Mall culture losing its steam
There was a time when those swanky malls, especially in a metro city, were seen as a death knell to the traditional retail stores. A decade or so later, it seems the fad for malls is losing its steam.
01 Jun 2015 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma
Mall culture losing its steam
If you consider the Delhi-NCR region, for example, according to a Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) India report, just 13 malls among the 95 operational malls are doing good business. In other words, as much as 86% of the malls are doing poor or merely average businesses.
According to the JLL report, no other city comes close to the number of operational malls found in Delhi-NCR. There are around 255 operational malls in the top seven cities of India and Mumbai comes at the second spot with 46 malls out of which 10-15 are successful, while the others are not attracting enough shoppers. Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad are some of the other cities included in the report.
The success rate of these malls varies, usually depending on factors like design and layout, the malls brand positioning, location and how well they cater for the needs of their target segments. Besides, whether or not they have been able to evolve into family destinations rather than just remaining shopping centres plays a big role, the report points out.
The report also states that among these seven cities, Delhi-NCR is currently best placed for hosting successful, large-sized malls.
The report reveals that leading malls enjoy the privilege of deciding on which brands to house, and continuously monitor all stores in case they follow a revenue share model. Global and leading Indian brands either prefer to lease spaces in premium malls or go in for high street retail locations. They are even willing to wait for vacancy in premium malls.
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