YOUTH CONSUMER CULTURE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE LOCAL RETAIL SCENE

Abstract

The recent wave of teen-oriented malls has driven the local retail scene into another new era. Consumer studies can be dated back to as early as the 1960s in the United States, similar consumer research has been conducted in Singapore. The author observes that youth shopping is a growing segment of the consumer population, both globally and locally. This study by means of a sequential mixed method design (i.e. a qualitative research followed by a quantitative research) attempted to provide in-depth insights into (i) shopping orientations and motivations of local teenagers, and (ii) retailer factors that influence Singapore teenagers' shopping pleasure. It is found that local teenagers generally harbour three different types of attitudes towards shopping, hence forming their shopping orientations: Hedonistic, Economic, and Apathetic. The findings are also in line with studies conducted in other countries, teenagers are predominantly hedonistic in their shopping approach. There are, however significant proportions of teenagers that tend to be more inclined towards being economic or apathetic. From this study, 'mall features', 'atmospherics', 'ancillary features' and 'value-added features' are the main retailer categories that enhance teenagers' shopping. In particular, teenagers place high emphasis on attributes such as 'cleanliness', 'travelling distance', 'good product knowledge' and 'wide variety of shop tenants'. The study finally makes explicit recommendations for retailers and its marketing actions.