the Study

The critical question that was addressed in this study was, what factors influence the consumers’ decision-making process in the selection of shopping centres. This is substantially answered in the literature survey as well as the empirical study as follows:

• The essential features considered by shoppers when selecting a shopping centre were one-stop shopping (cited by 59.8%), promotional events (30.8%), pricing strategies among retailers (43.8%), product range (53.5%),

consumer traffic (53.5%), cleanliness (79.3%), types and designs of shops (44.5%).

• The finding reveals that location, accessibility, facilities for the disabled and frail, parking, types and designs of shops, shopping centre image, promotional events, price levels, product range, security and safety, consumer traffic, banking facilities, food courts, staff, service level, one-stop shopping, cleanliness, leisure and entertainment and child care facilities are important factors in the consumers’ decision-making process in the selection of shopping centres. Clearly, the 7 p’s, that is price, promotion product, place, people, processes and physical layout, or the extended marketing mix, has an impact on the patronage of the various shopping centres.

The subsidiary questions restated here were also answered in the empirical study as follows:

• How does the internal and external environment of shopping centres impact on consumers’ choice of shopping centres? 
 A consumer’s purchase decision and choice of shopping centres are influenced by numerous individuals as well as environmental factors. Some of the individual predispositions which influence the purchase decisions and choice of shopping centres are personal motivation, perception, levels of education, attitudes and personality. Each of these factors is interdependent and each plays a vital role in the ultimate choice of shopping centres. An understanding of these factors as well as the demographic, cultural, technological, economic and security factors are, therefore, required to predict consumer behaviour more accurately, and to then respond to environmental factors to optimally serve the consumer.

• For what purposes do consumers visit the various shopping centres? A significant proportion of consumers (42.9%) visit the various shopping centres mainly for shopping, while some consumers (15.9%) visit the various shopping centres for both shopping and entertainment, such as going to the cinema and dining. Therefore, the various shopping centres serve as multiple- purpose- centres for consumers’ needs, wants and desires.

• How satisfied are customers with the various shopping centres? 
 The majority of shoppers are satisfied with the various shopping centres’ facilities and product offerings. The provision of fast and efficient service and friendly staff within the shopping centre together with an effective marketing mix or extended marketing mix have resulted in shopping or leisure and entertainment becoming a personally rewarding activity rather than a chore.

• What marketing strategies are employed to meet consumer’s needs and desires?

A combination of an optimal marketing mix, shopping centre image and safety and security focussing on the types and designs of shops within the centres, are seemingly the strategies that are used by marketers to meet consumers’ needs and desires. It emerged that shopping centres with a tenant mix which is perceived as having lower prices are frequented more often by the majority who are price conscious. It also emerged from the results that 213 (53.5%) of the respondents consider the merchandise/ product range offered by the different shopping centres as being a draw-card to the shopping centre

In addition the shopping centre image contributes to the ambiance and the layout determines the convenience or ease with which shopping can be accomplished. Efficient design and layout present an image of the shopping centre which may suggest an upmarket or sophisticated environment and it may also promote the free flow of shoppers without congestion at strategic nodes.

The results showed that the majority, 318 (77.8%), of the respondents indicated that the security and safety is very important and affects their choice of shopping centres.

• How does private transportation impact on patronage of shopping centres? 
 The results revealed that patronage of shopping centres was highly dependent on private vehicle usage where consumers predominantly use their own vehicles or use taxis to get to the centres. In South Africa, the absence of a safe and reliable public transport system within the suburban areas makes the dependence on private transport inevitable.

• How do one-stop shopping centres contribute to family experiences? An overwhelming majority of shoppers (77.3%) visited the shopping centres with family predominantly over the weekends. They are accompanied on average by 3-4 family members. The Pavilion Shopping Centre (19.6%) and Gateway (14.3%) were the most popular amongst shoppers in the greater Durban area and were more popular meeting places for family, for recreation and entertainment, than other shopping centres.

• Do males and females differ in their preferences for the various facilities within the shopping centres? 
 This study showed that males and females do not have different expectations of shopping centres suggesting that marketers can target their efforts at them as a single group rather than as two separate groups of shoppers.

AIDA

The purchase of goods or services includes a number of factors that could affect each decision. Customer satisfaction is more complex and even more important for retailers today than in past.

The sales promotion mix on customer satisfaction were identified by a structure questionnaire and captured in 5 factors of sales promotion mix.

Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and services to the marketplace.

Saniyaz

Growing shopping malls and behavior of urban shoppers

Otsyuda stranici 5-13