Determining consumers’ reasons for visiting shopping malls

The level of competition in the retail market is high and demands a need to manage shopping malls appropriately and understand the general consumer behavior during visits at shopping mall in terms of their main reasons for visiting the mall and attitude in order to attract shopping mall visitors to visit these malls. The purpose of the study aimed to determine consumers’ main reasons for visiting the shopping mall and their frequency of visits at the mall. A quantitative approach was followed to realize research objective using interviewer-administered questionnaires for data collection. The data were collected at regional shopping mall/centre in the capital city of South Africa, Pretoria. A descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the quantitative data. The findings of the study revealed that the consumers visit the shopping mall with certain reasons in mind and the frequencies of visits of these consumers vary. This study contributes to the current literature and provides valuable information to South African retailers and shopping mall managers, with regard to marketing communications and marketing strategies that aim to increase the frequency of visits of consumers at the shopping mall. Suggestions for future research are provided. Keywords: shopping mall, shopping reasons, consumption activities, mall-initiated activities, social activities. JEL Classification: M31, M32