Shopper Behavior and Emotions: Using GPS Data in a Shopping Mall: An Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of consumers’ traffic flow in shopping malls on unplanned buying. Typically, it is believed that “the more hours consumers walk around the store, the more they spend money.” In fact, previous studies have focused on shoppers’ in-store behavior and show that consumers with a longer in-store travel distance were more likely to indulge in unplanned spending (e.g., Bell et al. 2011). However, although this concept has been supported in certain retail formats, it is still not clear if it is supported in others. Specifically, consumers may show different shopping behaviors between shopping malls and other retail formats (Gilboa et al. 2016). Meanwhile, emotions could also influence shopping behavior. Hama (2001) revealed that shoppers’ buying motivation tended to increase if they harbored negative emotions before shopping, known as “diversion buying.” Therefore, we believe that the effectiveness of the length of a shopping path on unplanned buying differs depending on consumers’ emotions. To study the effect of consumers’ traffic flow and their emotions in a mall, we conducted a survey in an urban shopping mall. We collected both subjective data (questionnaires before and after shopping) and objective data (GPS data) using 106 samples for our analysis. Our regression analysis showed that a longer path and a broader range did not encourage unplanned buying. Rather, the latter diminished satisfaction and revisit intention. Additionally, we found that shoppers who had high negative emotions before shopping tended to spend on unplanned buying if their path length was short. These results question the outcomes of prior studies, which consider it appropriate to lengthen shoppers’ paths.