Magnetism of shopping malls on young Turkish consumers

Abstract

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the attractiveness of shopping malls for young consumers in Turkey and then to determine the attractiveness factors of malls for this segment from the consumers' perspective.Design/methodology/approach - The study was carried out through a survey of 621 young consumers (aged between 12-24) in three out-of-town selected shopping malls in Bursa, Turkey. For a general evaluation of the data, factor analysis is applied. It is considered as a valuable tool to reduce dimension and group different characteristics of young consumers' mall usage.Findings - The study reveals five mall attractiveness factors from the young Turkish consumers' perspective: retail environment, comfort conditions, socializing in a secure environment, accessibility, leisure. The importance of all these factors for this segment are evaluated with a comparative analysis with the findings of many other studies, analyzing the similar issues in relation to different cultures.Research limitations/implications - The sampling frame for this research was limited to young consumers in Bursa, Turkey. Study findings, although interesting, are clearly not generalizable to all populations of young consumers or even all Turkish young consumers.Practical implications - Identifying mall attractiveness factors for young consumers gives a better understanding about patronage motives than when it is applied to the market as a whole.Originality/value - This is one of the first studies to provide an insight of mall attractiveness factors as identified by young Turkish consumers from the viewpoint of an urban studies researcher, rather than marketing researchers.