Let’s go to the fair? A study about the motivations to frequent flea markets

Abstract

This work aims to develop and validate a scale to measure the reasons whyconsumers frequent flea markets, alternative markets that grow and prevail;nonetheless, they are forgotten by the area of consumer bahavior. The studywas carried out in two flea markets, in the region of Santiago and Temuco,Chile. The data were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis and, subsequently,the obtained structure was tested by using Confirmatory FactorAnalysis. The differences of location and socioeconomic levels were also exploredby using ANOVA. The results indicate that the scale reached satisfactorylevels of reliability and validity as the variables were grouped into twoconstructs related to hedonic and utilitarian motivations. Although in all sociallevels is observed the predominance of utilitarian reasons as motivationsto attend the fairs, in despite the hedonic reasons, the lower socioeconomiclevels show stronger hedonic motivations. Similar result is observed at regionallevel, where the Fair of Temuco presents higher hedonic outcomes thanthe Fair of Santiago.