The shopping mall as consumer habitat

Abstract

Although large enclosed shopping malls represent significant institutions in modem Western culture, consumers' activities within malls have been surprisingly underresearched. In the present study, consumers' interrelationships with malls as consumption sites are explored using the concept of a habitat drawn from the ecological sciences. An empirical study of consumer activity within multiple mall habitats is then discussed. Specifically, this research explores differences in mall habitat activity patterns and identifies mall related shopping orientations that are useful in explaining these differences.