Shopping destination choice behaviour and retail impact assessment in Taiwan

Taiwan has experienced a series of economic growth phases since the 1940s. Following these growth phase, there have been considerable changes in the nature of the retail system and consumer behaviour on the island. Notably, in 1994, in order to promote economic development, the Industrial and Commercial Composite Area Establishment Law (ICCAE Law) was promulgated by the MOEA and the MOI which opened the door to a new type of larger out-of-town retail development in Taiwan. However, few English language studies have focused on recent retail market development or collected retail data pertaining to Taiwan. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between consumers' patronage behaviour and the retailing system in Taiwan's urban area and then, drawing on changes in behaviour, to infer likely retail impact derived from the new retailing type. The Taiwan Sugar Mall in Tainan, Taiwan, one of the first larger out-of-town retail developments derived from the ICCAE Law, was selected as a case to conduct an empirical study. Through a longitudinal panel shopping behaviour survey of households, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to develop shopping destination choice models, analyse changes in patronage behaviour, and explore likely impacts derived from the Taiwan Sugar Mall. The study found households' convenience goods' patronage behaviour was more easily measured/predicted than their comparison goods' patronage behaviour, better explained/predicted by a dichotomous logistic regression model, primarily dominated by spatial separation distance and store selection criteria. Comparing steady unplanned retailer shoppers with changed-to-planned retailer shoppers, the latter were identified as: travelling further, younger, having short residential durations, single, with a higher educational level, higher personal income, and more concerned about parking facilities and store loyalty card scheme/coupons/promotional activities. Finally, a minor impact of the Taiwan Sugar Mall was concluded due to failure to attract unplanned retailer shoppers, failure to meet planned retailer shoppers' requirements, failure to attract changed-to-planned retailer shoppers' patronage, and insufficient promotional activities