engleski

The Changing Function Of Shopping Centres In A Saturated Market

As retailing formats, shopping centres have had a rich history in developed economies since the 1950s. In Eastern Europe, the shopping centre industry has bloomed since the early 1990s. Nowadays, some Eastern European markets have become saturated. In saturated markets, shopping centres are forced to reconfigure and redesign their tenant mix in order to satisfy other consumer needs beyond the shopping. Not only shopping centres recognize and serve existing social needs of consumers, but they are actively creating new social needs which consumers are not yet aware of. In this paper, we will first discuss the level of saturation of the shopping centre market in South-Eastern Europe. Then, we will discuss wide research streams in the area of shopping centres which developed as a sub-discipline of retail management as an answer to complexity in shopping centres’ management and marketing within saturated markets. Finally, we will present results of the primary research conducted in Croatia as an example of a saturated South Eastern European market. The primary research aims to empirically prove that the function of modern shopping centres has broadened beyond shopping per se, and that public and social functions of a shopping centre are important motivators and drivers of shopping centre’s business success.

shopping centre, shopping malls, consumer needs, public space, socialization, saturated market

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