市中心空洞化一直是歐、美與日本等先進國所關注的課題，而台灣目前對此議題之討論似乎僅作於政策論述的階段，至於市中心商圈與郊外商圈的競爭實態之分析則仍然不充分。爲了解上述兩類商圈的競爭現況，本研究於九十二年七月一日至九月三十日進行家戶訪談，獲得1000份有效樣本。除了對個別問項進行次數分佈的分析與說明外，再將之與性別、年齡、學歷及所得進行交叉分析，以了解不同人口特性對消費行爲的影響；接著，對消費者於市中心商圈與郊外商圈之消費印象屬性進行因子分析與群落分析，俾利觀察兩類商圈的競爭優劣勢與市場區隔。結果顯示，不同年齡與性別之消費者在消費特性上有明顯差別。此外，台南地區市中心商圈的競爭性仍很強，市中心商圈在「流行與時髦」、「商品品質佳」、「服務品質佳」、「休閑娛樂設施多」與「餐飲多且口味齊全」等五個印象屬性相對優於郊外商圈。另外，不同性別與年齡的組合可分別歸屬於「愛好購物群」、「厭惡郊區商圈而偏好市中心商圈群」與「厭惡市中心商圈群」，此可提供予相關決策者作爲行銷策略擬定的基礎。

Downtown decay has been in focus in Europe, America and Japan, but in Taiwan it is still at the elementary stage in relation to policy development. Therefore, the analysis of real competitive difference between downtown trading areas and suburban trading areas is inadequate In order to clarify the real competitive situation, this study investigated one thousand households from July 1 to September 30, 2003. Different characteristics of consumption behavior were studied with respect to gender, age, educational background, and salary. Additionally. Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis were used to assess the importance to users of different aspects of the shopping experience, and thereby to measure the competition between downtown trading areas and suburban trading areas. This study shows that consumption behavior is affected by gender and age. Furthermore. Tainan's downtown areas are still competitive, ranking higher on the factors fashion, good guilty, good service, entertainment and leisure, and various diets. We are also able to group users by gender and age into shopping lovers, downtown lovers and downtown haters. This analysis provides the foundation for planning a marketing strategy.