An investigation of consumers' experience in shopping malls through photo-essay

Shopping centers have evolved into places that consumers attribute a multitude of meanings. Young consumers, in particular, are prominent in their use of these facilities in a manner that reflects these multiple attributes. The purpose of this research is to determine young consumers? experiences and the contextual details of these experiences. As a construct, experience is used to reflect the whole spectra (both rational and emotional) of meanings, sensations and experiences resulting from the young consumers? shopping mall consumption. Towards this end qualitative research employing photoelicitation (photointerviewing / photo feedback / photoessay), open-ended questions list, semi-structured interview and observation was conducted. A shopping mall in Konya was selected as the research area of this study performed with the participation of 13 university students. Also, data was obtained from three managers at the shopping center through semi-structured interviews to provide support data. The dataset obtained in the research was then analyzed using inductive methods. Data which was organized into themes and sub-themes reflecting the participants? experiences form the findings of this study.Findings indicate that young consumers experience both rational and hedonic gratifications in shopping malls. Hedonic experiences tend to be more prominent. In this sense hedonic experiences consisting of social, entertainment, aesthetic, escape, educational-learning, fantasy, nostalgia and curiosity-surprise experiences were identified. Rational experiences identified in this study consist of assortment of products or providers, purchasing needed product or services or obtaining relevant information, cost reduction (in terms of money, time and effort), physical comfort, quality of service, security and credibility experiences.Results obtained in the study provide important insights to shopping center designers and managers in offering holistic experiences worthy of mentioning from a young consumers perspective and increasing the quality of their experiences. The study also provides some contributions to the literature. Also, suggestions, based on the findings are provided for further research and practitioners.