No less than 10,000 respondents contributed to an extensive study entitled MASCOT (Mall Shopper Connection Typology) that examined footfall at 90 shopping malls and the 10 biggest retailers located throughout the Czech Republic. The results confirmed, among other things, that Czech consumers’ love affair with their shopping centres keeps on flourishing. The gathered data also revealed that men visit shopping centres just as often as women do. Additionally, the study devised 16 different groups of shoppers along with the typical behaviour seen with each of them. The survey was conducted by CPI Property Group, the biggest owner of shopping centres in the Czech Republic, in collaboration with polling organisation Ipsos.
“Possessing a reliable insight into the needs and behaviour of shoppers in our shopping centres is of key importance for us,” said Petr Brabec, Head of Asset Management, Shopping Centres, CPI Property Group. “With our 15 shopping centres, we are represented in just about every region of the Czech Republic and the MASCOT survey gives us an insight into both the nationwide context and local variations in our customers’ specific needs. It will enable us to fine-tune the operating strategies of the individual shopping malls in step with local specifics,” he added.
Men visit shopping centres as often as their female counterparts
The survey’s overall results revealed several interesting findings. One finding is that men do not lag behind women when it comes to the frequency of visits made to
shopping centres. “However, in no less than 42 per cent of cases, men visit a shopping centre merely to do the necessary shopping while women usually come to treat themselves to something special or just to have fun shopping,” said Zuzana Moudrá, Retail Marketing Manager at CPI Property Group.
Women are also willing to travel over longer distances, often spending as much as 30 to 60 minutes on the road to reach their desired shopping centre. Men, on the other hand, typically visit shopping centres located within a driving distance of 15 minutes or less. “Men also spend much less time in shopping centres (45 minutes or less) while women quite often undertake much longer expeditions of two hours or more,” added Zuzana Moudrá. Men are often accompanied by their spouses (in 36% of cases) or their whole family (17%). Women often visit a mall on their own (34%), with friends (11%) or with their children (7%). Only 26% of women prefer the company of their spouses.
“Caring customers” make up the biggest group while OAPs rank as “confident”
“The MASCOT study focused not only on mapping shoppers’ behaviour but also on obtaining a deeper insight into the motivations and backgrounds of the visitors to our shopping centres. We identified no less than 16 groups of shoppers that differ in a number of aspects, such as their shopping missions, attitudes in life and life stages,” said Zuzana Moudrá.
Differentiating among groups of shoppers according to their attitudes yielded some rather interesting results. The biggest group in the Czech Republic (31%) is made up of “caring” people, i.e. those who behave in an environmentally friendly fashion, are receptive to new things and put family first. “The size of this group in western countries, such as Germany, is considerably smaller,” noted Zuzana Moudrá. “And, for example, the group of ‘confident shoppers’ (23%), i.e. those who can stand their ground and look for enjoyment in life, contains a surprisingly high proportion of people in retirement,” continued Zuzana Moudrá.
The classification according to shopping mission shows that a visit to a shopping centre is an outing for the whole family for 19 per cent of shoppers. “It is often the case that parents visit a shopping centre alone or as a couple, seeing the visit as an opportunity to get a break from the kids,” said Zuzana Moudrá. There is a considerable variation in the proportional representation of different shopping missions from one shopping mall to the next. This is greatly influenced by location and shopping centre tenant composition.
Almost everyone shops in a mall
Despite the great regional variance, some 87 per cent of the country’s population aged between 15 and 75 years of age visit a shopping centre at least once a year. “It comes as no surprise that the ratios are higher in big cities such as Prague, Brno, Pilsen or Ostrava, where almost 100 per cent of the local population visit a shopping centre,” said Jan Polák of Ipsos. “In this respect, the only ‘virgin’ region is Svitavy District where only about one half of the population visit a shopping centre at least once a year,” he added.
A typical shopping centre visitor is a male or female aged 30 to 44. They visit a shopping centre once a month and stay for less than an hour, clocking up an average expense of CZK 1,380. “In addition to having a secondary-level education, the most typical visitor is also a member of a household with a total monthly income ranging from CZK 30,000 to CZK 50,000. They most often visit on their own or with their spouse,” outlined Jan Polák.
“The least frequent shopping centre visitors fall into a group which we have described as shopping connoisseurs. Their shopping expeditions are sophisticated affairs conducted in search of quality goods sold by specialised shops. Their average shopping centre spend is CZK 1,727 per visit,” continued Jan Polák. More frequent visits can be expected, for example, from students for whom shopping centres often double as venues for passing time and catching up with friends.
About the study
With more than 10,000 respondents taking part, the MASCOT study mapped footfall across shopping centres and major retailers throughout the Czech Republic. The study also included analyses of more than 4,500 shopping missions undertaken in shopping centres and described them in great detail.
