A tenant-mix model for shopping malls

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel tenant mix model for shopping malls based on an analogy from ecological theories. Design/methodology/approach: This study empirically investigates the tenant species-area relationship and tenant species-abundance distribution in shopping malls. In this study, the tests on species-area relationship and species-abundance distribution in shopping malls are derived from ecological theories. Empirical tests by a sample of 18 shopping malls for the species-area relationship and of five malls for the species-abundance distribution are carried out in Hong Kong Findings: It shows that, in line with the findings of biogeography, the tenant species-area relationship follows a power law of exponent of about 0.20. Furthermore, the species-abundance distributions of the five large-scale malls are found to be closely in track with a geometric distribution as commonly found in ecology. These results imply that tenant mix strategies are governed by two principles: the number of tenant species is related to the mall size; and the shop area allocation follows a geometric distribution. Research limitations/implications: The study provides the first quantitative tenant mix model on the number of tenant species in a particular mall size, and on the tenant species abundance distribution pattern. These results provide far-reaching implications for research and practice, including a quantitative benchmarking of tenant mix strategy and an optimal design of shopping malls. Practical implications: The model is the first tenant mix model for practitioners to formulate quantitative tenant mix strategy, and evaluate the effects of tenant mix on the performance of a shopping mall. Originality/value: It is the first quantitative model for tenant mix, and would open up a novel agenda for research on tenant mix strategies. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.