The Gubin-Guben Transborder Urban Complex as an Arena of Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

Consumer behaviour has led to the development of specific shopping systems in the Gubin-Guben transborder urban complex. One, fairly stable, is geared to the local population service, while the other displays a marked asymmetry in terms of volume and function. On the Polish side, this system responds to changes very dynamically and adjusts to the expectations of consumers from the German side; the German system, however, has opened to the Polish consumer only slightly. The author's research presented here shows that consumer behaviour is largely controlled by the exchange rate of the euro, prices, and the quality of products in the given country; but it also depends on the socio-occupational status of the residents of the two transborder towns.