The relationship between retail tenants and shopping centre management in regional shopping centers - Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Today, the idea of what comprises a successful shopping centre has changed significantly. A large number of malls that once were successful are now struggling, and have become a nightmare for their operators and property owners. Many regions are now thoroughly saturated with shopping centres, and trends are changing so quickly that many retail property owners feel confused about what to do next to stay competitive and maintain consumer satisfaction and interest. Today, tenants and consumers are more price-conscious than ever, and demand that malls use the latest technological applications to communicate with them and adapt to their ever-changing needs. The purpose of the study is to identify the key principles that would contribute to maintaining satisfactory relationships between tenants and management of regional shopping centres to ensure sustainability for both role players. The theoretical underpinnings were two models, one from Mohr and Spekman (1994) and the other one from Morgan and Hunt (1994). These models addressed the empirical testing of relationship quality and were used as the fundamental theoretical base to this study. The study required the implementation of a descriptive research method and was executed during January to March 2016. The study required both a qualitative and quantitative research approach, due to the planned statistical analysis that was to be applied to the data received. The target population comprised independent mall tenants and shopping centre management of regional shopping centres in the Westem Cape, South Africa. All questionnaires were hand-delivered by the researcher herself. A sample size of 93 was realised. The results from the study indicated that the tenants do believe that trust is the primary component of a possible long-term relationship. If shopping centre management applies the proposed recommendations, this can potentially improve their relationship with tenants. This will also potentially improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and customer retention.