Mall culture grips North India

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 19

With nearly 200 malls and still counting, the northern region, including the Delhi-NCR, is beaming with mall culture. However, malls with high footfalls and good sales are less than 20%.

So what’s special about these successful malls? These malls are no longer just shopping destinations but they have transformed into community hubs. From offering right brand mix for shoppers to culinary experiences, events, including related to fitness and promotions, they are offering almost everything.

The fundamentals of good malls are location, catchment, design, occupier mix and management. 

While nearly 40 malls continue to perform extremely well in the region, there are many that have been struggling for number of years now to meet customer expectations because of lack of proper planning.

“If you see Delhi and NCR, there are around 140 malls, but relevant malls with good footfalls and sales are about 10-15%. For planning any mall, category mix is the key and the first step is getting it right. This is closely linked to zoning and the brand mix as per the catchment. A good mix of the category and available brands placed together in a zone makes it easier for a shopper to look for products in a similar category without spending too much time and makes the shopper prefer the mall with the right mix over other destinations. Also, there should be something for every member of the family,” said Yogeshwar Sharma, executive director and CEO, Select Citywalk (Delhi).

According to experts, the northern region has a huge potential but in the absence of proper planning and design, these malls are not doing well. For example, there have been instances where there is a demand and retail space is not there and where there is little demand, there is influx of malls. 

“We see the likelihood of acquisitions of malls that are not performing well by investment funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts in future because it will de-risk the original investor and capitalise on best management capabilities. Best practices in retail and technology will drive the future of malls as they strongly compete with e-commerce,” he added.

“The reason behind most of the malls in the region not doing well is the supply has not been in right quadrant, virtually affecting their sustainability. The strata-owned malls, where developers sold off store by store to individual investors, are struggling and finally will be converted into neighbourhood stores, office space and clinics etc.,” said Pankaj Renjhen, COO of Virtuous Retail. The company has a mall in Mohali district of Punjab and is growing at 25%. 

Prominent ONES in region

• Some of the malls that are really doing well are Select Citywalk (Delhi), Ambience Malls (Gurgaon & Vasant Kunj), DLF Malls (Mall of India, Promenade) and Pacific Mall, Rajouri Garden 
• There are around 75-80 malls in Punjab. But relevant ones are very few like Elante (Chandigarh), Alpha One (Amritsar), VR Punjab (Mohali), MBD Neopolis (Jalandhar & Ludhiana) and Trillium (Amritsar)