Read the following case study “A Qualitative Study of Mall Shopping Behaviors of Mature Consumers” and give your response:

Mall retailers may be discounting the importance of mature consumers by assuming that mature consumers are satisfied with their experiences. However, as the mature consumer segment grows in terms of population and wealth, it becomes increasingly necessary to understand and meet their demands. This study employed 30 in-depth interviews to understand the mature consumers’ mall experience. Overall, the respondents in our study generally had favorable perceptions of shopping malls in terms of product selection, convenience, and opportunities for social interaction. We found five elements that are important for mature consumers to form an impression of the shopping malls they visited most often: convenience, choice, crowds, ambiance, parking, and hedonic shopping orientation. Mature consumers in our sample did not reduce their shopping frequency or the length of their stay for each shopping trip compared to younger age cohorts; however, they did spend less per trip. Department stores are most often visited by mature consumers followed by specialty stores and crafts or book stores. When evaluating specific mall attributes, mature consumers indicated their preference for surface parking. They also suggested that malls need more sitting places. Despite extensive merchandise offerings, they still feel that malls are lacking some of the stores that cater to their lifestyles. They were dissatisfied with service quality in department stores in terms of being understaffed and the salesperson’s lack of product expertise. Also interestingly our respondents said they felt younger than their chronological age would indicate. This has implications for the product mix within stores and expectations regarding the appearances of stores within the mall and the mall itself. The managerial implications of the results can aid mall retailers in capitalizing on the mature market by meeting the needs of mature consumers.

Have lower incomes, they have higher discretionary income (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004). Older Americans also hold more than 75% of all financial assets, own almost half the credit cards in the United States, and buy 41% of the new cars (Dychtwald, 1999). According to the smoothing consumption concept of the life-cycle hypothesis, after the age of 65 expenditures should be higher than income, as pre-retirement savings often begin to make up the gap between expenditures and income (Modigliani and Brumberg, 1954).

However, this is not the case, as wealthy mature consumers are not spending their money. The data presented in the Consumer Expenditure Survey indicates that households with the reference person over the age of 65 that have incomes over $50,000 show a disconnect between income and expenditures; on average, at least about $11,000 per year is not being spent (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004). It is not the case that mature consumers feel the need to save money either, as Stoller and Stoller (2003) report elderly people generally find their incomes to be adequate, even when those incomes are relatively low.

It seems that mature consumers are the dreams of mall operators, given that on average they have higher discretionary income and are more likely to have time to shop. This could have an impact on the mall sector as it has been in decline in recent years for various reasons (Fickes, 2001). First, the increasing number of shopping malls offers consumers more options to shop but also fuels the intense competition among shopping center operators. Second, alternative shopping venues such as online shopping and value retailers such as dollar stores have become more popular, as they offer both convenience and price advantages that meet the needs of Americans with less time to shop. Third, boring mall formats deter shoppers who may also be seeking entertainment and excitement while shopping. As a result, many malls have suffered dwindling foot traffic and more vacancies, contributing to declining sales among mall tenants. Much has been done to address these issues, such as bringing live entertainment into the mall, changing the tenant mix to better cater to local tastes, etc. But more could be done, and in this research we want to call the attention of mall managers to a possible alternative market: mature consumers. Most mall marketing is targeted to consumers in their teens, 20’s, and 30’s (Lee, 1997). As a result, mature consumers over the age of 55 are often ignored in the marketplace, and the growing purchasing power of mature consumers is not being actively harnessed by mall retailers.

Although marketers should start to recognize the market potential of mature consumers, there is limited research available on the experiences of mature consumers in shopping malls.

In the paper, we review the existing studies on mature consumers in general, as the age of mature consumers is fairly loosely specified. Specifically, we focus on their lifestyles and consumer behavior and, most importantly, their shopping behavior. We took a qualitative approach to collect and analyze interview data from mature