Räumliches Einkaufsverhalten und Standortpolitik im Einzelhandel unter Berücksichtigung von Agglomerationseffekten: Theoretische Erklärungsansätze, modellanalytische Zugänge und eine empirisch-ökonometrische Marktgebietsanalyse anhand eines Fallbeispiels aus dem ländlichen Raum Ostwestfalens/Südniedersachsens[Spatial shopping behavior and retail location strategies in consideration of agglomeration effects: Theoretical explanations, modeling approaches and an empirical econometric market area analysis by an example from a rural region in East Westphalia/South Lower Saxony]

This PhD thesis deals with spatial shopping behavior in relation to retail agglomerations, more precisely the aim is to identify demand-side agglomeration economies (urbanization economies, localization economies) in retail. The work is founded on a range of heterogeneous theoretical approaches, especially from spatial economic theory, microeconomics and marketing. Based on these theories, one can identify the main shopping strategies which lead to prefer retail agglomerations with a special supply configuration instead of sole outlets or other types of agglomerations; these strategies are different types of multi-purpose shopping (MPS) and comparison shopping (CS). To test the hypotheses of a positive effect of spatial concentration on store choice and market share, a market area model based on the Multiplicative Competitive Interaction Model (MCI) is developed and estimated using real data on shopping behavior collected from a household survey. The econometric model is also transferable into the well-known Huff model used for calculating spatial customer and purchasing power flows. All in all, the model results show mostly a positive impact of the MPS and CS potential on the consumer’s decisions and the market shares of the outlets. The study demonstrates the relevance of urbanization and localization economies in the retail sector and presents a model to address these effects, e.g. in location analysis and spatial planning.