Patterns of consumer travel behaviour in southwestern Finland

Abstract

On the basis of a considerable body of interview material it has been attempted to find out which centre consumers select from a number of alternatives in which to do their shopping, and to study the frequency of visits to centres at the village, commune, small town and large town level. The effect of the attraction of centres on spatial patterns of con­sumer behaviour: the decline in strength of the attraction of given centres and the increase in the influence exerted by competing centres was studied and compared for all four levels of shopping. In general, the centre classes differ from each other remarkably as to their con­sumer travel fields (the proportion of shopping done by households living in different distance zones). The proportion of shopping done in the nearest possible centre amounts in all to about 57 per cent. If the nearest possible centre approach is extended to include also centres of higher levels in the hierarchy the proportion rises to 90 per cent. Studies of visit frequencies using a linear model showed that the lower in the hierarchy the centre is, the more rapidly its attraction decreases with increasing distance. In consumer behaviour of households from different socio‑economic groups there were differences both in the proportion of shopping done in the nearest centre and in the frequency of visits to centres. The differences between social groups I and IV are most distinct as those between car‑owning and non‑car‑owning households.