Using design thinking for developing solutions contributing to the development of a community mall in : A case study of Rainforest mall

Abstract

This research focused on the study of using design thinking for developing solutions contributing to the development of a community mall in Thailand: a study of Rainforest Mall. The research objectives are to identify the factors that motivate people to come to a particular community shopping mall, to investigate how design thinking could be used to generate development ideas for a newly created community shopping mall, to determine what types of novelties people are looking for in a community shopping mall, and to find novel solutions on how to attract more people to visit the community shopping mall. This study collected data of 33 respondents to the questionnaires from customers who visited the Rainforest mall and had experienced the shopping mall to measured the design thinking approach to better understand the various needs of the current customers/users of the Rain Forest Community mall that have sufficient spending power to purchase at mall shops. The qualitative research method was employed to obtain data/information needed for the study objectives using a design thinking approach which is a non-linear, iterative method that companies employ to recognize users, test hypotheses, redefine difficulties, and design innovative prototypes and experiments: completing five stages—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test, and were analyzed with a thematic analysis to identify and examine the appearance, meanings, and connections of certain such words, topics, or thoughts. The results of this study demonstrated the impact of brand reputation on customer trust and the aim of the customers’ repurchase intention during their next visit to the mall, which is one of the most important goals for shopping malls top management to achieve.