FEATURES Chart 2-1


Australian Shopping Centers: Share of Respondents by Age


Source: Directional Insights Table 2-1


Occupations of Australian Shopping-Center Customers


Occupation Clerical or Administrative


Worker Community or Personal Services Worker


Laborer


Machinery Operator or Driver


Manager


Professional Sales Worker


Source: Directional Insights


male-dominated occupations such as trades, laboring and machinery operations were well below the Census figures, while professionals were over-represented compared with the Census figures.5 Overall representation of clerical, community and sales occupations were statistically similar between Labour Force figures and the exit-survey data. And while these occupations can be largely described as female-dominated, this was even more the case among interviewees. To give one example, over 90% of interviewees recording their occupation as clerical were female, compared with the August 2011 Labour Force figure of 76%.6 In addition to those in the paid workforce, 20.7% of


interviewees self-identified as being retired or pensioned. This was slightly higher than figures compiled using LFS and Australian Bureau of Statistics population data, which suggests that around 18.8% of the Australian population are retired (after removing those under 15 for comparability with this dataset).7 Retirees make up an important yet relatively low-spending demographic, with shoppers in this group more likely to engage in leisure shopping and to make purchases in cafes. A further 14.8% of respondents self-identified as being primarily engaged in home duties.8 The average household income among interviewees was A$75,034, derived by averaging


Technician or Trade Worker 2011 Census


14.7% 9.7


9.4 6.6


12.9 21.3 9.4


14.2 Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics; Directional Insights


midpoints in a 10-bracket income scale, which again makes comparable analysis difficult.


Shopping Patterns While planning legislation has required many large


suburban shopping centers in Australia to be built on public transport hubs, the car remains the main form of transport utilized for shopping trips to all center types. On the day of interview, 72.3% of customers drove to the shopping center, with an additional 8.6% arriving as car passengers. This results in customers placing a high importance on accessible and plentiful parking, and a propensity to be heavily critical of parking facilities if they are found to be wanting. Fewer than 10% of customers walked to the center, and even less caught public transport. The way people travel to a center is obviously


influenced by a range of factors and is therefore variable. One example is the availability of public transport; another is the type of center visited. Customers of small neighborhood centers, for example, were far more likely to walk (18.8%) than those shopping in regional centers (7.9%). The percentage of customers walking to neighborhood centers has also risen in the past two years, suggesting that faced with an increasingly globalized retail market, customers may be looking for a


5 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing. 6 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Quarterly, February 2013, Table 07: “Employed Persons by Occupation and Sex.” 7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia, July 2010 to June 2011; Australian Demographic Statistics, June


Quarter 2011. 8 While one might assume that this primarily refers to a stay-at-home parenting role, the category is general enough to include other types of relationship/household roles outside of paid employment that make it difficult to compare to any official figures on employment status.


INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF SHOPPING CENTERS 3 6 RETAIL PROPERTY INSIGHTS VOL. 20, NO. 1, 2013


Share of Shopping- Center Customers by Occupation


16.2% 10.8


3.7 3.0


13.5 35.7 8.4


8.7


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