The role of the tenant mix in the positioning and image of shopping centres

• Autor(a) principal: Dias, Maria Margarida Mariano
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/21672
• topic: Shopping centre; Tenant mix; Positioning; Mall image; Differentiation; Retail strategy; Centros comerciais; Posicionamento; Imagem; Diferenciação; Estratégia de retalho

The retail real estate sector has faced several challenges in recent years, from the rapid advance of digital technologies, the growth of e-commerce, to the consumers’ habits changing and their demand for more impactful physical shopping experiences. In order to counter these, shopping centre owners and managers are rethinking the tenant mixes and types of anchor stores that are able to meet consumers’ expectations. This research was conducted with the aim of understanding the tole of the tenant mix in the definition of the positioning and image of shopping centres. Moreover, it was investigated if the tenant mix was related to some business drivers, such as the frequency of visits, money and time spent, patronage intention and participation in loyalty programs. Secondary data was used to define concepts as retail strategy, shopping centre, tenant mix, mall image and mall positioning based on theory. Primary data was collected through one-on-one interviews with professionals working on the retail real estate sector, as well as by collecting answers from 141 consumers through an online questionnaire. The empirical analysis shows the tenant mix is not the number one contributor to neither mall positioning nor mall image, however it is one of the main dimensions that explain these concepts. Moreover, strong and moderate positive correlations were found between the importance given to the tenant mix and its influence on frequency of visits, patronage intentions, money spent, and time spent. .