Factors Influencing Leisure Shopping and Consumer Behavior Research

This report delves into the realm of leisure shopping, a burgeoning trend, particularly in small towns and villages, driven by the expansion of the tourism industry. The research explores the factors influencing the buying behavior of tourists, the ways to enhance their shopping experiences, and the relationship between consumer shopping behavior and leisure shopping decision-making. The report identifies key variables such as factors influencing shoppers, initiatives for improving shopping experiences, and the link between tourist behavior and leisure shopping. It employs a descriptive research design, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods including surveys and interviews. The study reviews existing literature on leisure shopping, consumer behavior, and relevant theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Hawkins Stern's theory of impulse behavior. The report highlights the importance of well-managed facilities, visitor experiences, integration, accessibility, marketing presentation, and recreational infrastructure in influencing tourist shopping decisions. It also addresses the gaps in the existing literature and emphasizes the need for further research on the relationship between consumer purchase decision-making and leisure shopping. The report provides insights into the motivations and behaviors of leisure shoppers, offering valuable information for leisure retailers to improve their strategies.

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RESEARCH AND DECISION MAKING (LEISURE SHOPPING)

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Table of Contents
Evaluation of the business problem.................................................................................................3
What is already known about the problem......................................................................................3
Research design...............................................................................................................................6
The key variables and the way of measuring them..........................................................................7
Sample needs and sampling options................................................................................................8
Ethical issues...................................................................................................................................9

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Evaluation of the business problem
Leisure retailing business is comparatively a new concept in marketing that is emerging rapidly
with the expansion of the tourism industry. It is an effective way of developing the local
economy and therefore, it has gained significant attention (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). Local
people of an area can sell the special things of that region such as some special dishes,
handicrafts, arts, paintings and so on. However, the leisure marketers fail to attract the tourists
effectively due to a number of reasons (Falk & Dierking, 2016).
In order to attract the maximum number of tourists, the leisure retailers must gain information on
their shopping behaviors and the factors that motivate their buying-decision. The marketers of
leisure business mainly face problem for not knowing what the tourists want. Besides, the
location of the retail outlets in small villages and towns may discourage the buying-behavior of
the visitors, if not equipped with all the necessary facilities like accessibility, recreational
activities, toilets and areas for car parking. However, lack of these facilities demotivates tourists
to go to those locations for leisure shopping (Musa & Thirumoorthi, 2016).
Apart from that, lack of product differentiation strategy among the leisure retailers is another
important problem. Tourists like to buy things that are unique and reflect the local specialties or
culture, which cannot be found in any other part of the world. Therefore, failing to make the
product packaging and displaying normal or less attractive may not acquire the desired result and
enhance the shopping experience for the tourists (Choi, Heo, & Law, 2016).
Hence, the key research questions of the research are as follows:
 What are the factors that influence the buying behavior of leisure shoppers?
 What are the ways of enhancing the shopping experience of the leisure customers in
small villages and towns?
 How is consumer shopping-behavior related with their leisure shopping decision-
making?
What is already known about the problem
From the previous researches done by different researchers on the leisure shopping and its
various aspects, some important factors can be known on this. Leisure shopping is relatively a

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new concept of shopping and the trend continues to grow in small villages and towns. Therefore,
the marketers of leisure products must identify the perception of the customers, so that they can
attract more customers by differentiating the products (Machleit, Meyer, & Eroglu, 2005).
Concept of leisure shopping
Leisure retails refers to the retail store that attracts touriststo spend some of their leisure time in
shopping from the local stores. The trend of leisure shopping is rapidly growing at present time.
The current flourishing of initiatives to build and promote spending as a tourist product offers a
reason to analyse the product mix of leisure shopping, as this is perceived as a major activity in
the future scenario of leisure shopping (Murphy, Moscardo, & Benckendorff, 2008). Shopping
tourism is also considered as a mean to invigorate conventional urban centers, failing resorts, and
even bucolic areas. The competition rate in the tourism market among the various situations for
leisure shopping is a major problem (Turley & Milliman, 2000).
Concept of consumer leisure shopping behavior
Customers often receive benefits from the intense market completion in distinguished product
setting throughout the season of leisure shopping. The wide variety of choices, convenience,
sales people, location, atmosphere, refreshments, retailing policy, promotional activities is
related at the time of leisureshopping (Henderson, 2016). The time spent by consumers in leisure
shopping is increasing rapidly because the retailers and the developers of the shopping centers
are focusing on processes to improve their shopping hubs with extra leisure quest. The consumer
behavior during leisure shopping is highly influenced by the entertainingsubstructure as a
competitive policy of retailers (Kleibert & Kippers, 2016).
Theories of consumer shopping behavior
Motivation-Need theoryput forward by Abraham Maslow states that consumer buying-behavior
is driven by five-step priority method. These needs comprise physiological, safety, love, esteem
and self-actualisation (Henderson, 2016). This theory helps the retailers to develop their
marketing messages effectively for the leisure shoppers. In order to make a marketing campaign
successful, it is not enough to bring awareness to merchandise, but also add some exciting
features to it that helps to attract the tourists (Vertovec, 2015). It requires placing the product on

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the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Leisure shoppers are motivated to make the purchase to the
base of the hierarchy. Therefore, the leisure marketers must develop a marketing message that
inspires a sense of necessity or urgency in tourists. For example, highlighting the healthy nature
of a food item and communicate the message effectively with the consumers (Kleibert &
Kippers, 2016).
Hawkins Stern theory of impulse behavior focuses on the rational action of the consumer
behavior. The theory stipulates the impulse behavior according to which, sudden purchasing
impulses apt together with lucid buying decisions to dye a complete picture of the regular
consumer (San, Omar, & Thurasamy, 2015). An impulse purchase is influenced essentially by
external stimuli and has nearly no connection to customary decision-making. This theory
provides the way of encouraging the shopping behavior of the leisure shoppers by making the
each aspect of a product attracting. For example, packaging of a product displayed in the outlet
has an effect on the impulsive behavior of a customer. This is one of the most effective ways of
getting success by apprehending the impulsive thought of the tourists (Hsu & Lin, 2015).
Factors influencing shopping behavior of the tourists from local businesses in small towns
and villages
There are a number of factors, which influence the buying behavior of the tourists in the small
villages and towns are as follows (Liu, Qu, & Wang, 2015):
Well-managed quality facilities-It is important for a leisure shopping location to present itself
positively and directly to the visitors. The shops of the local arts, crafts, foods, and beverages
must be located in a place that has pleasing surroundings. Further, the place must include all the
necessary services for the visitors such as toilets, parking areas, maintaining street-scraping,
building better signage and providing information using a good visitor center etc (Shen, Song, &
Jiang, 2015).
Visitor experience- In order to enhance the experience of the visitors, it is important for the
marketers to be friendly and welcoming. Moreover, the products offered to the tourists must be
unique and the marketers must maintain a strong diversity of the products. There must be some
entertaining events and the opening and closing times of the shops must be consistent (Wu, Wall,
& Pearce, 2014).

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Integration and Accessibility- There must be a sufficient number of public transports within the
small town or village so that the tourists do not have to face any kind accessibility issue.
Therefore, there must be proper access to railway stations and bus stops for enhancing the
accessibility to the shopping centers (Sinanan, Graham, & Zhong Jie, 2014).
Marketing presentation- The leisure marketers in the village and town must focus on marketing
presentations. They must establish a specific brand name and promote it through the media to
their prospective customers. Research and education are required for getting tourists to interact
and develop their marketing presentation in a more harmonised manner.
Recreational infrastructure- This is another important factor that drives the buying decision of
the leisure shoppers considerably. It is also helpful in increasing the store loyalty, high-perceived
value for customers whereby people experience pleasure from shopping and innovative concern
(Lu, Investigating factors that influence passengers' shopping intentions at airports–Evidence
from Taiwan, 2014).
Gap in literature
Although a number of concepts and theories on leisure shopping is evaluated, however, due to
lack of time the researcher could not go through more literature that could have provided more
information on the topic.From the above analysis, significant knowledge has been gained over
leisure shopping, but the relationship between consumer purchase decision-making and leisure
shopping could not be depicted properly.
Summary
In this section, the researcher has gone through a number of journals and books regarding leisure
shopping for gaining a better knowledge pertaining to it. The different aspects of the leisure
shopping have been discussed critically from the viewpoint of different scholars. Moreover,
theories related to consumer shopping behavior are also discussed for gaining in depth
knowledge on the connection between consumer shopping behavior and leisure shopping. It is
found that there are different factors, which influence the buying behavior of the tourists during
their leisure shopping that must be considered by the leisure retailers.
Research design

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The purpose of conducting the research is to identify the buying behavior of the tourists in terms
of leisure shopping. Therefore, to fulfill the aim effectively, it is crucial to select suitable
research designs from the available options. The researcher will use the positivism philosophy
for authenticating the research data through logically explaining them. Further, the deductive
approach will be used for analysing the existing theories related to the research topic.
This will be helpful in understating the research topic in a better manner and it is a time-effective
technique. It is not required to develop any new theory on the research topic, as there are already
a number of theories available on the topic (Brinkmann, 2014). The researcher will use the
descriptive researchdesign, as it offers the chance of collecting both quantitative and qualitative
data.It also facilitates to evaluate non-qualified issues and to observe the occurrences in a
complete usual environment (Neuman, Neuman, & Robson, 2014).
The combination of quantitative and qualitative data provides better and in-depth information
pertaining to the research topic (Panneerselvam, 2014). The quantitative data will help to analyse
the response of a large number of population in an effective manner. On the other hand,
qualitative data will help to examine the opinion, thoughts, and experience of the tourists about
the leisure shopping in details (Brinkmann, 2014). For the collection of quantitative data, the
researcher will conduct a survey with the tourists and for collecting, the qualitative data and
aninterview will be conducted with the shopping zone managers of Singapore. Thus, all the
necessary information on leisure shopping can be gathered.
The key variables and the way of measuring them
A number of variables have been identified related to the leisure shopping from the previous
discussion in this study those needs to be measured for obtaining better outcome of the research.
The first variable identified is the different factors, which influence the leisure shoppers to buy or
not to buy from the leisure retailers in small towns and villages. The measurement for this
variable is taking the opinions of the tourists by talking to them about the different aspects of
leisure shopping. It will help to identify their positive and negative views regarding the leisure
retailers (Castillo-Manzano, Lopez-Valpuesta, & Asencio-Flores, 2014).
Another variable is the initiatives that need to be undertaken by the leisure marketers for
enhancing the shopping experience of the visitors. Here, the measurement is to identify the needs

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and expectations of the leisure shoppers including, recreational activities, proper accessibility,
and integrity of the shopping locations, help centers, and other facilities (Henderson, 2016).
The third variable is the link between buying behavior of tourists and their leisure shopping,
which can be measured through tracking their buying pattern, preferences, values and beliefs.
Here, taking feedbacks of the customers is necessary for maintaining an effective communication
with them. This helps the marketers to identify and satisfy their needs effectively (Castillo-
Manzano, Lopez-Valpuesta, & Asencio-Flores, 2014).
The factors affecting buying behavior of the customers is related to their shopping behavior and
buying decision-making, as they take purchase decision influencing by the factors. Similarly,
both the variables denote the way of enhancing the shopping experience of the consumers. Thus,
all the variables of the research are interrelated (Michalkó, Rátz, Hinek, & Tömöri, 2014).
Sample needs and sampling options
Sampling is the technique of selecting respondents from a large population so that by examining
the sample the researcher can equally simplify the results. The two major sampling techniques
are probability and non-probability sampling (Neuman, Neuman, & Robson, 2014). Before
selecting a sample size, it is required to select an appropriate sampling technique that will be
used for selecting respondents for a survey or an interview. The sampling process includes 5
major steps are, recognising the population (about which the researcher wants to make
supposition), specifying a sampling frame (the group of individuals, from which the sample size
is to be selected), specifying a sampling method, determining the sample size and implementing
the plan (Panneerselvam, 2014). Here, the population is the leisure shoppers and the sample
frame is the leisure shoppers of the small villages and towns of Singapore.
In the present research, the researcher will use simple-random sampling technique for selecting
25 leisure shoppers and carrying out a survey with them.
The rationale behind using this sampling technique is, this technique is easy and does not require
the high level of knowledge for using the technique. Moreover, it is convenient and free from
mistakes in categorisation. Besides, this sampling technique is free from prejudice and it is quite
easy to examine the sampling mistakes in this method. The sample size has been kept small, as it

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will be helpful to complete the research within the allocated time and the sample size is enough
to gather important information and data on the leisure shopping (Brinkmann, 2014).
Further, for the interview, the researcher will use the non-probability sampling for selecting 4
managers of the leisure shopping industry. This is a cost-effective technique and the sample
selection becomes faster by using the technique. The sample size is 4 that is enough for the
present research. The 4 managers can give detail information on the leisure shopping behavior of
the customers and their views regarding the matter. It will provide in-depth knowledge on the
research topic and thus, will enhance the quality of the research (Neuman, Neuman, & Robson,
2014).
Ethical issues
The researcher for avoiding any ethical issue must consider some ethical concerns during the
research. In order to make the research work transparent and reliable to the respondents, the
purpose of the research must be explained in simple language. This will enhance the trust
between the researcher and the respondents. Further, the personal information and other sensitive
information provided by the respondents must not be revealed and used for any other purpose
apart from this academic research. Giving this assurance to the respondents make them
comfortable and influence honest responses. The researcher must maintain the confidentiality of
the data for avoiding legal or ethical issues (Panneerselvam, 2014).
Apart from that, the respondents should not be bribed, manipulated or forced into participating in
the research and they must not be harmed mentally or physically. They should be provided with
the right to withdraw from the research if they feel to do so. Moreover, they have the right to
skip any question in the questionnaire if they do not want to answer any particular question. The
researcher cannot be biased for any respondent and he cannot change the answer provided by the
respondent himself. This is considered as unethical and can decrease the research quality
(Brinkmann, 2014).
Therefore, ethical considerations are important for conducting a research honestly and generate
the reliable result. It also helps to avoid further conflicts and improve the validity and reliability
of the research. Thus, the data of the present research can be used for future researchers too, as
secondary data.

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