Search and the Choice of Shopping Centre: Two Models of Variability in Destination Selection

Abstract

There is abundant empirical evidence that shoppers allocate their custom for the same goods to a number of centres. Such apparently suboptimal behaviour may be a rational response to either or both of the costs of search and variations in the utility offered by the destinations. Two models of such behaviour are presented and are evaluated alongside data oh spatiotemporal price variations. The results have implications for the calibration of shopping models and for other research areas.