Malls across cities capitalised on pent-up demand, as they reopened doors for customers on Monday (June 8). A mall in Durgapur saw a single customer spending Rs 1.42 lakh, while two stores at a mall in Lucknow witnessed more than Rs 10 lakh worth of sales in a single day.

While footfalls were lower than usual at most malls, shopping centres in small towns saw up to 70% of their regular footfall.

To take stock of Day 1, several shopping centre heads and senior mall management executives came together as part of a round table organised by the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) on Monday evening to discuss trends across cities, and several interesting conclusions came out of the discussion.

Reopening malls

250 malls of about 650 large ones, measuring over 1 lakh square feet, reopened across India on Monday, with some seeing up to 70 percent footfall on Day 1.

Several states allowed malls to reopen, and cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and several smaller towns saw customers streaming in to malls.

Managements said while there was lower footfall, malls were seeing serious buyers who are walking out with multiple shopping bags.

Electronics and fashion were among the top products that customers bought, and smaller towns were seeing better footfalls of customers who were breaking out of catchments areas to go shopping.

“We have opened a dozen malls in the past but reopening of three malls on Monday was more euphoric than the 12 in the past,” said Rajendra Kalkar, president (West) of The Phoenix Mills, which opened its centres in Bengaluru, Lucknow and Bareilly on Monday.

“Retailers are supporting us. We are seeing good traction coming from consumers,” he added.

Phoenix Mills in Bengaluru saw footfall of 2,000 customers until 2 pm on Monday, while the mall in Lucknow saw over 1000 customers.

Other malls across cities also saw a few thousand customers walking in on day 1.

Ahmedabad One Mall saw 2,500 footfalls on Monday, while PhoenixMarketCity in Bengaluru saw 2,500 customers walk in.

Malls in several areas are reopening gradually, with DLF Mall in Noida looking to reopen this week while Lulu Mall in Kochi is restarting operations on Tuesday.

Smaller towns see bigger customer appetite

Smaller towns like Durgapur, Bareilly and other areas saw more footfalls as well as larger customer spends during the day.

The Junction Mall in Durgapur in West Bengal saw 3,000 customers walk in on Monday, and a single customer shopped for Rs 1.42 lakh, COO Arijit Chatterjee said.

At the Phoenix United, Lucknow, two stores crossed Rs 10 lakh worth of sales in a day, Sanjeev Sarin, centre director at the mall said, adding that stores are seeing close to 100 percent conversion.

At Elante Mall, Chandigarh, brands saw bills of Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000 on average, according to Trinath K, Centre Director of the mall.

In Puducherry, Providence Mall saw a footfall of 1,500 on Day 1.

Shopping resumes: Electronics, cosmetics in demand

The pent-up customer demand for large-ticket purchases were witnessed across malls, especially in categories such as electronics and cosmetics.

“Electronics, skin care, fast fashion reported good sales,” said Gajendra Rathod of Phoenix MarketCity in Bengaluru.

“Every customer is walking out with shopping bags,” he said, adding that customers are also spending more time, with an average duration of 1.5 hours.

SELECT CityWalk saw big traction in personal care, electronics, and also in home products and apparel.

“We saw a lot of sales of Apple phones and MacBook Pros on Monday,” said Nimesh Arora, director, Select CityWalk, Saket.

Cosmetics and Salons saw maximum activity at malls such as the Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad.

“Salons and cosmetic stores saw 70% of their average weekday sale," said Sharat Belavadi, center head, Inorbit Malls, Hyderabad.

At the Hyderabad mall, a customer billed Rs 20,000 at Shoppers Stop, he added.

F&B sales at malls are still to pickup given that several restaurants and food outlets are yet to reopen.

KFC and Dominos are doing well at the mall, said Sanjeev Sarin of Phoenix United, Lucknow.

Safety first

Senior management of several malls said they were paying extra attention to safety and the SOPs laid down by the government, and many are also going beyond the guidelines.

“We have created a 38-page SOP,” said Kalkar of Phoenix Mills.

“Right from the entry of the customer or staff, there has been a robust SOP when it comes to everything, from the lift button, the washroom, within the elevator, at the parking, even in the smoking zone, every touch point has undergone a huge amount of study, and a robust SOP has been created,” he said.

Nexus Mall has appointed an external auditor Bureau Veritas in place to make sure all the SOP norms are being followed across all their portfolio of malls.

Shoes brands are asking customers to wear a thin plastic cover before trying out shoes.

Customers themselves have been much more disciplined and cautious, the mall management highlighted.

“It would take us a lot of time earlier to educate customers on protocol, but now they are very disciplined and are observing all guidelines,” said Siddarth Pansari, managing director at Primarc Group.

First Published:Jun 9, 2020 6:21 PM IST