Malls Get a Hit, But Four Control to do Well

The victory price of malls has taken a big hit this year. Out of 174 malls in the top eight cities, only four have been successful in 2008. According to property consultancy firm, the four successful malls are choose City Walk in Delhi, In Orbit in Mumbai, Forum in Bangalore and South City in Kolkata.

These malls are successful as they have been able to earn higher revenue per sq ft and deliver good turnover to the retailers. However, operators and the developers of the malls decline to share the numbers.

Director of retail services, India, says, “Mall owners need to understand their consumer base and the profile of consumers. Understanding the catchments area is most important. And you have to get the right mix of retailers and then the right kind of infrastructure.”

Intelligent placement of the brands, getting the right mix of domestic and international brands, right zoning in terms of having different floors for different product categories, providing security and safety and meeting all the needs of the consumers have lead to the success of the mall, according to Rajiv Duggal, CEO of Select CityWalk, Delhi.

Stressing on the importance of retailers, Duggal says: “Before the operating management of the mall, one needs to understand the business of all retailers. They need to underastand that a mall is not a building; people visit the mall because of the brands.”

Industry observers say that the reasons for success of the malls are; getting the catchment area right, getting the right size, good understanding of the profile of the customers, getting the right mix of retailers to fulfill all the needs of consumers, good infrastructure with security and safety measures in place and ample parking facility.

Some of the successful malls have also been witnessing 25-30 per cent decline in the walk-ins in last few months in the wake of economic downturn.

mall operations Forum, Bangalore says, “We have seen a decline in walk-ins and thereby a dip in sales but we are focused on providing the comfortable environment. We believe in the logic that if people spend more time in mall the propensity to buy increases. So we provide comfortable experience, hassle free entry and exit and create a wow factor by never repeating any entertainment event.”