Malls banking on technology to attract customers

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25

Next time when you are visiting a popular multiplex in Chandigarh or Punjab, don’t be surprised if you get an option to book your parking space in advance or your mobile phone helping you in getting real-time offers from the famous brands at the mall. 

As shoppers are showing more inclination towards online retailers, multiplexes in the region are focusing on customer-centric approach and plan to deploy technology to attract potential customers. Chandigarh and Punjab has nearly 30 multiplexes.

According to industry insiders, aided by factors such as rising disposable incomes, lifestyle changes and increased digital connectivity, tier 2 and 3 cities in Punjab will set the pace for growth in the retail industry.

“We are in process of tying up with a company to use information technology for booking parking space in advance while sitting at home to avoid parking hassles.  Also, we plan to extend customer-centric concepts like augmented reality to our malls in tier 2 cities like Chandigarh and Amritsar. We have hired a Belgium-based company for augmented reality, under which we will have a Nexus Grab mobile app, where discounts will be flashed. All you need to do is pick it, pluck it, come to the mall and avail the discount,” Nexus Mall chief marketing officer Nishank Joshi told The Tribune. The company owns Elante Mall in Chandigarh and “Mall of Amritsar” in Punjab. 

Nexus Mall is also planning to use Wi-Fi to monitor which stores customers visit and the ones they skip. “Based on Wi-Fi mapping, we counsel retailers on how they should enhance their appeal and share with customers the offers introduced by the stores they visit more often. Since this mapping is permission-based, customers get information only about those retail outlets which are of interest to them,” said Joshi.

He said tech-driven aspects like artificial intelligence, data analytics, geo tagging, omni-channel shopping networks and consumer-centric platforms such as augmented reality or virtual reality will play an even bigger role in 2019 and will be key components to attract customers.

In fact, the key differentiator between present-day malls and malls of the future will be the constant integration of such technologies and multi-channel strategies,” he said.

“To enhance shopping experience, we are developing software for customers. The software can be installed on smartphone and it can help the customers locate a particular brand. It will alert the customers about real- time offers from a particular brand. Besides this, we will be adding more features in the app for getting feedbacks,” said MBD Neoplis general manager Sandeep Rawat. The company has two malls — one each in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

According to a senior official in VR Punjab mall (Mohali), malls are no longer just about shopping, they are about experiences and digital technology is extremely crucial and imperative in delivering the experience to consumers.

Customer-centric initiative

• Booking parking space in advance
• Real-time discounts to customers
• Mapping the customer experience
• Advising the retailers to boost sales