Digital Technology in Retail: Impact on Shopper Satisfaction

Introduction

Smart malls combine retailtainment and technology to deliver a new and improved shopping experience. Today, shopping malls are more multi-functional, tech-savvy, and flexible than before. Malaysia is known as a genuine shopping paradise having almost 700 shopping malls with a total net lettable area of 170 million sq ft hosting many famous international brands having their stores (Asian Cities Report, 2019; PPKM, 2018). While some malls recording footfalls of over 3 million visitors per month, malls that fail to adapt to the changing retail trend face a gloomy future as the biggest challenge is to fill up space amid the current economic backdrop. Kuala Lumpur, the capital and the most cosmopolitan city of Malaysia, has especially witnessed a rapid growing of shopping malls of different size and scale, primarily because of the improved economic situation and ever-increasing demand from the urban dwellers and tourists. The city was voted the 4th best shopping city in the world behind London, Tokyo, and New York. It is then essential to highlight that the mall occupancy rate recorded a drop in average. As compared, the prices of 2018 are 79.3%, which is down from 81.3% in 2017 (EdgeProp, 2019; NAPIC, 2018). The malls are losing shine as vacancies increase and low footfall in the majority of malls.

On the other hand, change in shopping behavior and lifestyle further dampen the situation. Online shopping through electronic as well as mobile commerce has made an adverse impact on shopping malls revenue as this converted shopping malls just a place for socializing and validating various offers before actually making the purchase using online portals. Consumers find additional value elements while shopping from mobile commerce (Dastane, Goi, & Rabbanee, 2020; Goi, 2016). Although there are several risks of online shopping (Tham, dastane, Johari and Ismail, 2019), E-commerce is offering better value propostion (Satar, Dastane, & Ma’arif, 2019). In Malaysia, the shopping mall has become the favourite social place (CNN, 2014). Besides, a report quoted about 20% of the Malaysian urban population spent their weekends in shopping centres (The Sun, 2019; Thiagarajan, 2018). Shopping complexes will continue to struggle in the future, dogged by the opening of more shopping malls at a time when consumers are abandoning these establishments and choosing online purchases, turning these massive structures into deserted buildings (Balaji & Roy, 2017). It forces the mall owner to re-think the key factors to make them survive in today's business landscape.

To respond to such challenges, many shopping malls called for their digital transformation as it presents new opportunities for malls to engage consumers throughout their decision journey. First, they are extending their relationships with customers before and after the mall visit. Secondly, malls are using technology to transform mall usability as a means of improving customer satisfaction. Technology, for instance, can be used to address one of the biggest challenges shoppers faces at the mall – finding parking. Sensors located in parking lots detect how many spots are available on each level and give visual indicators to drivers. Once within the mall, mobile apps can offer quick, easy guides to help shoppers find what they're looking for at today's increasingly large and multi-level malls.

Studies in the past examine the factors impacting shopping mall attractiveness, viz. the attributes of conveniences (location, number of car park bays, etc.), malls concept (design, layout, ambiance, tenant mix, product offering, etc.) and operational performances (cleanliness, security, facilities management and maintenance, etc.) (El-Adly, 2017; Wong & Yu, 2003). Besides, a large number of empirical studies can be found in investigating customer satisfaction and experience in today's retail industry (e.g. Jallow & Dastane, 2016; Lee & Lim, 2017; Rodríguez, Paredes & Yi, 2016). However, there is not much investigation on the dimension of technology adoption or digital up-gradation in the shopping mall and its possible impact on shopper's satisfaction. From a literature perspective, the technology acceptance model and the perceived value, as well as customer satisfaction, have been widely discussed in different industries (Animashaun, Tunkarimu & Dastane, 2016; Tham et al., 2019). Also, limited studies have been found on the importance of technology and its role as a factor in the shoppers’ satisfaction. To fill this literature gap, the examination of the impact of technology usage on shoppers’ satisfaction needs to be investigated.