Retailing, shopping mall, informal traders, formal businesses, small businesses, Nigeria
Purpose of the research: This study investigated the impact of formal shopping centre development on informal and small businesses in Lagos, Nigeria.
Methodology: Semi-structured interviews with the business owners as well as shoppers were conducted. The population size included 15 informal and 15 small business equally distributed between five different shopping areas including the areas around the two major shopping centres in Lagos. Interviews were also done with a hundred shoppers around these two centres. The collected data were analysed using content analysis method.
Findings: Most of the informal and small businesses are struggling to survive. Different strategies have, however, been developed for competing against the giant retailers in the shopping malls. The different types of goods sold in shopping centres and in informal traders were characterised and the reasons for the support of these respective businesses were identified.
Practical implications and Conclusions: While the development of shopping centres may be of benefit to the community it serves, the valuable role of informal trading in developing countries should not be ignored.
Full Text : PDF
Amin, A.T.M. N. (1992). Urban Planning in Metropolitan Areas of Asia: The Challenges of Accommodating the Informal sector. The Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health 23 Suppl 3:119-29
CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria). (2009). Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the Year ended 31st December 2009. Abuja: CBN, pp. liv-lvi.
Chau. K.W. & Pretorius, F. (2002). Retailers’ Location Preferences: The Influence of Time, Micro-spatial and Property Characteristics in a High-Density Urban Area. Discussion paper series. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Cohen, B. (2004). Urban growth in developing countries: a review of current trends and a caution regarding existing forecasts. World Development 1(1): 23-51.
Cole, W.E. and Fayissa, B. (1991). ‘The urban subsistence labour force: toward a policy-oriented and empirically accessible taxonomy,’ World Development 19: 7 (780), Elsevier.
D’Andrea, G. & Lopez-Aleman, B. (2006). Why small retailers endure in Latin America. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 36(9): 661-673.
Koto, P.S. (2015). An empirical analysis of the informal sector in Ghana. The Journal of Developing Areas 49(2): 93-107. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269279535_An_Empirical_Analysis_of_the_Informal_Sector_
in_Ghana [accessed May 12, 2020].
Litz, R. & Stewart, A. (1997). Lilliputian strategies: small business responses to big business entry. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship 9(1): 59-70.
McGee, J.E. (1996). When Wal-Mart comes down to town: a look at how local merchants respond to retailing giant’s arrival. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship 8(1): 43-52.
Paddison, R., Findlay, A. M., & Dawson, J. A. (1990). Retailing in less-developed countries. Retailing environments in developing countries, 3-15.
Oduh, M., Eboh, E., Ichoku, H. & Ujah, O. (2008). Measurement and explanation of informal sector of the Nigerian economy. African Institute for Applied Economics, Research Paper 3, pp. 1-64.
Peprah, V., Buor, D., Forkuor, D., & Sánchez-Moral, S. (2019). Characteristics of informal sector activities and challenges faced by women in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1), 1656383.
Salisu, M. (2001). Incentive structure, civil service efficiency and the hidden economy in Nigeria. World Bank Institute for Development Economic Research, Discussion Paper No. 2001/86.
Schneider, F. (2002). Shadow Economy. Linz: Johannes Kepler University, pp. 225.
Schneider, Friedrich (2007), “Reducing the Shadow Economy in Germany: A Blessing or a Curse?” Discussion Paper, Department of Economics, University of Linz, Linz.
Schneider, F. & Enste, D.H. (2000). Shadow economies: size, causes, and consequences. Journal of Economic Literature 38(1): 77-114.
Schneider, F. & Enste, D.H. (2004). The Shadow Economy: An International Survey. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Shanmuganandavadivel, J. (2016). A study on the impact of mega shopping malls on small retail business sector. International Journal of Advanced Research 4(8), 1569-1573.
Terblanche, N.S. (1998). Retail Management. South Africa: International Thomson Publishing Southern Africa.
Tustin, D.H. (2004). Consumer spending patterns in the informal retail trade sector of South Africa. South African Business Review Journal 8(3): 26-37.
Vagale L. R. (1972). “An Anatomy of Traditional Markets in Nigeria: Focus on Ibadan City. “(Ibadan, The Polytechnic, 1972): 1-26.
Vorley, Bill (2013). Meeting small-scale farmers in their markets: understanding and improving the institutions and governance of informal agri-foods trade, IIED/HIVOS/Mainumby, London/The Hague/La Paz.
Welman, J. & Kruger, S. (2001). Research Methodology for Business and Administrative Sciences. 2nd edition. pp. 7, 46-47. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zikmund, W.G. (2003). Business Research Methods. 7th edition. Mason: Thomson.