Study finds women are still shopping despite downturn

Directional Insights has just released its Consumer Shopping Behaviour Benchmarks for 2009 on the different kinds of shopping centres and how customers shop at each one.

 

Findings show that overall it is still women doing the shopping, with 72 per cent on average at shopping centres. Women spend the most in regional centres at $93 compared to men who spend $68 per visit.

 

The smaller the centre the older the average age of the shopper, as ageing customers seem to prefer the comfort, size and familiarity of the smaller centre. In comparison, it is the larger regional centres that attract the younger customers, who are there to shop, people watch, and catch up with friends.

 

As a result, regional shopping centre customers also tend to have a higher average household income compared to the other centre types and therefore a higher average spend. Customers in regional centres also visit for a wider range of reasons including top up food shopping, fashion shopping, browsing, seeing movies and eating out.

 

Customers visit neighbourhood centres most frequently to shop, mainly for top up food shopping, and stay about 38 minutes. Seventy-nine per cent travel to their local neighbourhood centre by car and the bigger the centre the higher the car use becomes.

 

Not surprisingly, the supermarket is the most visited store in a neighbourhood centre, with Woolworths the most popular of the major brands, however, Aldi has continued to rise in popularity.

 

Sub-regional centres have maintained their customer base in the last couple of years as they offer value and variety. On average customers stay an hour with 92 per cent of customers making a purchase and spending $66 each on average. The biggest spenders in a sub-regional centre are the 40-49 year olds with children at home.

 

Regional centres have continued to pull the shopper looking for retail therapy with 35 per cent of customers visiting their regional centres for a leisure shop, to browse, spend and enjoy the experience. On average they stay 87 minutes in a regional centre and spend $85 each.

 

The study included thousands of interviews with customers in different kinds of shopping centres across Australia over the last couple of years.