A MALL SURVEY ON THE EFFECT OF ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS ON

SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR IN MALLS

SYNOPSIS

Under the guidance and supervision of

ROHINI MADAM
3RD Semester MBA
SUBMITTED BY
VARGHESE BENSON
PB17007

Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies

#15, New Bel Road, MSRIT Post, M S Ramaiah Nagar
Bangalore – 560054
DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this report on mall survey at Orion Mall is submitted as the
requirement for III Semester MBA+PGPM Degree examinations 2018 through
Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies is my original work and not submitted to
any other university. This work has been done under the supervision of Ms. ROHINI
MADAM in Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore.

Place: Bangalore [Signature of the Student]

Date: PB17007
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like this opportunity to extend my gratitude to all those who have extended
their support it wouldn’t be possible to conduct this study.
I extend my gratitude to Dr. Radha Ravishankar, DEAN of RIMS (Ramaiah Institute
of Management Studies) for their esteem support of issuing recommendation letter to
access.
I own a special debt of gratitude Rohini Madam of RIMS College for his valuable
guidance at every step of preparing this project. I am thankful for his timely advice
and inspiration for the accomplishment of this project.
Last but not the least I wish to avail myself of this opportunity, express a sense of
gratitude and love to my beloved parents for their support, strength, and help and for
everything.

BENSONVARGHESE
[MBA]
ABSTRACT

The shopping landscape is filled with malls, each competing for their share of the
consumer’s wallet. A significant method of trying to differentiate the mall product
and increase market share has been an attempt by mall developers and management
to increase the entertainment component of the mall. The current research was
designed to examine the relationship between the multiple ways that malls may create
entertainment value for the consumer and certain shopping behaviours.
The findings of the research clearly identified a relationship between certain specific
entertainment values in a shopping mall environment and shoppers’ mall visits but
not all entertainment values are directly associated.
The idea of adding a major entertainment center to a shopping mall has been gaining
in popularity over the past few years. Several new malls have been constructed in
different regions of the country, with substantial square footage allocated to
entertainment centers. Typically, these large scale entertainment centers feature
attractions such as: carousels, Ferris wheels, trains, bumper cars and other children's
rides, skill games, bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, roller or ice skating rinks,
and video arcades. The generally accepted notion is that such family entertainment
centers can substantially extend a mall’s draw, lengthen shopper stays, and increase
revenues of tenants. However, there has been very little research done across different
malls that lends support to this argument. This study examined the effects of such
entertainment centers on shopping behavior. Characteristics and shopping pat- terns
or shoppers drawn to a mall primarily because of the entertainment center were
compared to those of all other shoppers. Data were collected room 25 respondents
from a mall. The survey instrument was a structured personal interview
questionnaire.

Results revealed that a fairly low percentage of shoppers were drawn to malls
primarily by an entertainment centre. Such entertainment oriented shoppers tended to
be younger, and more likely to be visiting as a family unit compared to all other
shoppers. A significantly lower percentage of this group visited department stores or
other mall shops; although if they did visit either of these kinds of stores, they tended
to spend as much money as the other shoppers. They also spent comparatively less
time shopping, although the total amount of time spent at the mall was higher,
because of the time spent at the entertainment centre. There was, however, no
significant difference in terms of the distance travelled to the mall between the two
groups. Implications for owner/developers are also discussed
INTRODUCTION

The idea of ‘malls’ emerged since the early 1990s after appearing in Western
countries by more than 30 years. Shopping malls provide many options, including
entertainment and other social activities such as restaurants and cinemas. Mall is
recognizing more and more the positive impact of the environment on shopping
behaviour. Mall is generally used to refer to a large Shopping area usually composed
of a single building, which contains multiple shops. Usually one or more department
stores surrounded by a parking lot anchor a mall. Therefore, mall can refer to a place
where a collection of shops all adjoins a pedestrian area that allows shoppers to walk
without interference from vehicle traffic. A mall is a group of retail and other
commercial establishments that is planned, developed, owned and managed as a
single property, typically with on-site parking provided. Malls originally served as
catalysts in the growth of suburbs. Mall is flows of retail companies are the turnover
of commodities. The term, Mall can mean market for all. A mall comprises of
Shopping complexes, food courts and retail outlets. Today malls are gaining
importance as the disposable incomes of consumers are increasing. Consumers visit
malls to pass time shop and to dine at the restaurants located in the malls. There is
development of rich in mall segment, which is catering to particular segment of
people, they are meant for specific types of products, which are called as specialty
malls. A shopping mall is typically, a shopping complex connected by walkways. It
provides shopping as well as entertainment options to the target consumers. It
generally, contains one anchor store, which consumes twenty five percent of its retail
space. In addition a mall contains specialty stores for clothes, accessories, home
needs, books, as well as food court, multiplexes and entertainment zones.
History of Malls in India

The concept of shopping malls first appeared in 1950s. The credit towards invention
of modern mall goes to Australian born architect and American immigrant Victor
Green. The first generation of malls was set up in North gate Mall, US in 1950. 44
Later as time passed, the malls were then shifted from the crowded commercial areas
to the residential suburbs. These malls were accessible only through automobiles and
therefore gradually became a famous destination for retailers across the world.
Crossroads, renamed and currently known as Sobo Central, is the first modern
shopping mall in India. Opened in September 1999 by Primal Holdings Ltd., a
subsidiary of a major pharmaceutical group, it is India's first mall management
company. The mall covers an area of 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²), spread over
four buildings in the heart of the city. In India, rapidly developing mall environment
is living investors, domestic and foreign to make a pitch for a portion of the great
Indian market. It‘s growing and every hungry consumers, their apparently installable
demand for all the good things in life from groceries to vegetables to fancy gadgets to
fancier cars. The malls have change the way people are shopping. Malls are teaching
shoppers how to appreciate the good things of life. There are phrases like comfort,
style, convenience and cool, which the shoppers and retailers in mall culture are
using. The consumers are happy due to mall culture, now they don‘t visit mall only to
purchase but shopping has become an entertainment and roaming in malls on
occasions and weekends.

Concept of Malls
The concept of Retail as entertainment came to India with the advent of malls. Mall
fever has touched every facet of Indian society. Whatever is the income stratum of
consumers, malls make no distinction in proffering most-revered national and global
brands Shopping Mall refers to a set of homogenous and heterogeneous shops
adjoining a pedestrian, or an exclusive pedestrian street, that make it easy going for
shopper to walk from store to store without interference from vehicular traffic. Malls
are incorporated with a whole bank of lifts and escalators for smooth transit of
shoppers. Malls are located in proximity to urban outskirts, and ranges from 60,000
sq ft to 70,000 sq ft and above. The future of organized retailing is largely in the
hands of mall where the shoppers get quality, quantity, inspirational appeal,
recreation facilities and ambience. Under one roof, the flashy malls promises just
about everything under the sun, from foreign gizmos to the very desi, virtually an
airbus full of national and international brands, to say the least. Malls offer a plethora
of attractions- high profile shopping, impulse eating establishment, a glitzy and
glamorous environment to discerning shoppers of more refined tastes, who are more
concerned with quality and fashion and less concerned with budgets. Mall 45 reveals
six factors namely comfort diversity, luxury, mall essence, entertainment, and
convenience, which are a source of cynosure. In India, malls have transformed
shopping from a need driven activity to a leisure time entertainment. The quality mall
space, which was just one million square feet in 2002, has accomplished new
milestones of 40 million square feet and 60 million square feet in 2007 and 2008
respectively. There is a paradigm shift in the mall scenario, from just 3 malls in the
year 2000; the country witnessed 220 malls in the year 2006. Exhibiting signs of
further enlargement India is likely to have more than 600 in 2010 and 715 malls in
2015, with an estimated cumulative retail space of 100 million sq. ft. Shopping malls
in India are reckoned to worth Rs.38,447 crore by the year ending 2010. Real estate
corporations like DLF and Unitech are coming forth with the plans catering the ever
escalating demand of shopping malls. In the next four to five years Rs 65,000 is
budgeted to be invested in retail real estate development. In most of traditional Indian
malls, around 30 percent of space is allocated to apparel retailers while 12-20 percent
space is dedicated to Food and Beverages. Indian malls vary between 35,000 sq ft
to10, 00,000 sq. ft. while U.S. version is between 4, 00,000 sq ft to one million sq ft.
The largest malls in Indian metropolitan cities enjoy 25,000 footfalls per day which
hikes to an average of 40,000 on weekends. Due to radical revival of shopping and
consumerism shopping mall syndrome has hit India in all earnest. Even though the
malls are mushrooming from metros and mini metros to tier III cities, the spread of
malls is highly concentrated in India. North Zone is having the peak attractiveness
with 39 percent while South, East, and West Zone respectively holds 18 percent, 10
percent, 33 percent of total malls. Creating artificial product scarcity, cheap imitation,
and taking customer for granted are the talks of yesteryears, thanks to the mall
culture. Further, shopping mall is the paradise where various shopping motives like
peer group association, impulse shopping, hedonic, status consciousness, market
mavens, economic motive, utilitarian motive etc. can be fulfilled in one shot.

Mall Culture in India

Culture could be defined as the set of learned beliefs and values and mall culture is
learned shopping experiences. This culture is different from the typical Indian
Shopping Culture. The mall culture in the society is created due to shopping,
roaming, enjoying movies and entertainment and making routine to visit a mall. In
India all this has 46 happened rapidly but there is still a huge potential market
remains untapped. The malls developed in India due to many reasons. Some are listed
below: 1. Population Density Market is the sum total of existing and potential
customers. Prominent cities of India cover a huge part of population. A huge
percentage of population lives in these areas. This gives developers a very big market
to serve. The encouraging mall culture in India has resulted in enthusiastic erection of
new malls by the mall developers. The range and scope of the economic activity
generated from mall culture promises many things to many people. It not one offers
shoppers more value for money but it also generates employment opportunities,
direct and indirect for thousands of people. 2. High income .These cities are known as
industrial hubs. Here the income level of people is higher than the level in rural and
some urban areas. People have more money to spend on good shopping experience
they can think more than bread and butter and also are ready to spend for
entertainment. 3. Different buying habits .In metro cities, shoppers are broader
conscious. Malls collect these all of international brands of reputed companies are
made available by malls. Change in culture again developed a situation where both
husband and wife are working and they want all the required materials under one
roof, this led to developing of more and more malls. Consumers ‘shopping
behaviours and mall preferences will empower international retailers, domestic
retailers, and mall operators to market their products and services more effectively.
Research on retail patronage has been conducted in various cultural contexts, but
limited empirical studies have been conducted on Indian consumers and their
preferences for retail formats specifically malls. A thorough understanding of Indian
consumer’s motivations and their mall-patronage intentions would benefit mall
managers in drawing practical and constructive lessons on strategies to meet the
needs of consumers in India. Consumer‘s evaluation is affected by design
characteristics of mall as well as physical services. Mall design must be consistent
with the consumers ‘expectations and experience at other malls (Burke, 2005).
Howard (2007) described that 47 music, colour, intricacy of the mall layout and
products arrangement are elements of mall environment that can be used by retailers
to effect consumer behaviour. He also discovered direct relationship of music and
layout with consumer desire to stay.

Types of Malls
The malls basically are classified on the basis of their Merchandise orientation means
types or Goods and Services sold and their size. The trend towards differentiation and
48 .The challenge of this of mall is to overcome the natural tendency of shoppers to
move horizontally and encourage shoppers to move upwards and downwards. (v)
Lifestyle Centre: Lifestyle Centre is new designated that has a loose definition.
Generally, it‘s a centre that does not have on anchor tenant in the classic sense that is,
department store. Lifestyle centre have a cinema as a major tenant. (vi) Dead Malls:
The dead malls are those, which have failed to attract new business and often set
unused for many years until restored or demolished. Interesting example of
architecture and urban design, these structures often attract people who explore and
photograph them. This phenomenon of dead and dying malls is examined in detail by
the website Deadmills.com which hosts many such photographs as well as historical
accounts. (vii) Strip Mall: Strip mall also called Shopping Plaza or Mini mall. It is an
open area shopping centre where the stores are arranged in a row with a sidewalk in
front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in
front. They face major traffic arterials and tend to be self-contained with few
pedestrian connections to surrounding neighbour hoods. (viii) Outlet Mall: Outlet
Mall is a type of Shopping Mall in which manufacturers sell their products directly to
the public through their own branded stores. Clothing, sporting goods, electrical
products, cosmetics and toys are among the types of items sold at outlet malls. Outlet
malls first appeared in the United States as a development of the traditional factory
outlet a store attached to a factory or warehouse. An outlet mall places several such
outlets under one roof in a convenient location, usually an out of town site. The out of
town site minimizes overhead costs. (ix) Luxury Malls: Luxury Mall is mall, which
only house luxury brands. The mall in India luxury malls have been planned to be
built soon, most of the tenants are expected to be the best brands in the world such as
France‘s Louis Witton, Greece Dunhill Fendi Mont Benc, Van Clef and Arpels Rolex
and Omega.

Influence of Mall Culture in India

The malls’ physical environment has been shown as positively related to a desire to
stay. The mall environment influences the desire to stay and re-patronage intentions
to the mall. Consumers’ favourable perception of the retail environment can foster a
more favourable mood and that a pleasant environment can influence consumers to
exhibit more approach behaviour in that environment and stay longer. Accordingly,
mall developers are realizing the role of aesthetic experiences could add to the
shopping enjoyment of customers. This type of experience may be best captured
through the physical environment of the malls such as mall interior design, layout,
lighting and music. The aesthetic experience of the mall includes all the elements of
the atmosphere, thus engaging all of the customer’s senses (Michon 2008). More
recently, found that malls’ aesthetics’ play a dominant role in influencing consumers’
liking and attitude toward malls’ visit. The influence of mall’ shopping
environmental cues, hedonic and utilitarian shopping motives on shoppers’ response
(satisfaction) through examining the experiential outcomes of a shopping trip as well
as examining mediating role of cognition (service quality) in shopping malls. Malls
as a single-point destination for shopping, food and entertainment appeal
simultaneously to the browsing, the brand-conscious, the quality-conscious, the
ambience seeking, the discount seeking and the impulsive buyers. Studies reveal that
when a shopper has a planned list, there is a difference between the list and the
products bought – reasons for which can be attributed to the factors in the store. In
the malls, along with the air-conditioned shopping ambience, quality products,
service, convenience and comfort, consumers are offered in-house parking, coffee
shops, entertainment in multiplexes, gaming facilities, play areas for children and
food courts; which have transformed the mere activity of shopping, movie-watching
or dining, to an experiential, lifestyle activity. However, amidst growing fear of a
severe slowdown that will threaten future earnings, urban consumers have become
apprehensive. Though they are buying the day-to-day essentials, the impulse buying
is minimal, with consumers preferring only compulsory purchases as per
predetermined list. Therefore, the volumes have gone down as shoppers are choosing
to spend less. Customers have become price-conscious due to weak market
sentiments and are not willing to buy anything overtly expensive. In some cases,
shoppers are shifting back to traditional stores to get assurance of quality at
reasonable pricing. 50 A curious trend has been observed among consumers of luxury
goods in "Luxury Considered", a global report by Led bury Research for the De
Beers Group. As the global economic climate worsens and consumer-fatigue with
mass-marketed luxury products escalates, there is s shift from conspicuous
consumption governed by status and prestige needs to discerning consumption
marked by greater scrutiny of product quality, artisanship, preference for exclusivity
and heightened awareness of social and environmental responsibility – so consumers
gravitate towards fewer but better things that represent genuine value. A study by
Rural Marketing Association of India shows that spending on marriages and travel
for pilgrimages has not shown any reduction. Weddings and celebrations account for
58 percent of non-routine expenditure. Thus, requirement based shopping does not
reflect any decrease. It‘s being revealed that consumers who have been directly hit by
the slowdown have tightened their belts and are re-evaluating their buying patterns.
The rest, though aware of the economic environment, report no significant deflection
in consumption pattern. Thus, when previously every weekend in a month meant a
visit for the whole family to the mall for shopping or watching a movie in a
multiplex, it has now been curbed by giving one or two weekends a miss. What
earlier constituted unpremeditated purchases like apparel, gifts and other non-
essentials without prior planning presently requires a month's budgeting and
scheduling of the purchase. Maximum consumer to be the weaker consumer
sentiment, which states that this cautious attitude towards shopping is augmented by a
growing fear of a sharp crisis in the future, which with a further decline in
international trade and commerce, may affect the employment of maximum
consumers, further echoes it. Therefore, the consumers have started curbing the
impulse buying habit and are deferring unscheduled purchases.

DEVELOPMENT OF SURVEY INSTRUMENT

The extant literature was examined for previous scales used to measure the
entertainment value of a mall. No scale or set of scales was found, however a study
by Wakefield and Baker (1998) did use a number of scales to assess the level of
excitement at the mall. These items measured three aspects of the physical
environment of the mall; the variety of retail offerings at the mall; and how involved
the individual was with the activity of shopping. It was believed that the items
measuring the physical environment of a mall were an excellent starting point, but
did not capture the full range of what makes a mall entertaining. It was also believed
that there is a difference between the concept of exciting and entertaining. Excitement
is commonly associated with a stimulation of the senses associated with high levels
of pleasure and arousal (cf. Wakefield and Baker 1998). Entertainment is "something
that amuses, pleases or diverts, especially a performance or a show" (Random House
Dictionary 1993). There is an undeniable overlap between the two concepts,
however, they do not appear to be interchangeable. An entertaining mall may make
shopping more pleasurable or a welcome diversion from daily life without reaching
what may be termed a high level. It is possible that exciting malls may be malls with
intensive levels of entertainment. For example, your local regional mall may provide
a pleasant shopping experience that provides some level of entertainment, while the
Mall of America with its indoor amusement park and walk-through aquarium may be
an exciting place to shop.
The next step was to conduct two focus groups to elicit what makes a mall
entertaining to consumers. The focus groups consisted largely of individuals known
to the researchers, but were acknowledged shoppers of many different malls across
the country. A number of ideas arose from these discussions including the physical
environment of the mall, activities which took place at the mall (e.g., special exhibits
and events), and the people who worked and shopped at the mall.
A set of fifty-one items were generated, based upon the focus groups and the
literature search. These items were then examined for clarity, conciseness, and
relevance (DeVellis, 1991) by a set of three academic researchers not involved in the
research and six graduate students. The reviewers were all fully briefed on the
purpose of the scale, previous research in this area, and the ideas that had come from
the focus groups. These individuals suggested a number of items for elimination from
the scale. The primary researchers then used these suggestions to reduce the scale to
thirty-eight items.
A survey instrument was developed that would be administered through the mail.
This survey included the thirty-eight entertainment items measured by seven point
(Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree) Likert scales, the number of visits to the
stimulus mall within the last thirty days, the number of items purchased at the mall
during the last trip, and a number of demographic questions,. The survey was then
given to a convenience sample of consumers to see if they understood the directions
and if it was easy to read and respond to and they reported no problems with it.

DATA COLLECTION

The next step was to develop a sample for the survey. The researchers had previously
purchased a commercially available computer program which listed malls and their
mall management across the country. Thirty malls which were in excess of 500,000
square feet of gross leasable area were randomly selected to be the stimulus mall for
the consumers answering the surveys. Malls of this size are typically classified as
regional or super-regional malls and are the ones most likely to have the ability and
resources to make themselves more entertaining (Berman and Evans 2001). Once the
malls were selected, a sample of one hundred households within a fifteen-mile radius
of the location of each mall was purchased from a commercial research service. This
provided a total of 3,000 households for the sample.
Each household was mailed a survey, a cover letter, and a postcard. The letter asked
for the respondent to complete the survey and provided information about an
incentive that was being given for their cooperation. The respondent was asked to fill
out the survey and the postcard and mail both of them back to the researcher. The
postcard entered the respondent in a drawing for two prizes of $50 each and because
the survey came back under a separate cover it assured anonymity of the respondent.
Of the 3,000 surveys mailed, only twenty-two came back for bad addresses. A total of
485 completed surveys were returned for a response rate of 16.3%. The individual
response rate by mall varied from 4% to 25%.

DATA ANALYSIS
The sample was 14 females, 11 males, which is not surprising given that the survey
was done amongst women who came in groups as females still tend to do the
majority of shopping of all types for the family. The age of the respondents was split
about evenly between 20-25, 25-30 and 30-40. About half of the respondents reported
a family income of under 450, 000 and half were over this amount. The number of
visit to the Orion mall within the last thirty days ranged from 0 to 20, with a mean of
3.6 visits. The number of items purchased at the Orion mall during the last trip ranged
under 3. Mostly people came there to spend quality time with their friends and not for
shopping.
ENTERTAINMENT TYPOLOGY

The concept of entertainment typology is difficult to define in the context of a

shopping centre. To some it refers to traditional exhibits and concerts or movie
theatres and food courts; for others it is inside amusement park like camp snoopy in
mall of America or an ice skating Rink. In a broad sense entertainment can be the
entire shopping experience.
John konarski of the international council of the shopping centres has developed an
entertainment typology that serves to clarify and organize different types of
entertainment that have relevance for shopping centres.
 Entertainment

Retail Driven Owner Driven

Center Entertainment Shopping Experience Permanent Programmatic

Service Providing Entertainment industry

Food Non Food
Entertainment Based Services

Common Area In-Line Other services

RESEARCH PROBLEM

As the literature review indicates, there has been no published research on the exact
extent to which the existence of a Family Entertainment Center (FEC) impacts the
shopping behaviour of customers in terms of draw, expansion of the trading area,
time spent shopping, money spent at other in-line retail stores (cross-shopping), etc.
The present study proposes to examine these issues by posing the following
questions:
 Does an FEC draw additional shoppers to a mall?
 Are the demographic characteristics of the shoppers drawn to a mall primarily
by a FEC different than the demographic characteristics of the shoppers drawn
to a mall primarily for shopping or the food/court restaurants?
 Are shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC more likely to come to the
mall as part of a “family unit” (vs. coming as an individual or group of
individuals) as compared to shoppers drawn to a mall primarily to shop or visit
the food court/restaurants?
 What percentage of the shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by a FEC also
cross-shop in the mall department stores and shops?
 What percentage of shoppers are both drawn to a mall primarily by a FEC rind
cross—shop in at least one department store or mall shop?
 Do shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC visit as many mall
department stores and shops per trip to the mall as shoppers drawn to a mall
primarily for shopping?
 Do shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC spend as many dollars in the
mall department stores and shops per trip to the mall as shoppers drawn to a
mall primarily for shopping?
 Do shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC spend as much time
shopping in the mall department stores and shops per trip to the mall as
shoppers drawn to a mall primarily for shopping?
 What effect does an FEC have on the shopping patterns (store visits, money
spent, time spent) of shoppers drawn to a mall primarily for shopping? This
question focuses on the fact that the group of shoppers drawn to a mall primary
for slopping is actually composed of two subgroup those that shop and do visit
the FEC and those that shop and do not visit the FEC.
 Are shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC more likely to visit the mall
food court than shoppers drawn to a mall primarily for shopping?
 Does an FEC extend a mall’s trading area
METHODOLOGY

The objective of this study was to investigate empirically the above questions and
related issues. The study focused on FECs located in the common areas of regional
malls of at least 700,000 square feet. A common area FEC was operationally defined
as a concentrated, centra1ized, entertainment area of at least 30,000 square feet,
containing a variety of entertainment opportunities carousels, kiddie rides and trains,
video games, soft play structures, simulator rides, etc.
Eight regional malls with a common area FEC that meet the above criteria were
identified. Research funding limited the study to one mall. Therefore, representative
mall was selected in Bengaluru.
The survey instrument was a structured personal interview questionnaire administered
by trained market research field service personnel. Data were collected from 25
respondents from Orion Mall.
The data were analyzed for each mall individually as well as for all malls as a group.
Descriptive statistics, the “t”-test, and chi square analysis were used where appropriate
at the .05 level of significance.
RESEARCH RESULTS
Research findings are discussed below on a question by question basis. The words
“shopper” and “respondent” are used interchangeably.

MALL ORION MALL, BENGALURU

Entertainment center name Cinepolis
Age 2012
Size of the mall 1 million Sq. Ft.
Owner HOK Designers
Management Orion Mall Management Company
Limited

Question 1: Does an FEC draw additional shoppers to a mall?

Approximately 77% of the respondents indicated that their primary purpose for
coming to the mall (the day of the survey) was the FEC. The remaining respondents
(23%) selected one of the other categories pertaining to shopping as their primary
reason.
When the mall is analyzed, the choice of the FEC as the primary purpose for the trip to
the mall is more in comparison to that of shopping

Although the selection by a respondent of the FEC as the primary reason for coming to
the mall does not necessary menu that the respondent would not have come to the mall had
the FEC not been present, we can conclude that in general, an FEC, on its own,
appears to account for about 7% -10% of a mall’s draw.

The nature of these customers, their shopping and spending patterns, and the
implications of these findings are examined below.

Question 2: Are the demographic characteristics (age and income) of the shoppers
drawn to n mall primarily by an FEC different than the demographic characteristics
of the shoppers drawn to a mall primarily or shopping or the food court restaurants?
The average age of the respondents who indicated that their primary purpose for
coming to the mall was the FEC was 28 years, while the average age of all the other
respondents was 40 years.
The average annual income of the respondents who indicated that their primary
reason for coming to the mall was the FEC was 420,000 while the average income of
all other respondents (primary reason the opportunity to shop or visit the food
court/restaurants) was 450,000. This difference in mean income of 20,000 was not
significant at the t Test.
A chi square analysis of the income distributions of these two groups for all the malls
combined, and on a mall by mall basis, also found no significant differences in
income between the groups (FEC vs. shopping).
In general, the average income of respondents drawn to a mall by an FEC was not
significantly different from the average income of those drawn to a mall by the
opportunity to shop or visit the food court/restaurants. Marginal differences, or the
slightly higher average in- come levels of the respondents drawn to the mall primarily
to shop or visit the food court/restaurants, could be attributed to the significantly
higher average age (eight plus years) of these respondents. They are older, further
along in their careers, and consequently making more money.

Question 3: Are shopper drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC more likely to come
to the mall as part of a “family unit” (vs. coming as rim individual or group of
individuals) as compared to shoppers drawn to a mall primarily to shop?
A family was defined in this study as a respondent who was part of a group
consisting of at least one parent and one child. In brief, an adult “with kids” denotes
this category. An individual was defined as either a lone respondent or a respondent
who was part of a group of unrelated individuals (i.e., group of friends, teenagers or
classmates).
Approximately 17 or the respondents who indicated that their primary purpose in
coming to the mall was the FEC came to the mall as part of a family. Only about 24%
O* the respondents Who indicated that their primary purpose of coming to the mall
was shopping or visiting the food court/restaurants came to the mall as part of a
family i.e., 76+% of the primary purpose “shoppers” were without kids and the rest
came with kids

Question 4: What percentage of the shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC

also cross- shop in mall department stores and shops?
Of the 25 respondents who indicated that they were drawn to a mall primarily by the
FEC, 23% visited at least one department store and visited at least one mall shop. In
comparison, of the remaining respondents who indicated that they were drawn to
the mall for some other reason, 64% visited at least one department store and 65% of
visited at least one mall shop.
It can therefore be concluded that respondents drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC are
significantly less likely to visit mall department stores or shops than respondents
drawn to a mall primarily for shopping.

Question 5: What percentage of shoppers are both drawn to a mall primarily by an

FEC and cross-shop in at least one department store or mall shop?
Of the 25 respondents (77% or the total sample) who indicated that they were drawn to the
mall primarily by the FEC, 20 respondents visited at least one department store and 19
respondents visited at least one mall shop.
In general, these small numbers indicate that the amount of shopping in a mall’s
department stores and shops by respondents drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC is
negligible. An FEC does not appear to be instrumental in attracting a significant
number of additional customers for a mall’s other tenants.

Question 6: Do shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by on FEC (and who also shop)
visit us many mall department stores and shops per trip to the mall as shoppers drawn
to a mall primarily for shopping?
The average number of department stores visited by respondents drawn to a mall
primarily because of the FEC (who also shop) was 1.4, and the average number of
mall shops visited was 1.8. In comparison, the average number of department stores
visited by shoppers drawn to the mall primarily for shopping.
It appears that respondents who are drawn to a mall primarily by the FEC, and who
also spend time shopping, visit as many department stores and mall shops as do
respondents drawn to a mall for shopping.

Question 7: Do shoppers drawn to n mull primarily by an FEC spend as many dollars

in the mall department stores and shops per trip to the mall as do shoppers drawn to a
mall primarily for shopping?
The average amount spent by respondents drawn to the mall primarily because of the
FEC, who also spent time shopping, was b/w 1000-1500 at department stores and
1000-1500 at mall shops.
Respondents drawn to a mall primarily for shopping spend significantly more money
at department stores compared to respondents drawn to a mall primarily for
entertainment.

Question 8: Do shoppers drawn to a mall primarily by an FEC spend as much time

shopping in the mall department stores and shops per trip to the mall as do shoppers
drawn to a mall primarily for shopping?
Average time spent at a mall by respondents drawn primarily to the mall by entertainment
was 117 minutes as compared to an average of 95 minutes for respondents drawn to a mall
primarily for shopping. However, for those respondents drawn to a mall primarily by
entertainment and who also shop, the average time spent shopping was 55 minutes.
Therefore, one could conclude that although respondents drawn to a mall by the
entertainment center spend more time at the mall overall, if they do go shopping in the
mall department stores and/or shops, they spend much less time shopping than the
respondents who are drawn to the mall primarily for shopping.

Question 9: What effect does an FEC have on the shopping patterns (number of
stores visited, money spent, time spent) of the shoppers drawn to a mall primarily for
shopping?
Twenty Five respondents indicated that their primary purpose for coming to a mall
was the opportunity to shop. Of this group, 19% (5 respondents) further indicated
that, in addition to shopping, the FEC also was visited. The remaining 81% (20
respondents) indicated that only shopping occurred while at the mall-the FEC was not
visited.
In order to examine the above question, the two subgroups of respondents drawn to a
mall primarily for shopping-those who shop and do visit the FEC and those that shop
and do not visit the FEC, were further analysed. A comparison of these two groups
was done in terms of department stores and mall shops visited, expenditures at these
stores, and the amount of time spent.

Based on the analysis, it appears that respondents who visited the mall only to shop
(did not visit the entertainment centre) were more likely to visit at least one
department store and to spend more money than respondents who visited the
entertainment centre. Conversely, respondents who spent time and money at
department stores were less likely to visit the FEC. The entertainment centre,
therefore seems to have more of a synergistic relationship with the mall stores than
with the department stores.
Although shopping time was approximately the same for both subgroups of
respondents (about 100 minutes), the subgroup of respondents that shops and visits
the entertainment center spends about 50 minutes longer at the mall compared to the
other subgroup. This additional time is spent at the FEC.

Question 10: Does an FEC extend a malls trading area?

Each respondent was asked for their ZIP code. For each ZIP code provided, an
average distance was calculated from the appropriate mall to the geographic centre of
the ZIP code area. ZIP codes greater than 50 miles from the appropriate mall were not
considered. For analysis, respondents were classified into three groups: 1) those whose
primary purpose in coming to the mall was to visit the FEC; 2) those whose primary
purpose in coming to the mall was to shop, bin who also visited the FEC; and 3) those
whose primary purpose in coming to the mall was only to shop, and who did not visit
the FEC.
The average distance travelled by respondents coming to the mall for the FEC was 11
Kms. The average distances travelled by the two subgroups or primary shoppers were
10 Kms. miles for the group that also visited the FEC and 13.8 miles for the shopping
only group.
Based on these findings, an FEC does not appear to extend a mall’s trade area.
SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS

In summary, it has been found that:

 An FEC appears to account for about 7%-10% or a mall’s draw.
 An FEC, as compared to the other reasons for going to a mall, tends to attract a
younger clientele—primarily in the 25-34 year age.
 The average income or respondents drawn to a mall by an FEC is essentially
the same as the average income or those drawn to a mall by the opportunity to
shop.
 An FEC does not appear to attract shoppers for a mall's other tenants only
about 1.7% of the overall sample was drawn by an entertainment center and
subsequently visited at least one department store or mall shop.
 Families account for of the respondents drawn to a mall primarily by an
entertainment center. With respect to all families drawn to a mall, regardless of
the primary purpose of the trip, visit the entertainment center.
 Respondents drawn to a mall primarily by an entertainment center are
significantly less likely to visit department stores and mall shops than
respondents drawn to a mall primarily for shopping.
 Respondents drawn to a mall primarily by an entertainment center, who also
spend time shopping, tend to visit as many department stores and mall shops as
shoppers drawn to the mall for shopping.
 Shoppers drawn to a mall primarily because of an entertainment center spend
significantly less money at department stores than shoppers drawn to a mall
primarily for shopping.
 Respondents drawn to a mall by an entertainment center spend more time at
the mall overall (117 minutes) than respondents drawn for shopping (95
minutes). When shopping occurs within the entertainment group, the average
time devoted to shopping is 55 minutes.
 Respondents drawn to a mall primarily for shopping, rind who in addition visit the
FEC, are less likely to visit department stores and, when such visits are made,
spend less money than respondents who only shop least one department store.
However, a visit to the FEC, for respondents who are drawn to a mall primarily
for shopping does not appear to detract from shopping time (about 100 minutes
either way). Individuals who visit the entertainment center spend additional time
doing so.
 Respondents who visit the entertainment center, regardless of the primary
purpose for the visit to the mall, are significantly more likely to visit the food
court than respondents who only shop.
 An FEC does not appear to extend a mall’s trading area.
The above findings directly address the major research question of this study-does a
common area FEC in a regional mall attract a significant number of additional
shoppers who spend a significant amount of time and money in the mall’s other stores
and shops?
Other findings about the money and time spent cross-shopping by respondents drawn
to a mall primarily by an entertainment center (even though such respondents are few
in number) lend support to the above conclusion. Cross-shoppers spent an average of
1000 in 55 minutes in department stores per trip to a mall while regular shoppers
spent an average or 800 in 95 minutes in department stores per trip. Shopping
intensity (money and time) is significantly less for entertainment oriented cross-
shoppers.
Although not part of this study’s major research thrust, it is worth noting the effect of
an entertainment center on the shopping behavior of respondents whose primary
reason for coming to a mall was shopping. The group is composed of two subgroups
those who only shop and those who shop and visit the FEC. The shopping time for
both groups was approximately the same 98 minutes. To some extent, therefore, it
appears that an entertainment centre may in fact detract from shopping, in terms of
number of department stores visited and amount of money spent at these stores

Main questions from the questionnaire:

 Name of the shop
 What is the no. of salesmen in the shop?
 What is the average age of the people coming to the shop?
 What is the peak time for walk-ins?
 What is the average amount spent by a customer?
 What are the no. of walk-ins in the shop?
 What are the average sales in the shop in week days and weekends?
Figure 1 showing the age group of the people and the average no. of people visiting
those shops within this age group

average no. of people

10
12

20-25
25-30
30-40

20

Figure 2 showing the peak time for walk-ins

no. of walk-ins

Morning
Afternoon

4 Evening
10
Figure 3 showing the average amount spend by the customers during shopping

walk-ins

20

week days
week ends

45

Figure 4 showing the average amount spend by the customers

no. of people

25
12 <1500
1500-2000
2000-2500
2500-5000

35
CONCLUSION
The myth of the female shopper who wanted to nothing more than to go shopping for
a day as a means of entertaining herself has been replaced by the myth of the female
shopper who finds shopping a chore and wants to complete the task as quickly as
possible. Neither of these views is entirely correct or incorrect. Today’s shopper is
time pressured, but can still find enjoyment through the act of shopping. Mall
developers and managers have been working hard to try to make the shopping trip as
enjoyable as possible and provide our shopper with a reason to stay in the mall longer
and to come more often. Malls are largely trying to accomplish this goal through
making the shopping trip more entertaining, but they have been lacking in basic
research as to what creates an entertaining shopping trip.
The current research developed an instrument to tap into multiple dimensions of what
makes for an entertaining mall visit. Possibly the most important finding of the
research was that only two dimensions of mall entertainment appeared to be driving
the number of visits to the mall. One of these dimensions could be easily categorized
as having a hedonic experience while shopping. However, the other appears to
largely be a utilitarian dimension of the shopping trip. Since both of these dimensions
had a direct and significant relationship with the number of shopping visits, it is
important for mall developers and managers to remember that shopping is an
economic activity which provides the shopper with desired items. Making sure that
the mall has the right mix of stores to address the needs of the target market should
remain a prime consideration.
The current research also demonstrated that while entertaining the shopper is
important, it does not necessarily have to include large amusement areas, theme
parks, or strolling troubadours. Shoppers just wanted a place to get away from their
daily grind, a place to visit with friends and family. There are a number of ways that
malls help provide the means for consumers to engage in these activities, such as
staying open at night, having food courts where multiple types of food are available,
having special exhibits keyed to consumer interests and activities (e.g., boat shows,
camping shows, bridal shows), and having seating areas where people can rest and
visit. These features are not necessarily expensive to produce, but they provide great
value and incentive for the consumer to visit the mall.
While this research provides a clear cut of relationship between the entertainment
aspects in the shopping mall and shopping behavior, it suggests several additional
avenues for future research. For example, at present, it is unknown what portion of
influence to the shopping behaviors comes from the children in a family. Obviously,
a significant portion of household shopping behavior may be influenced by children.
The age and gender composition of the family’s children may also play a role. For
example, a family with two teen-aged girls may be encouraged to go shopping more
frequently than a family with a single male toddler at home. Further, the gender
difference in shopping behaviour is not discussed in the study. It is well known that
males are not generally shoppers, but identifying key entertainment aspects for males
may help mall managers develop programs encouraging greater participation in
shopping by males.
The mall has become the downtown for many suburban communities. As such, it is
expected to provide more than just necessary products for the consumers in the
community. It has become the preferred gathering place for teenagers, a place to meet
friends after work, a place for early morning physical conditioning, as well as a
convenient location for buying merchandise. The mall is a hub of both economic and
social activity (Feinberg, Meoli, and Sheffler 1989) and what encourages people to
engage in consumer activity in these locations is an important area for further
research.