Relationship between mode choice and the location of supermarkets – empirical analysis in Austria

• Main Author: Roman KLEMENTSCHITZ
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Silesian University of Technology 2014-03-01
• Series: Transport Problems
• Subjects: mobility behaviour; shopping behaviour; supermarkets; Austria
• Online Access: http://transportproblems.polsl.pl/pl/Archiwum/2014/zeszyt1/2014t9z1_04.pdf

Main goal of the study work is to gain data about shopping and mobility behaviour at small local supermarkets with sales floor space less than 1.000 m2. Four location types have been defined and discussed; rural  peripheral location, rural  central location, urban – central location and urban – peripheral location. 200 shoppers each location were interviewed at the exit of the supermarket, which means a total of 800 interviews were carried out during all day times and working days of the supermarket. As expected, the mode choice is strongly dependent on the location of the supermarket. In car oriented settlements, which can be found at rural peripheral locations, nearly all shoppers accessed the supermarket with their cars. If weighting the expenditure per visit with the frequency of visits, the average expenditure per month and mode can be derived. The average purchase per month between the modes is more or less balanced. A difference in behaviour lies in the fact that cyclists and pedestrians go shopping more frequently but are spending less per visit. Additionally, the results of this study are indicating the existence of a potential mode shift, especially if there is better land use planning for supermarket locations. Furthermore, considering the given situation and a given threshold of less than 5 kilograms of weight of the goods purchased, more than fifty percent of all shoppers could use non motorised modes with insignificant loss of travel quality. Combined with short travel distances to the next shop (the average distance is 4.9 km), a change to alternative means of transport would be relatively easy for a significant number of shoppers.