Atmospheric Characteristics Influencing
Consumer’s Appreciation of Dutch Inner
City Shopping Areas
Ingrid Janssen
ERES Annual Meeting July 5th 2013
Authors
Aloys Borgers
Pauline van de Berg
Wouter Dijkman
Tim Op Heij
Rick Willems
Justin Elemans
Onno Saes
Robin Tiktak
Ingrid Janssen
2
Agenda
• Introduction
• Research question and conceptual model
• Methodology
• Selection of study areas
• Results
• Conclusions and discussion
3
Introduction: vacancy
4
Consumer spending declines
Spendings
non food
Consumer
confidence
5
Leisure offers new chances?
6
Leisure offers new chances?
“Funshopper abandons shopping areas”
“Number of shopping center visitors declining”
“Funshopping loses ground in Leisure market”
7
Adding experiential value: a solution?
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Research question
Which – and how do –atmospherics of an inner city shopping
area contribute to the experiential value of the consumer?
Sub question:
Which role do age, gender and motivation have in this
context?
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Research question and conceptual model
Which – and how do –atmospherics of an inner city shopping
area contribute to the experiential value of the consumer?
Sub question:
Which role do age, gender and motivation have in this
context?
Atmospherics
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Literature review
Accessibility
Indoor
Shop offer
Impact greenery
Vacancy
Street furniture
Leisure / restaurants
Shop windows
Service level
Advertisement signs
Shape facades
Tidiness
Material of facades
Width of the street
Material of pavements
Height of the buildings
Colour of facades
Width to height ratio
Colour of pavements
Crowdedness
Amount of light
Other visitors
Background noise
Colour of the light
Music
Elevation
Smell
Atmospherics
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Research question and conceptual model
Which – and how do –atmospherics of an inner city shopping
area contribute to the experiential value of the consumer?
Sub question:
Which role do age, gender and motivation have in this
context?
Atmospherics
Experiential
value
12
Research question and conceptual model
Which – and how do –atmospherics of an inner city shopping
area contribute to the experiential value of the consumer?
Sub question:
Which role do age, gender and motivation have in this
context?
Interactions
Atmospherics
Experiential
value
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Research question and conceptual model
Motivation:
Utilitarian
Hedonic
Demographics:
Age (generation Y, generation X, baby boomers
and builder generation)
Gender
Income
Education
Interactions
Atmospherics
Experiential
value
14
15
Selection study areas
Selection criteria
Variation characteristics
within cities
Variation characteristics
between the cities
Dordrecht
‘s-Hertogenbosch
Breda
Eindhoven
Maastricht
Selection study areas
4. Mosea Forum
Maastricht
3. Entre Deux
1. Maastrichter Brugstraat
2. Stokstraat
17
Stokstraat, Maastricht
18
Mosae Forum, Maastricht
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Gender
Response
Total asked:
4249
Non response:
2087
Response:
2162
700
Male
-
Female
1462
Motivation
Age
219 204
636
18-25
295
26-35
748
321
257
<18
Hedonic
392
36-45
Both
46-55
176
Other
56-65
197
>65
Utilitarian
870
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Analysis techniques
Decision Tree
Analyses
Structural
Equation
Modelling
Assessments
Discrete Choice
Models
Preferences
EXPERIENTIAL VALUE
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Decision tree analysis
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Decision tree analysis
Some results:
• Distance to parking should be < 30 meters
• The more fashion and luxury shops the better
• The more restaurants, the better
• ‘Diverse historic shaped’ facades are appreciated
better, specially in combination with rough pavement
• Presence of street furniture, greenery and music is
positive
• The better the mood of the respondent the better the
assessment
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Structural equation modeling
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Structural equation modeling
Some results:
• Shop offer is the most important variable
• Shop window has a high influence on the general
opinion
• Indoor is preferred above outdoor shopping
• High-income respondents are more negative
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Discrete choice analysis
The most favorite shop location:
1. Indoor
2. Diverse & non-historical facades
3. Striking advertisement signs
4. Diverse & historical facades
5. Two or more restaurants or leisure facilities
6. Smooth pavements
7. Number of other shops (telecom, toy store)
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Discrete choice analysis
The most atmospheric shop location:
1. Striking advertisement signs
2. Rough pavements
3. Indoor location
4. Diverse & historical facades
5. Number of restaurants
6. High visual impact greenery
7. Number of fashion and luxury shops
8. Number of other shops
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Conclusions
• Three techniques show different results
• Consistency: Shop offer, indoor / outdoor & material of
pavements are related to experiential value
• Models show moderate fit
• The most favorite shop location ≠ the most
atmospheric shop location
• Hardly any difference between hedonic and utilitarian
motivated shoppers
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Discussion
• It is all about the shop offer….
• Atmosphere and experience is not the same
• Experience and functionality are strongly related
• We need another approach to explain the concept of
experience and atmosphere
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