Perception of urban retailing environments: An empirical analysis of consumer information and usage fields

Abstract

This article reports on an empirical analysis of consumer information and usage fields in the city of Eindhoven. The main purposes of this study are to investigate the distance, sector-al and directional biases of these fields, to analyse whether the degree of biases is related to personal characteristics of consumers and to identify the factors of the basis on which a model which predicts the probability that a shopping centre will be known by consumers can be developed. The findings of the study suggest that strong distance, sectoral and directional biases are present in the information and usage fields of consumers and that no systematic relationships exist between these characteristics of information and usage fields and personal variables of consumers. Finally, the present studies suggests that a model which describes the formation of consumer choice sets should include spatial factors such as distance, size, intervening opportunities and direction towards the city centre.

Spatial Aspects of the Shopping Patterns of the Urban Elderly: The Case of Central Area Apartment Dwellers

“…The results of the work thus far conducted generally suggest that the movement spaces of elderly shoppers living in cities are relatively restricted in relation to those of younger people. Specifically, the urban elderly have been found to travel shorter distances to shopping outlets and patronize fewer centres (Daws & Bruce, 1971;Potter, 1977a;Peace, 1982;Timmermans et al, 1982). In contrast, the findings of Hanson's (1977) work in Uppsala, Sweden, disclosed the mean travel distances of elderly and non-elderly shoppers to be similar over a 35-day study period.…”

Shopping and Services Related Travel in the Hinterland of Brno: Changes From the Socialist Period to the Present / Spádovost Za Obchodem A Službami V Zázemí Brna: Srovnání Období Socialismu A Současnosti

“…Formerly, using specific examples, researchers tried to describe the shopping behaviour model of the population with respect to the selection of shopping places (Timmermans et al, 1982;Coshall, 1985). Retail gravity, consumers' shopping behaviours and their interactions, became the most frequent types of research.…”

Advance in Environment, Behavior, and Design

“…In other research on so-called consumer information fields (Timmermans, van der Heijden, & Westerveld, 1982b), it was assumed that consumers undergo a search process during which shopping locations are cognitively mapped with respect to both location and other attributes, and that the choice set of locations a consumer considers consists of the locations that he or she has learned about. Similar search processes with the same effects on choices have been assumed to be operative in connection with residential choices (Smith, Clark, Huff, & Shapiro, 1979).…”