Presentation Shopping Malls and Consumerism Culture Jurjen Verweij

Presentation Shopping Malls and Consumerism Culture Jurjen Verweij Tessa van Voorthuizen Dennis Wierenga 25 -01 -2013 University of Amsterdam

Presentation outline �Societal relevance �Research question �Hypothesis �Research method �ION �Bugis Junction �Pusat Tekka Centra �Conclusion (Orchard Road) (Bugis) (Little India)

Societal Relevance �Shopping Malls are a quite unknown phenomena in Holland �Testing the stereotype (Coclanis, 2009) of Singapore as thé shopping paradise �“Life for Singaporeans is not complete without shopping” (Goh Chock Tong, Former Prime-Minister)

Research Question �Research question: �“What is the function of the shopping locations in Singapore and how do different groups of people utilise these different spaces of consumption”? �Hypothesis: �“Most Singaporeans go the shopping mall as a way of expending their living room”

Research methods �Literature research �Participant observation �Questionnaires in both the ION mall and Bugis Junction shopping centre �Number of questionnaires: 46 (ION)+48 (Bugis)

Research locations

Orchard Road: ION

ION statistics

Bugis: Bugis Junction

Bugis: Bugis Junction statistics

Little India: Pusat Tekka Centre

Little India �Different kind of consumerism focused on daily groceries �Different kind of socio-economic class (lower and lower end of middle class) � Older generation and families mostly utilising the wet markets

Conclusion �“What is the function of the shopping locations in Singapore and how do different groups of people utilise these different spaces of consumption”? �Mostly popular with students/young consumers �Malls also function as places of recreation and leisure (foodcourts, windowshopping, meeting friends) �Definetly obsessed with gadgets and gizmo’s!

�Mid-segment shopping locations seem to be best visited �Very little overlap between shopping populations in malls and wet markets �Singapore, a shopping paradise, but not for most Singaporeans!

Questions?