Discovering key success factors in shopping centers: a qualitative study

The recognition of success factors of shopping malls could be a lead for investors and it also could prevent the bankruptcy of the shopping centers and malls. The object of this study is to design a success pattern for shopping malls in Iran.This study is applied and mixed or hybrid in terms of purpose and type of data, respectively. Statistical population is experts, executive managers and the customers of shopping centers in Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad provinces. Semi-structural interviews were done and the collected data was analyzed by theme analysis.  Furthermore, to examine the relationship between variables in the model, structural equation modeling (path analysis) was run in the Lisrel Software. Findings indicated that six factors are critical for the success of shopping centers including: 1) geographical situation factors, 2) owners and renters’ factors, 3) shopping center management factors, 4) goods and services factors, 5) marketing factors, and 6) design and architecture factors. Investment in shopping centers should be conducted based on the identified factors and investors can evaluate the feasibility of shopping centers’ projects according to the identified success factors.