Impact of e-commerce on speciality stores in categorised shopping centres

Abstract

The upsurge of online shopping usage in Australia is putting pressure on the shopping centres to remain competitive. Shopping centres need to differentiate themselves from online shopping by facilitating instant gratification, social interaction and shopping convenience. To do so, shopping centres may need to extend trading hours. However, retail trading hours in Australia are regulated. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the need for full deregulation of trading hours by investigating the frequency of consumers’ leisure shopping activity during extended trading hours and its influence on the performance of the independent speciality stores within a shopping centre. This research investigated the impact of online shopping on consumer in-store browsing behaviour and the performance of the independent speciality stores in different sized shopping centres. The main anchor tenants (e.g., Kmart, Myer) mostly draw consumers into the shopping centre, therefore independent specialty stores usually rely on consumers’ in-store browsing behaviour in order to promote their products and services. In addition, browsing is an important facet of leisure shopping activity. The literature on consumers’ browsing behaviour in relation to the performance of independent speciality stores within a shopping centre is highly limited. Thus, there is a pressing need to undertake a comprehensive investigation of consumer in-store browsing behaviour to increase our understanding of the phenomenon. Furthermore, online shopping has the potential to have a negative impact on consumer browsing behaviour within a shopping centre especially during weekday late evening trading hours, largely because of consumers’ employment status. Therefore, this research also focused on weekday late evening trading hours. To facilitate the investigation of the impact of e-commerce on speciality stores in categorised shopping centres, this research was underpinned by four distinct fields of literature: 1) consumer browsing behaviour; 2) retail trading hours; 3) The Huff Gravity Model; and 4) The Technology Acceptance Model. A single case study was employed to examine the impact of e-commerce on independent speciality stores. The single case study was supported by a mixed method research approach that included two focus groups discussions, one personal interview with one shopping centre manager and a questionnaire survey of 287 respondents. This research found consumers were usually goal oriented during weekday late evening trading hours and they would usually engage in browsing in-stores only when they require customer assistance. This research was also able to utilise the causal relationship between customer assistance and independent speciality stores to determine consumers’ demand for shopping in independent speciality stores during extended trading hours. Moreover, consumers’ seeking customer assistance are likely to obviate the use of online shopping. Overall, this research suggests that the independent speciality stores are unlikely to experience an increase in sales or attract more customers by extending the trading hours. This research offers valuable insights into the potential opportunities of combining both the physical and online stores for independent small and medium enterprise retailers. For example, in order to succeed in combining both the physical and online store, the provision of short-term leasing in shopping centres is essential. The combination of short-term leasing in shopping centres and efficiency in e-commerce can enhance the capability of independent small and medium enterprise retailers to successfully trade beyond a particular trade area or geographical location. It is essential for small and medium enterprise retailers to venture beyond the trade area of the shopping centre in order to enhance the chances of surviving for a long term period. The main reason is that consumers’ shopping frequency at independent speciality stores within a shopping centre is irregular as consumers usually purchase speciality products every once in a while. The results of this study are a validated instrument to measure the impact of online shopping on shopping centre patronage and in-store browsing behaviour during extended trading hours. Furthermore, the results also indicate a successful combination of the four distinct fields of literature: 1) consumer browsing behaviour; 2) retail trading hours; 3) the Huff Gravity Model; and 5) the Technology Acceptance Model. This theoretical contribution has resulted in the combination of the Huff Gravity Model and the Technology Acceptance Model for the first time. Including the theoretical ideas/concepts of consumer browsing behaviour, choice overload and customer assistance during restricted trading hours in the study has allowed a novel contribution of combining Huff’s Gravity Model and the Technology Acceptance Model to study consumers’ leisure shopping activity/experience during extended trading hours. The theoretical contribution of this research also enables shopping centres and independent speciality stores to determine the need for increasing the frequency of extended trading hours. This study makes an important step in understanding the demand for independent speciality stores in categorised shopping centres during the extended trading hours. Moreover, by addressing the gap in the current literature pertaining to consumers’ in-store browsing behaviour and by identifying the current lack of understanding of the performance of independent speciality stores in categorised shopping centres, the study provides pathways for shopping centre development that will be better informed in the future.