Monday, July 16, 2007 Profile of city mall shoppers By Danilo Te
IN A study conducted by this writer in March, 2007 about the perceptions and preferences of mall shoppers in Davao City, the survey revealed that the respondents are mostly young people in their late teens and mid-20's -- 61.5 percent of the age bracket 15-25 and the majority, 67.5 percent are single.
There is a good proportion between male (49.5 percent) and female (47 percent) respondents. They are highly educated (81.5 percent college students and college graduates) as can be expected as Davao City has a high literacy rate (95.1 percent).
When it comes to employment, the majority of respondents (65.5 percent) are employed. And when it comes to location, the majority of respondents (55.5 percent) are within the five-kilometer radius from the mall.
The attraction of Davao City malls to shoppers is explained in this study through the several factors and variables: mall atmospherics, accessibility, service, price, product-mix, promotion, and entertainment.
The nine factors derived from factor analysis, where all the variables are found highly significant, help explain the shoppers’ preference for a mall to visit and shop. They also divulge their preference for anchor and specialty stores, and the day and time they go shopping.
For anchor stores, they prefer to shop at the department store (86.5 percent), grocery store (85 percent), and go to the movie house (60.5 percent); for specialty stores, they prefer to eat at the fastfood (75 percent) and shop at the shoes store (60.5 percent), bookstore (56.5 percent), cellular-phone shop (52 percent), and men's/women's apparel (46.5 percent).
For the time and day, they prefer to shop late afternoon of Saturday (44.5 percent), Sunday (33.5 percent), and Wednesday (32 percent).
Furthermore, the study used cluster analysis to segment the mall shoppers based on their perceptions and preferences:
Cluster 1: The shoppers in this group are labeled as Traditional Shoppers. They value price, store smell, and retail space (density). They comprise 29 percent of the respondents.
The shoppers are mostly young with an average age of 28 years. There are more Generation Y (55 percent) than Generation X (23 percent) and Baby Boomers (21 percent) in this group.
The male shoppers (52 percent) are slightly higher in number than the female shoppers (45 percent). There are more single (66 percent) than married shoppers. The shoppers are moderately educated (36 percent college and 39 percent college graduate). As far as income is concerned, Class C and Class D dominate the group. However, it should be noted that there is a significant number of students (45 percent) in the group.
Cluster 2: The shoppers in this group are labeled as Destination Shoppers. They value product (product mix and service) and convenience (accessibility and comfort). They comprise 31 percent of the respondents.
They are young, a little older than cluster 1, and with an average age of 30 years. Just like cluster 1, there are more Generation Y (55 percent) than Baby Boomers (28 percent) and Generation X (17 percent) in this group.
The female shoppers (53 percent) are slightly higher than the male shoppers, in contrast with cluster 1 where male shoppers dominate slightly. There are also more single shoppers (60 percent). The shoppers are moderately educated (37 percent college and 37 percent college graduate). As far as income is concerned, Class D dominate the group and followed by Class C and Class E. The students in the group constitute 32 percent.
Cluster 3: The shoppers in this group are labeled as Enthusiastic Shoppers. They value mall essentials (aesthetics, comfort, and promotion) and entertainment. They comprise 40 percent of the respondents. The shoppers are the youngest among the three clusters with an average age of 25 years.
There are significantly more Generation Y (67 percent) than Generation X (18 percent) and Baby Boomers (15 percent). Just like cluster 1, the male shoppers (55 percent) in this group are slightly higher than the female shoppers (42 percent). This cluster has more single shoppers (71 percent) compared with clusters 1 and 2.
They are highly educated (43 percent college and 47 percent college graduate) compared with clusters 1 and 2. As to monthly income, Class C dominate the group and Class D follow closely. There is also a significant number of students (42 percent) in this group.
It should be noted that although cluster 3 shoppers value aesthetics, promotion, and entertainment, they also consider price, product, and convenience as important secondary considerations when shopping.
Likewise, the same is true for clusters 1 and 2 shoppers.
Cluster 1 shoppers also would expect that the secondary considerations such as product, service, promotion, and entertainment are met before the primary considerations become relevant.
And so with Cluster 2, where price, promotion, and entertainment are expected secondary considerations. Thus, the mall operators/retailers should not be complacent in providing and serving the shoppers with few valued mall attraction variables.
About the author:
Dr. Danilo Te is a marketing professor of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU). He teaches in the graduate and undergraduate programs of the School of Business and Governance, AdDU. Currently, he is the President of the Philippine Marketing Association-Davao Chapter. For more information, email Dr. Te: dannymte@yahoo.com
