Basic physical features such as cleanliness are favoured over supplementary features such as background music. Mall satisfaction was found to be positively associated with mall patronage. Lastly, four shopper typologies were identified: neutral shoppers, unenthusiastic shoppers, bargain hunters, and demanding shoppers. One of the challenges faced by mall operators is to create an attractive retail environment for the elderly. While there is existing retailing literature that focuses on the local elderly, the list of identified attributes is not exhaustive and the relationship between the elderly’s satisfaction towards the attributes and mall patronage has yet to be examined. The focus on identifying mall attributes that could influence the elderly’s mall satisfaction and patronage is novel.