Assessment: Essay

Word limit: 3000 words

Task

An analysis of why consumers purchase online products versus that of shopping centres.

Shopping malls, are an important part of any developing and advanced economy. In the United States, for example, there are over 50 000 shopping centres and malls, which contribute an estimated 2.3 trillion dollars in sales to the world's largest economy and account for 75% of all non-automotive consumer sales (Miller & Washington, 2011). Shopping malls are also a feature of many towns and cities around the world. In fact, they are built to international templates: a mall in Rio de Janeiro looks inside just like a mall in Sydney or Paris, with same brands and structure. Thus it is reasonable to suppose that malls have effectively evolved to an optimal layout and balance of retail options (Yuo & Lizieri, 2013).

There is evidence that shopping malls have been slowly disappearing in the developed world. Retail consultant Howard Davidowitz (cited in Peterson, 2014) predicts half of all shopping malls to fail within the next 15 to 20 years. Current estimates also suggest that 15% of all current US malls will fail in the next years and this is reflected in Sears closing some 300 stores since 2010 (Peterson, 2014) and the investment in malls falling in the US from a high 175 million square feet in 2002 to 50 million square feet in 2011 (Miller & Washington, 2011). Malls in lower and middle class areas are expected to suffer the most (Peterson, 2014). Although the picture in Europe appears a little different, where there remains continued investment in malls, despite concerns about the effects of government austerity and economic conditions (Taylor, 2011). Malls, as other brick and mortar retailers also face a global threat of increasing online purchases of consumers (Book Publishing Report, 2012; French, 2013; Speer, 2012). Page 2 of 4

1. You are required to provide a consumer behaviour analysis as to why shopping malls in Australia may or may not be under threat. You should consult the textbook (social and individual) factor and using outside references, which justify your position on this issue. Provide evidence from at least 12 peer reviewed articles to do this.

2. Based on this analysis, prepare an outline of a marketing plan for a regional shopping mall on how to meet the challenges of online retailing.