A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Expatriates' Shopping Behavior

Explored is how shopping centre attributes can be adapted to culture-related shopping behaviour of expatriates. While awareness of consumer ethnicity and effectiveness of culture-based market segmentation are on-going and relevant topics in retailing, there is only limited information available on consumer behaviour of expats, as well as on the translation of market segmentation strategies to shopping environment. An online survey among British, Japanese, and American expatriates in the Amstelveen/Amsterdam region (the Netherlands) points out the importance of both lifestyle and ethnicity for the shopping behaviour. Managerial implications for retailers, shopping centre developers, and operators are also discussed. Introduction Globalisation causes consumers to develop more homogeneous needs, tastes, and lifestyles. However, at the same time, it might also lead to greater heterogeneity, as it opens doors for consumers to belong to and identify themselves with several groups simultaneously (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2002). Expatriates are a typical example of such a heterogeneous group. Expatriates are in fact all persons who have moved outside their country-of-origin for the purpose of work or study (Amsterdam Municipality, 2007). However the term is commonly used for professionals employed outside of their host-country (Farquhar, 2009). In this study, the term expatriate is used to refer to both the working expat as well as the partner of the working expat. Expatriates are usually highly educated and receive an above average income-including various (tax) benefits and remunerations (Farquhar, 2009; Amstelveen Municipality, 2008). Because of their affluence they form an interesting target group. Expatriates are often regarded as cosmopolitan consumers (Hannerz, 1990; Caldwell, et al., 2006), but they also stay attached to their cultural or 'ethnic' background (Thompson & Tambyah, 1999), and acculturate to a certain extent to the host-country's culture (Koubaa, 2011). Their adjustment to a host-country has been widely studied (Black et al., 1991; Van Vianen et al., 2004; Grinstein & Wathieu, 2009). It is clear that non-work or general lifestyle adjustment practices in the host country takes a central position in the life of expats and their well-being (Black, 1988; Black & Stephens, 1989; Andreason, 2008). Gilly (1995) and Koubaa (2011) explored some aspects of expatriate consumer behaviour. However, only limited market information is available about their shopping behaviour. In this study we are interested in the culture-related aspect of expatriates' shopping behaviour. The cultural aspect of shopping behaviour has been studied extensively world-wide, varying from direct cross-cultural comparisons of shoppers in different countries (Sood & Nasu, 1995; Brunso & Grunert, 1998; Nicholls et al., 2000; Seock, 2011) or within countries (Shim & Eastlick, 1998; Ackerman & Tellis, 2001; Michon & Chebat, 2004; Chebat & Morrin; 2007) to relating shopping behaviour to cultural values and dimensions (Homer & Kahle, 1988; Kahle, 2000; Hofstede, 2001; Kacen & Lee, 2002; de Mooij, 2004; Rubio-Sanchez, 2007; Zhang & Mittal, 2008). However, these ideas have never been applied to a multi-faceted segment like expatriates. The translation from culture to shopping environment has received limited attention in research literature while the retailing industry is continuously being confronted with the importance of local sensitivity in their marketing strategies. In recent years for example, both Wal-Mart and IKEA realised that adaptation of their standardized products and strategy to local consumer preferences is necessary to be successful (Holstein 2007; Halepete et al., 2009; Strategic Direction, 2009). International real estate operators and developers also know that there are cultural aspects to location, accessibility, retail mix, leisure, architecture, climate, and routing. …