Sustainable Design Strategies of Environment of Some Theme Creative Markets in Guangzhou

Abstract

In the era of the experience economy, ‘consumption experience’ has become an important part of people’s daily life needs. In this study, we adopted the perspective of user experience quality evaluation and found problems through field research; then, we built the evaluation dimension of theme creative markets based on experience quality combined with expert interviews to design the questionnaire. First of all, through online and offline questionnaire analysis on the experiencers of some theme creative markets in Guangzhou, the main factors that affect the quality of the tourists’ experience was explored. Secondly, through the analysis of the three dimensions of environment, activity, and service of some of the theme creative markets in Guangzhou, it was found that tourists have the highest score on the market activity and the lowest score on the market environment. Thirdly, through field observation and interviews with some experiencers, the reason for the low experience score was discovered. Finally, the corresponding design strategies were proposed for the environment, activities, and services, with a view to providing a reference for the improvement of the quality of the tourists’ experience and the improvement of the design of the theme creative markets.

1. Introduction

According to the data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics in 2017, the national online retail sales of physical goods was CNY 5480.6 billion, accounting for 15.0% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods. In the following years, the online retail sales of physical goods continued to increase. In 2021, the national online retail sales of physical goods was CNY 10,804.2 billion. The proportion of these sales in the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased to 24.5% [1] (Figure 1). Notably, the internet retail industry is rapidly occupying the market share of the physical retail industry; this has a huge impact on the competitiveness of the physical retail industry.

Pine and Gilmore indicated that ‘experience’ referred to creating activities for consumers that were worth recalling, using service as the stage and commodities as the props [2]. Owing to the current era of the experience economy, an increasing number of consumers are willing to pay a certain amount of money to partake in consumption experience activities that can become unique memories. Notably, consumption experience has become a demand in people’s daily lives. People are no longer satisfied with the travel mode of ‘gaining a superficial understanding through cursory observation’. Instead, they hope to interact with all the people and things they come in contact with while partaking in the activities.

To bridge the gaps between people and to develop a socially engaging environment, theme creative markets have gradually sprung up in China in recent years. As one of the four first-tier cities in China, Guangzhou plays a decisive role in the exploration and development of the market economy. With the development of the market economy, many theme creative markets with rich forms have emerged, attracting an increasing number of tourists every year. However, theme creative markets have a few limitations, such as unreasonable layouts of the market spaces (Figure 2a), serious homogenization in design (Figure 2b,c), and lack of places to rest and stay (Figure 2d), which have an adverse impact on tourist experience quality. In view of this, this paper started from some theme creative markets in Guangzhou and was based on the theory of experience quality evaluation. By measuring the satisfaction of tourists, we were able to evaluate the tourist experience quality of the markets and to determine the factors that affected the experience quality. To enhance the offline consumption experience of tourists, we stimulated the offline consumption and then promoted the benign development of urban commerce.

1.1. Concept Definition

1.1.1. Theme Creative Market

‘Market’ refers to a ‘regular gathering of commodity trading activities’ [3], and a cyclical market is an important place for people’s consumption and social life. Markets have multiple functions, such as economic transaction, cultural interaction, and interpersonal communication [4]. The term ‘creative market’ comes from London, which is known as the ‘city of creativity’. This form of traditional market exhibits the creativity of the locals and has become a unique cultural landscape in London; notably, such markets effectively promote the development of the British creative industry [5]. In the existing literature, there is no clear definition of theme creative markets. Based on the existing studies, we summarized the definition of ‘theme creative market’ as a form of activity in the modern creative market which breaks the function of the traditional markets that only focus on commodity trading. By shaping distinctive themes, the theme creative market creates a complex space that integrates transaction, interaction, display, entertainment, and cultural exchange and offers users material and spiritual consumption experiences.

1.1.2. Experience Quality

In the quality evaluation system, ‘quality’ refers to the degree to which a group of inherent characteristics meet the requirements [6]. In the existing literature, there are different opinions about experience quality. For example, Ross believed that the experience quality of tourists was mainly affected by their expectation of the destination, along with comprehensive factors, such as service, time, and occasion [7]. Otto and Ritchie believed that experience quality was subjective, holistic, internal, generic, symbolic, and emotional, i.e., experience quality was the result of customer psychological evaluation or an emotional response [8]. Xie, a Chinese scholar, believed that with regard to the quality of the tourism experience on any occasion, the most integrated dimension was the pleasure of the tourism experience [9]. According to Wu, experience quality refers to the degree to which the tourists’ needs are satisfied in the process that leads from the leaving of their permanent residence to the return to their residence, i.e., tourism experience satisfaction [10]. In a word, experience quality is the overall evaluation of the tourists’ satisfaction during the entire tourism experience, from the time of their departure from their residence to their return home.

1.2. Research Status in China and Foreign Countries

In China and foreign countries, the studies on theme creative markets are still in the early stage, and the studies on theme creative markets and urban markets are limited as well. In foreign countries, scholars have mainly focused on the social attributes, crowd behavior, and development process. Among the existing research results, American scholars had more abundant research on markets. For example, Jacobs believed that ‘compared with the indifferent streets and boring places in modern cities, the market space can better meet people’s needs for selectivity, diversity, and efficiency in outdoor activities and integrate various behaviors and activities in people’s daily life’ [11]. Sherry, an assistant professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, analyzed the market atmosphere, social embeddedness, and shopping experience of the Midwestern American Flea Market in the United States of America (USA) by studying the behavior of buyers and sellers in the market [12]. Stillerman recognized the social identity of ‘urban markets’ by studying the street market in San Diego, USA, and emphasized the importance of commodity exchange activities in maintaining a friendly and natural relationship between people [13]. Chi Hsin Chiu of the City University of New York in the United States discussed the phenomenon of vendors in Taipei Shilin Night Market in Taiwan, China, shaping Taipei’s urban landscape through their spatial and social activities and expounded that the space composed of vendors and street stalls was the most real aspect of Taipei [14]. Watson, a British scholar, expressed her concern about the social value of the urban market space, and she thought that the role of the urban market in promoting social and urban interactions had not been widely recognized; urban markets have the potential to develop into active public spaces [15]. Maghen Bratt studied the Portobello Market in London, England, and believed that the behavior of the weekend market was considered as a local social activity and a continuation of the traditional trading model. The street had cultural atmosphere because of the interaction between the traders and the customers [16].

In China, the research results mainly focused on the market content, market development, and construction strategy. Guo pointed out that the ‘creative market’ is the symbol of the rise of folk creative power and the concentrated expression of the folk creative industry [17]. By introducing the market’s origin and development status, analyzing its existing problems, and trying to predict its trend, he tried to provide some reference for the development of the creative industry in China. Wang analyzed the characteristics of urban market spaces, explored the impact of these markets on urban sustainable development, and put forward feasible suggestions for their construction [18]. Pan and Ding studied the folk culture and functional characteristics of traditional markets, the problems in and limitations of modern urban markets, and the relationship between the markets and urban development, to determine the traditional market spaces that meet the needs of modern urban development [19]. Considering the urban market as the study area, Shi used the perspective of ‘organic renewal’, constructed a renewal strategy system from four aspects of site selection and planning, space, function, and management, and provided feasible solutions to solve the development dilemma of urban markets in terms of urban renewal [20].

With regard to the experience quality evaluation, we used ‘evaluation of experience quality’ as the keywords to search the relevant literature of the past decade on the Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. We used VOSviewer to sort and analyze the relevant literature (Figure 3 and Figure 4). As shown in the figures, the current research on ‘experience quality evaluation’ by domestic and foreign scholars mainly focused on tourism experience, satisfaction, evaluation indicators, and behavior intention, with no relevant studies that evaluate the experience quality of the theme creative markets. In the existing literature, experience quality evaluation is also applicable to tourist experience in the theme creative markets.

Through the existing study of theme creative markets, the existence of markets can promote the generation of social activities, and to a certain extent, theme creative markets can drive the sustainable development of the culture and economy, which has a certain inspiration for this study. We observed that most of the previous research on markets was related to market industry and market culture, mainly from the aspects of the development process and construction strategy, and rarely from the perspective of tourist experience. However, it is important to determine whether the environment, activity, and service of the current theme creative markets can meet the needs of the tourists. Therefore, this study broke the traditional level of research by, for example, sorting out the development of markets and putting forward expository suggestions. From the perspective of tourist experience quality, some theme creative markets in Guangzhou were taken as the research objects. The system of tourist experience quality evaluation developed in this study can help tourists to improve their offline consumption experience, and it provides relevant design strategies by using more scientific methods that can optimize theme creative markets in not just China, but also other countries.

2. Methodology

2.1. Study Objects

In this study, we selected four theme creative markets in Guangzhou as the study areas: the cultural and creative market of Dongshankou, ART11 Art Space, in Yuexiu District (Figure 5a, hereinafter referred to as ‘ART11′), which has the theme of ‘visiting Dongshankou while taking advantage of the market’; the retro market of the Comprehensive Art and Culture Space at Jueyuan 1984 in Dongshankou (Figure 5b, hereinafter referred to as ‘Jueyuan’), which has the theme of ‘old friends collection’; the market of Yong Qing Fang in Liwan District (Figure 5c, hereinafter referred to as ‘Yong Qing Fang’), a historical and cultural district market which has the theme of ‘spring camping festival’; and the market in Paso Plaza in Baiyun District (Figure 5d, hereinafter referred to as ‘Paso Plaza’), a commercial square market which as the theme of ‘summer flower house’. We ensured the diversity of the study areas by considering different types of theme creative markets in China.

According to the field research, the space plans of the four theme creative markets were drawn through field observation (Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8 and Figure 9).

It can be seen from Figure 6 and Figure 7 that the ART11 market and the Jueyuan market were located in the old urban area of Guangzhou. Most of the stalls in ART11 and Jueyuan market were set indoors, with only one entrance and exit. The internal stalls almost occupied the whole space. In these two markets, the space was narrow and the passage was crowded (Figure 10), which may have had a certain impact on the experience of the tourists, and no relevant tour index map was found in the markets. When consumers have a weak sense of position in commercial building space, it will significantly affect purchasing behavior, thus directly affecting the commercial space’s use efficiency and economic benefits [21]. Therefore, good traffic flow and guide maps can promote consumer interaction and purchasing in the space. Yong Qing Fang market was located in the famous historical and cultural district of Liwan District, Guangzhou. As can be seen in Figure 8, the market covered a large area with two entrances and exits. The seats in the rest area were scattered, and the number of seats could not meet the needs of the tourists. The market in Figure 9 was located in the east of Paso Plaza, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, and the commercial complex was next to the square. Although the outdoor area of the square was wide, there were only 12 stalls in the market. The distance between the stalls was small, and there were relatively few categories of stalls. The market organizers failed to make full use of the site area to increase the scale of the market.

2.2. Study Method

Through field research of the four theme creative markets in Guangzhou, combined with the results of the post-experience evaluation of the tourists, this paper analyzes the experience status of theme creative markets in Guangzhou. The evaluation index was constructed by the experts’ scoring, and the questionnaire was designed with a five-point Likert scale. Data collection was conducted through online and offline questionnaires. The offline questionnaires were distributed in all the four commercial markets in Guangzhou selected for this study (Figure 11a–d). Based on the questionnaire survey, we used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 26 (SPSS 26) software to analyze the elements of tourist experience and explore the factors that affected tourist experience. Through the field observation method, combined with the tourist interview, the factors with low scores were analyzed to determine the reasons for the effect on the tourist experience in the markets.

The study team conducted offline interviews with 11 tourists. From the tourist interview results, most of the tourists were satisfied with the overall process of visiting the markets. They thought that there were many fresh and fashionable goods in these two markets that were very attractive, but the markets were relatively crowded, and there was a lack of tour index maps. Most tourists hoped that the market could improve the signage system and expand the market scale to attract more people. The tourists also reflected that there were too few public facilities such as rest areas and toilets in the market, which also made them stay in the market for a short time. In terms of commodity prices, the research team found through the interviews that the tourists generally reflected that commodity prices were on the high side. Many tourists came to the markets mainly for recreation, and they would only buy the commodities they liked. However, if the commodity price was much higher than their psychological expectation, they would choose not to buy.

2.3. Study Design

2.3.1. Evaluation Elements

Tourist experience consists of interaction with the environment, products, and services of the tourist destination and is very subjective. When analyzing the elements of tourist experience, a variety of factors should be comprehensively considered. Heywood and Mahler believed that specific factors should be considered in evaluating the urban tourism experience [22]; these factors are listed in

Table 1. Factors considered for the evaluation of urban tourism experience.

Evaluation Factors
Weather conditions during the tour	Standard and quality of existing accommodation facilities
Cleanliness and maintenance degree of the city	Aesthetic values of cities (environment and beautification)
Personal safety of tourists	Accessibility of urban scenic spots and places of interest
The extent to which local residents warmly welcome tourists	Foreign language proficiency of tourism practitioners
Atmosphere of cultural facilities and artistic facilities	Urban environmental atmosphere
Crowding degree	Existing nightlife and recreational activities
Catering facilities in the city	Enjoyment degree of leisure shopping
Prices of urban goods and services	The degree to which local residents help others
Adequate emergency medical services

. As shown in the table, the factors were mainly evaluated from three aspects: the tourists’ playing environment, the activities they participate in, and the services they receive. All these factors had a certain significance in the analysis of the factors of the tourist experiences in the theme creative markets selected for this study.

2.3.2. Survey and Design of Pre-Questionnaire

Before the questionnaire, to ensure the rationality and reliability of the questionnaire, the study team visited the several theme creative markets in Guangzhou for field investigation. According to the field investigation and expert interviews, four typical theme creative markets were selected for this study. The team also interviewed 11 tourists who were in the theme creative markets and obtained a better understanding of the actual situation of the theme creative markets. By applying the above-mentioned evaluation elements, combined with the characteristics and actual situation of the theme creative markets, we prepared a preliminary questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into four parts.

The first part was about the motivation of the respondents, including their understanding of the theme creative market, the form and purpose of the respondents’ travel, and their duration of stay.

In the second part, ‘market environment’, ‘market activity’, and ‘market service’ were listed as three evaluation dimensions. In terms of content, market environment included both spatial and social factors related to market activities, which could be further subdivided into eight specific factors. Market activity was the carrier of market experience. The tourists’ experience of the market activities was mainly reflected in the theme of the market activities, the overall atmosphere of the activities, the richness and participation of the activities, and the entertainment of the activities, which could be divided into 10 specific factors. The market service experience was mainly the experience of the basic tourism services, such as traffic service, tour guide service, entertainment shopping service, and other personalized services provided for tourists, which can be subdivided into seven specific factors, based on which three evaluation dimensions of the theme creative markets and their corresponding specific factors and problem items were constructed (

Table 2. Evaluation dimensions of theme creative markets applied in this study.

Evaluation Dimensions	Specific Factors	Problem Items
Market environment	Landscape features	The landscape around the market is beautiful and has ornamental value
	Stall features	Stalls can highlight local characteristics
	Space pedestrian route	Arrangement of pedestrian routes in market space is reasonable
	Spatial distribution	Market space distribution is reasonable
	Signage system	Market signage systems are effective
	Humanistic atmosphere	The market has a humanistic atmosphere
	Folk culture	Market space can reflect local folk culture
	Social security	Social security in the market is effective
Market activity	Market theme	The market theme is distinct, with local characteristics
	Activity scene layout	The scene and stall layout fit in with the theme
	Decoration layout	The market decoration layout reflects the market theme
	Stall owner’s words and deeds	Stall owner’s words and deeds are appropriate
	Participation	The market attracts tourists to participate actively
	Richness	The market stalls are rich and diverse
	Innovativeness	There are new and interesting stall activities
	Cultural connotation	The activities have a certain cultural connotation
	Consumer demand	The market activities can meet consumer demand
	Activity process	The market activities are relaxing and comfortable
Market service	Traffic service	The traffic to the market is not heavy
	Stall owner service	I can have good communication and interaction with the stall owner
	Tour guide service	Tour guide provides considerate service and has a friendly attitude
	Commodity price	Commodity price is good value for money
	Personalized service	The market can meet personalized needs
	Public facilities service	Public facilities services, such as rest places, are easily available
	Souvenir service	Market souvenirs have local characteristics

). The five-point Likert scale was interpreted as follows: 1 = very dissatisfied, 2 = relatively dissatisfied, 3 = general, 4 = relatively satisfied, and 5 = very satisfied.

The third part consisted of the overall experience evaluation, including the overall experience of the respondents in the theme creative market, the comparison of expectations before and after playing, along with other aspects, and the respondents’ willingness to visit the theme creative markets again.

The fourth part consisted of the basic information of the respondents, including gender, age, education background, and occupation.

A total of 60 copies of the pre-questionnaires were distributed, and all 60 copies were recovered, with 48 copies being effective, with an effective rate of 80%. The SPSS method was used to analyze the reliability and validity of the data in the questionnaire. Furthermore, Cronbach’s α [23] was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire. The reliability coefficient of the test was 0.999, which was greater than 0.9, indicating that the reliability of the scale was very high. The corrected item-total correlation (CITC) values of the analysis items were greater than 0.4, indicating that there was good correlation between the analysis items.

2.3.3. Distribution of Formal Questionnaires

The formal questionnaire was distributed from 1 April 2022 to 15 April 2022, using a combination of online and offline methods. Among them, 271 copies of the questionnaires were distributed offline; all 271 copies were recovered, and 256 copies were effective. Additionally, 120 copies of the questionnaires were distributed online; all 120 copies were recovered, and 83 copies were effective. A total of 391 copies of the questionnaires were distributed online and offline, and 391 copies were recovered, of which 339 copies were effective, with an effective rate of 86.7%.

3. Data analysis and Results

3.1. Questionnaire Data Collection and Sample Description Analysis

3.1.1. Demographic Characteristics of Tourists

Among the 391 responses, 233 were from females, accounting for 59.59% of the total number of people, and 158 were from males, accounting for 40.41% of the total number of people. The ages of the respondents were mainly 20–29 years old, and there were 275 people in total, accounting for 81.12% of the total number, indicating that the theme creative markets were more attractive to younger groups.

3.1.2. Demographic Characteristics of Tourists

Through the questionnaire, we could conclude that the two most common motivations for tourists to come to the theme creative markets were ‘feeling the market culture’ and ‘having a leisure vacation and relaxing mood’, accounting for 48.34 and 45.52% of the effective samples. In general, young people are interested in theme creative markets. For example, Yong Qing Fang is a famous historical and cultural district in Guangzhou, and the theme creative market of Yong Qing Fang is a famous perennial market in Guangzhou. Tourists visiting the Yong Qing Fang market ‘because of its fame’ also accounted for a considerable proportion (31.97%). Notably, as many as 224 tourists obtained the information on the relevant theme creative markets through various internet platforms via computers and mobile phones, accounting for 57.29% of the total respondents who participated in this survey, and 41.18% of tourists visited the markets because of a recommendation from relatives and friends. Katz and Lazarfeld found that the effect of the consumers’ oral publicity on businesses is much higher than that of personal promotion and advertising [24]. Therefore, positive recommendations can improve the satisfaction of tourists, and tourists will be more willing to recommend the theme creative markets to the people around them.

3.2. Analysis of Survey Data on Tourist Experience Quality of Theme Creative Markets

3.2.1. Factor Analysis of Tourist Experience

In this study, we analyzed 25 factors of the tourist experience for four theme creative markets from three perspectives: market environment, activities, and services. Factor analysis was used to determine each factor variable of the 339 samples. First, the validity of the results was tested by using the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) test and the Bartlett test of sphericity. The results indicated that the KMO value of the global variable was 0.963, which is greater than 0.8. In the Bartlett test, the p value was 0.000, less than 0.05, indicating that the scale had good validity and was suitable for further factor analysis.

The average score, the standard deviation of the 25 specific factors of the experience evaluation dimension of the theme creative market, and the reliability of the three evaluation dimensions are shown in

Table 3. Mean value, standard deviation, and value of Cronbach’s α of each specific factor for the theme creative markets selected in this study.

Evaluation Dimension	Specific Factors	Mean Value	Standard Deviation	Value of Cronbach’s α
Market environment	Landscape features	3.746	0.796	0.916
	Stall features	3.684	0.902
	Space pedestrian route	3.469	0.961
	Spatial distribution	3.643	0.795
	Signage system	3.510	0.908
	Humanistic atmosphere	3.805	0.876
	Folk culture	3.649	0.909
	Social security	3.971	0.817
Market activity	Market theme	3.794	0.810	0.956
	Activity scene layout	3.714	0.838
	Decoration layout	3.820	0.814
	Stall owner’s words and deeds	3.870	0.800
	Participation	3.764	0.809
	Richness	3.835	0.819
	Innovativeness	3.673	0.895
	Cultural connotation	3.740	0.869
	Consumer demand	3.749	0.828
	Activity process	3.799	0.836
Market service	Traffic service	3.864	0.784	0.927
	Stall owner service	3.785	0.805
	Tour guide service	3.785	0.791
	Commodity price	3.510	0.888
	Personalized service	3.711	0.842
	Public facilities service	3.611	0.891
	Souvenir service	3.693	0.857

.

As shown in Table 3, the mean values of each experience factor of the four theme creative markets were between 3 and 4 points, i.e., the overall satisfaction of the tourists with each experience factor of the thematic commercial market was between ‘general’ and ‘relatively satisfied’, indicating that there was still room for improvement in some factors. Among the three evaluation dimensions, the tourist’s experience evaluation of the market activity was the best, with the highest average score, but the experience evaluation of the market environment was the lowest, indicating that although the tourists recognized the activity content of the theme creative market, they believed that the spatial environment and layout around the theme creative markets needed to be improved.

3.2.2. Factor Analysis of Market Environment

First, the Bartlett test of sphericity and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy were performed. After testing, the value of the KMO measure of sampling adequacy was 0.911, which indicated that this group of data was suitable for factor analysis (>0.7). Meanwhile, the significance probability of the $X^2$ statistical value of the Bartlett test of sphericity was 0.000, less than 1%, which indicated that the data correlation matrix was not a unit matrix and had correlation, which showed that the statistical data were suitable for the factor analysis. The factor load matrix after rotation was obtained by factor analysis, as shown in

Table 4. Market environment factor load matrix after rotation.

	F1	F2
Humanistic atmosphere	0.874	0.280
Folk culture	0.832	0.268
Stall features	0.723	0.445
Social security	0.613	0.422
Space pedestrian route	0.250	0.875
Spatial distribution	0.354	0.806
Signage system	0.374	0.708
Landscape features	0.576	0.599

Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Caesar’s normalized maximum variance method.

:

The characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance were obtained by factor analysis, and the results are shown in

Table 5. Characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance of market environmental factors.

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Sum of Squares of Extracted Loads			Sum of Squares of Load after Rotation
	Total	Percentage variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %
1	5.073	63.410	63.410	5.073	63.410	63.410	3.014	37.680	37.680
2	0.743	9.282	72.692	0.743	9.282	72.692	2.801	35.012	72.692

Extraction method: principal component analysis.

.

As shown in Table 5, as the first two principal components explained 72.692% of the total variance in total, replacing the 11 variables with two factors could summarize nearly 70% of the information contained in the original variables. Therefore, it can be preliminarily concluded that these two major factors could explain most variables and summarize most of the information. Moreover, the factor load of each indicator variable was relatively high (>0.5), which indicated that the original indicators of each component had significant correlation.

In the previous analysis, the market environment was divided into ‘space environment’ and ‘social and cultural environment’. In order to understand the experience of tourists more comprehensively and concretely, some elements were subdivided, and a total of eight factors were listed for investigation.

The survey results showed that the humanistic atmosphere, folk culture, stall features, and social security of the market could be combined into one factor, which was named the ‘social environment factor’. The space pedestrian route, spatial distribution, signage system, and landscape features of the market can be combined into one factor, which can be named the ‘spatial environment factor’.

According to the quantitative relationship between each factor and the index, the score of each main factor was calculated by the regression method:

The calculation formula is: $Fi=bi1x1+bi2x2+\cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot +bijxj$.

Among them, $Fi$ is the score of the $i$ main factor, $\mathrm{b}i1,bi2\cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot \cdot bij$ is the load of the $j$ indicators on the $i$ main factor, and $xj$ is the variable value. The coefficient matrix output results of the market environment factors are shown in

Table 6. Main factor score coefficient matrix of market environment factors.

	F1	F2
(e1) Humanistic atmosphere	0.489	−0.277
(e2) Folk culture	0.465	−0.263
(e3) Stall features	0.282	−0.059
(e4) Social security	0.214	−0.014
(e5) Space pedestrian route	−0.316	0.556
(e6) Spatial distribution	−0.200	0.442
(e7) Signage system	−0.128	0.352
(e8) Landscape features	0.085	0.149

:

According to the main factor score coefficient matrix, the factor score can be calculated, namely:

Social environment factor (F1) = 0.489 humanistic atmosphere + 0.465 folk culture + 0.282 stall features + 0.214 social security − 0.316 space pedestrian route − 0.200 spatial distribution − 0.128 signage system + 0.085 landscape features.

Spatial environment factor (F2) = − 0.277 humanistic atmosphere − 0.263 folk culture − 0.059 stall features − 0.014 social security + 0.556 space pedestrian route + 0.442 spatial distribution + 0.352 signage system + 0.149 landscape features.

It can be seen from the above formula that, first, the social environment factors basically dominated e1, e2, e3, and e4 (coefficients with large absolute values); that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the social environment experience was mainly affected by four factors: humanistic atmosphere, folk culture, stall features, and social security. In fact, the tourists had a high evaluation of the humanistic atmosphere, folk culture, and social security of the market and a low evaluation of the stall features. This showed that theme creative markets had strong cultural deposits in the past and paid more attention to the protection and inheritance of culture in the transformation. However, there are still some shortcomings in the market stall features, which need to be strengthened in the future to give tourists a better experience.

Second, the spatial environment factor basically dominated e5, e6, e7, and e8; that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the spatial environment experience was mainly affected by four factors: space pedestrian route, spatial distribution, signage system, and landscape features. Then, the tourists did not give a high evaluation to the space pedestrian route, spatial distribution, and signage system. In order to find out the reasons, through field observation and interviews with some tourists who filled in the questionnaire, it was found that theme creative markets were often located in a street or a small area, with a relatively limited area, but the overall flow rate of people was relatively large, resulting in a poor evaluation of the spatial environment by the people. These factors need to be taken into account in the subsequent improvement in order to appropriately expand the market area and further optimize the spatial distribution to provide tourists with a more comfortable spatial environment.

3.2.3. Factor Analysis of Market Activity

First of all, the Bartlett test of sphericity and the KMO measure were performed. After testing, the data were relevant and suitable for factor analysis. The factor load matrix after rotation was obtained by factor analysis, as shown in

Table 7. Market activity factor load matrix after rotation.

	F1	F2
Activity process	0.843	0.308
Consumer demand	0.827	0.383
Richness	0.682	0.505
Innovativeness	0.630	0.595
Participation	0.626	0.589
Stall owner’s words and deeds	0.265	0.865
Market theme	0.483	0.730
Activity scene layout	0.588	0.672
Decoration layout	0.569	0.627
Cultural connotation	0.585	0.608

Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Caesar’s normalized maximum variance method.

.

The characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance were obtained by factor analysis, and the results are shown in

Table 8. Characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance of market activity factors.

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Sum of Squares of Extracted Loads			Sum of Squares of Load after Rotation
	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %
1	7.183	71.833	71.833	7.183	71.833	71.833	3.962	39.617	39.617
2	0.471	4.715	76.548	0.471	4.715	76.548	3.693	36.931	76.548

Extraction method: principal component analysis.

.

As shown in Table 8, the first two principal components explained 76.548% of the total variance (>70%). Moreover, the factor load of each indicator variable was relatively high (>0.5), which indicated that the original indicators of each component had significant correlation.

In the previous analysis, this paper believed that the experience elements of the market activity mainly included the theme of the market activities, the overall atmosphere of the activities, the richness and participation of the activities, and the entertainment of the activities. These elements were subdivided, and a total of 10 factors were listed for investigation.

The results showed that the activity process, consumer demand, richness, innovativeness, and participation can be combined into one factor, which is named the ‘activity content factor’. The stall owner’s words and deeds, the market theme, activity scene layout, decoration layout, and cultural connotation can be combined into one factor, which can be named the ‘activity form factor’.

According to the quantitative relationship between each factor and index, the score of each main factor was calculated by the regression method. The output results of the coefficient matrix of the market activity factor are shown in

Table 9. Main factor score coefficient matrix of market activity factors.

	F1	F2
Activity process	0.614	-0.474
Consumer demand	0.522	-0.370
Richness	0.243	-0.084
Innovativeness	0.097	0.073
Participation	0.099	0.069
Stall owner’s words and deeds	−0.568	0.750
Market theme	−0.024	0.204
Activity scene layout	−0.196	0.376
Decoration layout	0.000	0.170
Cultural connotation	0.036	0.132

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According to the main factor score coefficient matrix, the factor score can be calculated, namely:

Activity content (F1) = 0.614 activity process + 0.522 consumer demand + 0.243 richness + 0.097 innovativeness − 0.099 participation − 0.568 stall owner’s words and deeds − 0.024 market theme − 0.196 activity scene layout + 0.000 decoration layout + 0.036 cultural connotation.

Activity form (F2) = − 0.474 activity process − 0.370 consumer demand − 0.084 richness + 0.073 innovativeness + 0.069 participation + 0.750 stall owner’s words and deeds + 0.204 market theme + 0.376 activity scene layout + 0.170 decoration layout + 0.132 cultural connotation.

It can be seen from the above formula that, first, the activity content factor basically dominated e1, e2, e3, e4, and e5 (coefficients with large absolute values); that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the activity content was mainly affected by the activity process, consumer demand, richness, innovativeness, and participation. Among them, the activity process and consumer demand played a decisive role. However, the actual survey results showed that tourists had the lowest evaluation of the innovativeness of the market activity, followed by consumer demand. In the future, these aspects should be strengthened to improve the experience quality of the tourists.

Secondly, the activity form factor basically dominated e6, e7, e8, e9, and e10; that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the activity form was mainly affected by the stall owner’s words and deeds, the market theme, the activity scene layout, the decoration layout, and the cultural connotation. Among them, stall owner’s words and deeds and the market theme played a decisive role. Suitable market themes and the stall owner’s words and deeds played an important role in improving the quality of tourists’ experience. These aspects of the markets still need to be improved.

3.2.4. Factor Analysis of Market Service

After the Bartlett test of sphericity and the KMO measure, the data were relevant and suitable for factor analysis. The factor load matrix after rotation was obtained by factor analysis, as shown in

Table 10. Market service factor load matrix after rotation.

	F1	F2
Stall owner service	0.830	0.342
Tour guide service	0.780	0.431
Traffic service	0.755	0.397
Commodity price	0.698	0.458
Souvenir service	0.364	0.837
Personalized service	0.443	0.768
Public facilities service	0.411	0.753

Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Caesar’s normalized maximum variance method.

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The characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance were obtained by factor analysis, and the results are shown in

Table 11. Characteristic root value and cumulative explained variance of market service factors.

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Sum of Squares of Extracted Loads			Sum of Squares of Load after Rotation
	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %	Total	Percentage Variance	Cumulative %
1	4.890	69.858	69.858	4.890	69.858	69.858	2.852	40.745	40.745
2	0.489	6.992	76.850	0.489	6.992	76.850	2.527	36.105	76.850

Extraction method: principal component analysis.

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As shown in Table 11, as the first two principal components explained 76.850% of the total variance (>70%), two factors were used to replace 11 variables. Moreover, the factor load of each indicator variable was relatively high (>0.5), which indicated that the original indicators of each component had significant correlation.

The survey results showed that the stall owner service, tour guide service, traffic service, and commodity price accepted by tourists in the market can be combined into one factor, which was named ‘basic service factor’. The souvenir service, personalized service, and public facilities service can be combined into one factor, which can be named the ‘professional service factor’.

According to the quantitative relationship between each factor and index, the score of each main factor was calculated by the regression method. The output results of the coefficient matrix of the market service factor are shown in

Table 12. Main factor score coefficient matrix of market service factors.

	F1	F2
Stall owner service	0.563	−0.353
Tour guide service	0.428	−0.202
Traffic service	0.433	−0.219
Commodity price	0.317	−0.094
Souvenir service	−0.383	0.664
Personalized service	−0.236	0.508
Public facilities service	−0.256	0.520

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According to the main factor score coefficient matrix, the factor score can be calculated, namely:

Basic service (F1) = 0.563 stall owner service + 0.428 tour guide service + 0.433 traffic service + 0.317 commodity price − 0.383 souvenir service − 0.236 personalized service − 0.256 public facilities service.

Professional service (F2) = − 0.353 stall owner service − 0.202 tour guide service − 0.219 traffic service − 0.094 commodity price + 0.664 souvenir service + 0.508 personalized service + 0.520 public facilities service.

It can be seen from the above formula that, first, the basic service factor basically dominated e1, e2, e3, and e4; that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the basic service of the market is mainly affected by the stall owner service, tour guide service, traffic service, and commodity price. Among them, the stall owner service and tour guide service had a greater impact. The survey found that the tourists’ evaluation of the basic services of the market was generally average, especially the stall owner service and the tour guide service, which require strengthening with regard to personnel management and training.

Secondly, the professional service factor basically dominated e5, e6, and e7; that is, the tourists’ evaluation of the professional service was mainly affected by three factors: the souvenir service, personalized service, and public facilities service. Among them, the souvenir service and personalized service played a decisive role. The development of tourism had led to higher local prices. Both tourists and local residents complained about this. However, the solution of this problem requires more macroeconomic regulation by the government. For the tourism industry, the key to solving this problem is to improve the service quality of the market.

3.3. Overall Evaluation of Tourist Experience and Linear Regression Analysis of Experience Factors

To sum up, the tourist market experience system included six main factors: the social environment, spatial environment, activity content, activity form, basic service, and professional service. The linear regression analysis method can be used to explore the relationships between these factors and the overall experience evaluation so as to try to build a linear regression equation between the overall evaluation of the market experience and its experience factors. Before linear regression analysis, we analyzed the correlation between each experience factor and the overall experience evaluation. See

Table 13. Correlation analysis between tourist experience factors and overall experience evaluation.

		Social Environment	Spatial Environment	Activity Content	Activity Form	Basic Service	Professional Service
Overall experience evaluation	Pearson correlation coefficient	0.433 **	0.402 **	0.429 **	0.405 **	0.413 **	0.444 **
	Significance test (two-sided)	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
	Number of samples	339	339	339	339	339	339

** Indicates a significant correlation at a confidence level of 0.01 (two-sided).

for details.

The Table 13 correlation measures show that each experience factor was significantly related to the overall experience evaluation at the confidence level, which also shows that each experience factor was significantly related to the overall experience evaluation of the tourists. Next, the overall evaluation of the tourist experience was taken as the dependent variable and the six experience factors as the independent variable to carry out linear regression analysis. The results are shown in

Table 14. Linear regression analysis results of tourist experience factors and overall experience evaluation.

Independent Variable	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Significance	Collinearity Statistics
	B	Standard Error	Beta			Tolerance	VIF
Constant	3.759	0.179	——	20.957	0.000	——	——
Social environment	0.113	0.054	0.148	2.025	0.020	0.461	2.261
Spatial environment	0.166	0.055	0.144	2.233	0.043	0.469	2.174
Activity content	0.091	0.066	0.113	1.406	0.159	0.352	2.864
Activity form	0.088	0.067	0.106	1.264	0.179	0.363	2.838
Basic service	0.113	0.063	0.139	2.666	0.101	0.411	2.457
Professional service	0.150	0.057	0.188	2.645	0.0143	0.444	2.279

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According to the above table, the significance probability of the constant term was 0.000 (<0.05), indicating that there was a significant difference between the constant term and 0. The constant term should appear in the equation as an explanatory variable, with a coefficient of 3.759. The significance probability of the t-value of ‘social environment factor’ was 0.020, which indicated that the coefficient of the social environment factor was significantly different from 0. The social environment factor should appear in the equation as an explanatory variable, and its standard regression coefficient was 0.148. The factors that should appear in the equation as explanatory variables included ‘spatial environment’ and ‘professional service’, and their standard regression coefficients were 0.144 and 0.188, respectively. The significance probabilities of the t-values of ‘activity content’, ‘activity form’, and ‘basic service’ were 0.159, 0.179, and 0.101 (>0.05), indicating that there was no significant difference in the coefficients of these three factors and that they should not appear in the equation as explanatory variables. Therefore, the standard linear regression equation between the market tourist experience factor and the overall experience evaluation is as follows.

The overall experience evaluation = 0.148 ‘social environment’ + 0.144 ‘spatial environment’ + 0.188 ‘professional service’ + 3.759 ‘constant’.

From the above regression equation, it can be seen that the contributions of the social environment, spatial environment, and professional service to the overall experience evaluation of the tourists were not much different; of these, the professional service had the most significant impact on the evaluation of the tourists’ experience quality, with a correlation coefficient of 0.444. Both the social environment and the spatial environment belong to the elements of the market environment. In other words, the market environment is the decisive factor for the quality of the tourists’ experience.

4. Sustainable Strategies and Optimization Measures for Experience Quality of the Market

4.1. Design Strategies for Market Environment

4.1.1. Reasonable Space Pedestrian Route Design and Spatial Layout

The analysis showed that the quality of the market environment can directly affect the tourist experience quality and the evaluation of the market. In terms of design, traffic flow reflects the interactive relationship between the commercial building space format and the users; the organization is based on creating a comfortable, accessible, and identifiable spatial structure in the complex and changeable commercial building space [25]. For the same reason, in the design of the market environment, designers should pay attention to the reasonable placement of the stalls to ensure the accessibility of each stall and minimize the repetition of routes in the process of walking. The scale of the market can be appropriately expanded to make the space settings more coherent. The signs leading to the market can also be set up at the periphery of the market, and the market guide map can be provided to guide tourists. The design of the signage system also needs to have the characteristics of the theme creative market so as to achieve overall unity. In addition, we suggest adding a signboard in both Chinese and English at the appropriate locations to create a good traffic and experience environment for the tourists and local visitors alike.

4.1.2. Set off the Cultural Atmosphere of Emotional Identity

Theme creative markets are generally designed and planned with specific activities. First of all, cultural symbols should be translated in a contemporary way on the basis of preserving the local characteristics. For example, in the design of Yong Qing Fang market, materials with different textures such as the crushed stone walls, green paint, and the plaster of broken walls can be used to express respect and continuity for the original history district of the site. Secondly, market organizers should adhere to the principle of authenticity as the basis and should take the protection of cultural vitality as the guidance to refine the regional cultural genes and cultural symbols. While translating the original cultural symbols, designers also need to summarize and refine them. By abstracting the environment that carries people’s memories, tourists can feel the unique humanistic atmosphere after visiting the market.

4.2. Sustainable Design Strategies for Market Activity

4.2.1. Excavate Cultural Connotation and Improve Experience Quality

The theme of the creative market should be the most attractive to tourists. Therefore, the layout of the stalls and activities of the creative market should be consistent with the theme and should have some innovation based on the market theme. For example, some stalls with strong participation, interaction, and game experience can be added to enhance the interaction between the stall owners and tourists. In the continuation and development of the market, the guidance of its public culture should be paid attention to. The following three aspects of work can be carried out. First, a series of public cultural activities can be planned at the opening time in combination with the market’s opening period to strengthen the function of the market as a place for public activities. Second, commodity sales activities with traditional skills could be encouraged and the market’s function as a carrier of traditional culture should be brought into play. Third, the sale of innovative goods and the integration of modern cultural features into the theme creative markets should be encouraged. In addition, the theme creative market organizers should pay attention to avoiding large-scale stalls with same category. If the categories of stalls are the same, personalized service can be created or interactive experience activities can be added to enhance the interaction between the tourists and the stall owners to improve the tourists’ experience quality.

4.2.2. Shape Display Decoration with Market Characteristics

The characteristic decoration design of the theme creative markets should not only meet the needs of the market theme but should also highlight the regional characteristics of the commercial buildings and display installations on both sides, including architecture style, materials, colors, etc., which can reflect the local culture and regional characteristics. In the spaces carrying cultural activities such as shops and display installations along the street, the theme creative market organizers should not only maintain integrity and continuity but should also integrate into and coordinate with the surrounding environment. In terms of market decoration, the historical features of the original districts should not be damaged and should be consistent with the city image.

4.3. Optimization Measures for Market Service

4.3.1. Strengthen Market Management and Improve Basic Service

Market service is crucial to the development of theme creative markets; first of all, the management of the market should be strengthened, and the internal staff of the markets must be trained so that every staff can master basic service skills, to better serve the tourists. In addition, the theme creative markets should be equipped with public facilities, such as toilets and rest places, to ensure the travel needs of tourists. The theme creative market should have certain supervision over the price of commodities, and there should be no price disorder. The creative market should create an experience process integrating eating, drinking, playing, entertainment, and shopping to improve the tourists’ experience quality.

4.3.2. Shape Display Decoration with Market Characteristics

While ensuring that tourists can enjoy basic services, theme creative markets should let tourists obtain unique experiences and interactions. First of all, in the area of public facilities, the theme creative market can mainly emphasize the coordination between architecture and environment, organically integrate artificial and natural beauty, and reflect the individuality of the market service. Secondly, theme creative markets should strive to create an internal environment with an immersive experience. For example, theme creative markets can increase the background music of markets and unify the uniformity of the service personnel to bring tourists an immersive experience in all aspects.

5. Study Summary

In this study, we evaluated the experience quality of some theme creative markets in Guangzhou and conducted a questionnaire survey on the tourists’ experience based on three parameters: market environment, market activity, and market service. The results showed that the market environment had the highest impact on the overall satisfaction of the tourists’ experience in the market environment, market activity, and market service, and the current market environment experience is at a lower middle level, which needs to be further improved. Because the evaluation of market experience involves a wide range, many impact indicators, and complex relationships, the sample of this study is limited, and there may be cultural and regional differences in the study. In the future, we will explore the differences in the experience of theme creative markets in different regions and types, and provide more dimensional design methods and improvement paths for market design.