In order to turn the trend of decreasing numbers of visitors in shopping areas, retailers seem to agree on the importance of creating experiences for consumers. Yet sense of place research focusing on shopping areas is limited and has not yet fully explored the extent to which sense of place is related to shopping behaviour within physical shopping areas. In this study, we used the concept of sense of place to study a consumer's experience in inner-city retail environments. The main objective was to investigate (1) the relationship between shopping area evaluation and sense of place, (2) the relationship between sense of place and shopping behaviour, (3) the presence or absence of a relationship between shopping area evaluation and shopping behaviour, and (4) the moderating effect of personal and situational characteristics on these relationships. We estimate a path analysis model using survey data that were collected among 380 consumers in 3 shopping areas in the Amsterdam region. The findings suggest that sense of place is a better predictor of shopping behaviour than consumers' evaluation of shopping area characteristics. Therefore, it is important for retailers and shopping area managers to focus on creating a retail environment that stimulates formation of a sense of place.

中文翻译：

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地方感、购物区评价和购物行为

为了扭转购物区游客减少的趋势，零售商似乎认同为消费者创造体验的重要性。然而，针对购物区的地方感研究是有限的，尚未充分探讨地方感与实体购物区内购物行为的相关程度。在这项研究中，我们使用场所感的概念来研究消费者在市中心零售环境中的体验。主要目的是调查（1）购物区评价与地方感之间的关系，（2）地方感与购物行为之间的关系，（3）购物区评价与购物行为之间存在或不存在关系, (4) 个人和情境特征对这些关系的调节作用。我们使用在阿姆斯特丹地区 3 个购物区的 380 名消费者中收集的调查数据来估计路径分析模型。研究结果表明，与消费者对购物区特征的评价相比，地方感更能预测购物行为。因此，零售商和购物区经理必须专注于创造一个能激发地方感形成的零售环境。