A comparative analysis of shoppers' information behavior in local commercial districts and shopping malls using a questionnaire survey -With a central focus on communication

The problem to be addressed is the reduction of attractive spaces in local commercial districts. On the other hand, shopping malls, especially large-scale ones, grow in number. Our purpose is to drive knowledge about the characteristics of attractive spaces in each of local commercial districts and shopping malls. We compare local commercial districts and shopping malls with regard to shoppers' behavior, performing a questionnaire survey in three areas: Iwatsuki, Urawa-Misono, and Omiya. Using the machine learning method, random forests, the collected data are analyzed to clarify the characteristics of each area. The results of our analysis are as follows. People tend to go shopping at the local commercial district (Iwatsuki) individually, while people do at the shopping mall (Urawa-Misono) with their families. There are some differences between the local commercial district and the shopping mall regarding shoppers' communication, and the downtown (Omiya) has intermediate characteristics between them.