CONSUMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS SHOPPING MALLS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: AN EXPLORATION OF THE “NEW” RETAIL FORMAT IN GHANA

This study investigates the Ghanaian retail sector, with particular focus on shopping malls and the behaviour of their patrons i.e. the shoppers. The study reveals eight (8) key mall visitation motivations and five (5) key shop attributes that attract Ghanaian shoppers. Escapism influences the shoppers most, followed by pleasure flow, safety, aesthetic and architectural leisure, respectively. The least motivational factor is exploration. The result suggests that shoppers in Ghana are most likely to see the mall as an escape route from their daily hectic conditions, a place for relaxation. This study has demonstrated that, the retailing environment of the mall can be best understood by studying the characteristics of the tri-components i.e. shoppers, shop, and mall as all activities and behaviour at the mall are inextricably intertwined. Though the study seeks to investigate the behaviour of patrons of shopping malls in the developing economies within the sub-Saharan Africa, the findings are based on shoppers in Ghana. Therefore care must be taken in applying the findings to other developing economies due to differences in culture.