Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2017, Vol. 72 ›› Issue (4): 603-617.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201704004

• Urbanization Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatio-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of consumer behavior in retailing centers: A case study of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province

Chenhao FU1,2(), Suhong ZHOU1,2(), Xiaopei YAN1, Lin LIU1,2,3, Weishan CHEN1,2   

  1. 1. School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
    2. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Guangzhou 510275, China
    3. Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Hamilton OH 45221-0131, USA
  • Received:2016-10-25 Revised:2017-01-17 Online:2017-04-20 Published:2017-04-20
  • Supported by:
    Excellent Young Scholars Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41522104;Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41531178;Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No.15lgjc24

Abstract:

Although residents' spatial choice and its influencing factors of consumer behavior are traditional research topics in human geography. The existing literatures have paid little attention to temporal choice, decision-making process and the relationship between space and time. To reveal the spatio-temporal characteristics, influencing factors and their internal mechanism of interaction of consumer behavior, the spatio-temporal characteristics of consumer behavior in retailing centers have been analyzed based on Guangzhou residents' consumption survey data in 2016. An influencing factor structural equation modeling of consumer spatio-temporal behavior in Guangzhou retailing centers has been established to analyze their influencing factors and mechanism of consumer behavior, such as time, duration, travel distance and activity radius. The results are shown as follows. (1) There are obvious spatio-temporal differences in consumer behavior when residents are going to and in retailing centers. (2) By affecting consumer preferences, residents' social and economic attributes lead to the differences among consumers' spatial and temporal behavior. But residents' social and economic attributes do not affect consumers' assessment on commercial space attributes. Commercial space attributes can not only directly affect the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior, but also indirectly affect it by influencing consumer preferences. Consumer preference can directly affect the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior, and it can be the media of residents' social and economic attributes and commercial space attributes to influence the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior. (3) Among all residents' social and economic attributes, age, family structure, living time in Guangzhou, employment status, and family's month-earning significantly affect the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior. Every observed variable in commercial space attribute influences the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior to different degrees. Only two observed variables (travel traffic mode and travel time) in consumer preferences have significantly impacts on the consumers' spatial and temporal behavior. The conclusions of this paper can deepen the understanding of the influencing factors and mechanism of consumer behavior in retailing centers, give advice to local governments about commercial network planning and guide the transformation and upgrading of retailing center.

Key words: retailing center, consumer behavior, spatial and temporal behavior, SEM (structural equation model), Guangzhou