Mall Ignorance!

Have you been to malls....? Do you enjoy or appreciate the mall decor and events at mall. The lavish lights on Diwali and the all pink n rosy decor on Valentines Day, the snow & Santa with rein-deers in the Christmas season......isn't that all very beautiful like a big treat they offer to you. They make you feel special on a valentines day by throwing several contests and offering gifts for you and your beloved. There are several Lucky Draws on Diwali...events for gifting you an antique for your living room or the numerous discount coupons or just the decor to spread festivities in the air. 

Have you ever felt left alone on the National Days. An ode to nation by spreading the national flag's colors in the mall is what they do- is that all? Why there are no  offers.....made to the mall visitors? I think they should celebrate the Independence & Republic Day to an extent that each visitor shall feel pride of being Indian. We can always celebrate these days at mall and take pride in being an Indian citizen. Yes, despite knowing the lacunae in the system, the days are meant for celebrations. 

Why limit these days - just to the Big Bazaar's ways which amazingly is being followed by the other hypermarkets including the Easy Day from Bharti and Reliance Fresh. The SALE! SALE! SALE! factor is not a compensation as the consumer is aware of the End of Season sale..which almost nears Republic Day. Why do the real estate giants do not make it a big celebration day at their property? Why are they averse to the celebrations on these days of national importance? 

Another startling fact is, the average Event Spend on the Independent & Republic Day is almost 4-10% of the event budgets  for Diwali, Christmas & Valentines. 

This is a sad and thought provoking. Is it based out on Consumer Behavior or it is the way the Marketer leads the consumer??

Happy Republic Day - Say it Loud!

Mall Management - New Kid on the Retail Playground!!

Malls – Everyone is visiting them.

Moms shopping, Dads outing or a Kid zone, you say it and they have it!

What is the one thing which makes them so special?

Convenience! Aesthetics! Service! Experience! Infrastructure! People!

Or, all of them or may be just the craze.

Malls are a new concept in Indian retail. Initiated with a Bang (read: the first timers), controversial for the frequent comparisons with the local ‘kirana’ stores and now struggling for better footfalls & conversions.

Honestly, I have been working on certain malls recently, Goodness! What an experience but what a learning indeed…….so much to do for many customers for so many brands under one roof. And this one is just a start for a journey through malls…..

Huh..! Doesn’t even sounds easy and take my words it isn’t an easy job for a marketer, a retail investor or a consultant like me.

Challenges for the Mall Owners/Retailers& all those working with them are –

v Customer Preferences
v Innovative Concepts
v Décor – External/Internal/Theme based/Specific TG oriented.
v Customer Convenience – Anything you organize should not cause any kind of customer traffic jams inside the mall.
v Facility Management – No customer actually tolerates a mall with power cuts, stuck escalators, dirty walls etc. So, that becomes a major challenge again, where your people management skills come into picture too.
v Budget Constraints.
v Timelines- One cannot take up & execute such projects during daytime.
v Infrastructure – You need extraordinary equipments for execution, remember the sizes of these malls!

These and more in the upcoming posts….

Note: Usage of technical jargons is avoided to make it easy to understand for all.