Effect of Age Factor on Shopping Mall Behaviors - Literature review Example

Effect of Age Factor on Shopping Mall Behaviors By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Effect of Age Factor on Shopping Mall Behaviors Introduction Consumer behavior according to Khan and Chawla (2015, p.1108) is the selection, buying, consumption as well as disposition of goods/services. In consumer behavior, there are a number of processes that are involved; at first, the consumer must have a need for the product. In view of that, the consumer identifies the best product capable of satisfying his/her need. Most consumers select products according to their budget. Although there are different factors that govern the consumers’ purchase behavior, but age is believed to be the main factor after the product price and income (Khan & Chawla, 2015, p.1108). Hasan (2015, p.10) argues that the shopping decisions are not just anchored on the price but also on some demographic characteristics like locality of residence, age, education and income. The purpose of literature review is to examine effect of age factor on shopping mall behaviors. The scholarly sources used in this paper have been sourced from reputable libraries such as Science Direct, Online Wiley, Google Scholars, ProQuest, and EBSCO. Body Age, as opined by Khan and Chawla (2015, p.1103), is one of the most crucial demographic variables that deeply impact the purchase pattern of a person. Basically, consumers of different age groups often exhibit varying buying patterns. Besides that, a crucial role is played by age in selecting certain retail store and the consumer’s buying pattern evolves all through his life. In a number of studies as cited by Khan and Chawla (2015, p.1104), they noted a conspicuous consumption behavior amongst middle age. Moreover, consumers aged between 40 and 60 years tend to focus on the brand and psychological antecedents while impulsive buying is normally exhibited by consumers aged between 18 and 30 years. People age between 18 and 39 years are more inclined to do online shopping rather than going to the mall. Saleh et al. (2013, p.86) noted some noteworthy differences in the utilization of sales promotion incentives in terms of age. For instance, they established that youngest customers, aged below 25 years were more likely to take advantage of free-product samples as compared to customers aged between 35 and 54 years. Young consumers as mentioned by Saleh et al. (2013, p.86) see promotion as events that bring notable benefits in terms of buying the products cheaply. A number of studies such as Visser and Du Preez (1996) as cited by Hasan (2015, p.10) pointed out that age groups in the elderly market were at variance with regard to their preference for attributes of store image. According to Hasan (2015, p.10), the biological age of a person has insignificant consequence as compared to his/her psychological age. Therefore, the lifestyle of the consumers is a crucial variable when trying to fathom consumer behaviour. In Singh et al. (2012, p.228) study, the observed that the consumer’s age was a crucial factor in shopping Malls since consumers from different age group go to the shopping malls ; thus, having an effect on the buying behavior. Singh et al. (2012, p.228) observed that almost 41.5% per cent of the consumers go to the shopping mall for entertainment and fun, especially those aged below 20 years. Consumers aged between 25 and35 years normally go to the shopping mall to buy food items while those aged between 35 years and above normally go to the mall to buy household products and grocery. Tabak et al. (2006, p.102) asserts that age is a factor that significantly affects shopping motivations; for instance, the shopping motivations of the teen consumers is stronger in terms of social experience than the other age groups. Basically, the teenage is significantly important to the marketers because the teens have a discretionary spending power, the influence their parents’ spending decisions, and they have trendsetter attributes. Sadeh and Samadi (2014, p.329)research results exhibited that women are inclined to mall shopping when they feel tired particularly those aged between 20 and 30 years. They further established that women are more inclined to go shopping as compared to men and most of them consider mall shopping as a way of getting rid of stress. Sadeh and Samadi (2014, p.332) further noted that existence of relative attractiveness like restaurants, theater and cinema in the shopping mall normally attract customers of the 31 to 40 age group. Basically, consumers of age group between 30 and 50 years normally have children; for them, malls are a place for recreation. For consumers aged 50 years and above are normally not attracted to the shopping malls by the entertainment aspects. Bellenger and Korgaonkar (1980, p.78) define recreational shoppers as consumers who view shopping as a leisure-time activity; therefore, teens can be described as recreational shoppers. Robertson et al. (1977, p.37 opined that to attract customers from all age groups, shopping centers have to meet the shopper’s needs of the convenience with regard to accessibility and location such as adequate parking. Attractiveness factors as observed by Ahmad (2012, p.106) have a positive impact on the shopper satisfaction while shopping in the malls. But the shopper satisfaction would differ with age and other factors such as gender and income. In their study, Kang et al. (1996, p.11) noted that consumers ages 50 years and above are normally targeted by the marketing practitioners as well as retailers due to their spending power, growth rate and market size. Conclusion In conclusion, the literature review has examined the effect of age factor on shopping mall behaviors. The review has revealed that age has a major impact on shopping mall behavior and there is a connection between age group as well as time spent in the shopping mall. The purchase behavior changes with age and impulsive buying starts declining when the consumers turn 30 years. As people get old, they start focusing on brand and psychological antecedents. A number of studies have exhibited that shopping mall attract most consumers with their attractiveness factors such as restaurants, theater and cinema, but this is the case for consumers with children and teens. Therefore there is need for further research to determine what the attracting factors are for mature customers with no family. References Ahmad, A.M.K., 2012. Attractiveness Factors Influencing Shoppers’ Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Word of Mouth: An Empirical Investigation of Saudi Arabia Shopping Malls. International Journal of Business Administration, vol. 3, no. 6), pp.101-12. Bellenger, D.N. & Korgaonkar, P.K., 1980. Profiling the Recreational Shopper. Journal of Retailing, vol. 56, no. 3, pp.77-92. Hasan, A., 2015. Key Drivers Influencing Shopping. Journal of Inspiration Economy, vol. 2, no. 1, pp.7-33. Kang, J., Kim, Y.-K. & Tuan, W.-J., 1996. Motivational Factors of Mall Shoppers: Effects of Ethnicity and Age. Journal Shopping Center Research, vol. 3, no. 1, pp.7-31. Khan, S.M.F.A. & Chawla, D.C., 2015. Impact of Age on Purchase Decision from Organized & Unorganized Retail Stores – A Research Report in Indian Context. International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management, vol. 4, no. 2, pp.1102-08. Robertson, D.H., Bellenger, D.N. & Greenberg, B., 1977. Shopping Center Patronage Motives*. Journal of Retaing, vol. 53, no. 2, pp.29-38. Sadeh, D.H. & Samadi, M., 2014. Analysis of Consumer’s Behavior in Tehran City Mall Shopping. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering, vol. 1, no. 10, pp.327-33. Saleh, M.A.H., Alothman, B. & Alhoshan, L., 2013. Impact of Gender, Age and Income on Consumers’ Purchasing Responsiveness to Free-Product Samples. Research Journal of International Studies, vol. 1, no. 26, pp.83-94. Singh, D.A.K., Singh, P.S.K. & Tripathi, D.P., 2012. Consumer Buying Behavior and Brand Perception in Shopping Malls- a study of DB City Mall, Bhopal. Current Trends in Technology and Science, vol. 2, no. 2, pp.226-29. Tabak, B.I., Ozgen, O. & Aykol, B., 2006. High School Girls' Shopping Mall Experiences, Perceptions and Expectations: A Qualitative Study. Ege Academic Review, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.100-113. Read More