The Potential Impact of Recreational Shoppers on Mall Intercept Interviewing: An Exploratory Study

Major changes are expected for shopping centers in the next several years as many highly competitive non-mall retailers are successfully targeting value-conscious and convenience-oriented consumers. This trend suggests that shopping centers may be loosing certain types of shoppers to these non-mall retailers. Given these changes, marketing researchers must begin to explore the implications this trend holds for users of mall intercept interviews. The authors discuss this trend and the current state of mall intercept interviewing, and report the [mdings of a study designed to investigate the types of shoppers who are interviewed in a shopping mall. Three hundred and three regional shopping center customers were selected and surveyed to test the study’s research questions. The results demonstrate the potential of mall intercept samples with an over-representation of recreational-type shoppers and surface several trade-offs associated with mall intercept interviewing. The authors provide suggestions for future research and emphasize the need for marketing research users and scholars to rethink the nature and purpose of mall intercept.