The second day of the India Shopping Centre Forum (ISCF) 2012 witnessed support service providers from across the country discuss about the need for good technologies and more investment on Common Area Maintenance Services (CAM) like parking, house keeping, security, and marketing of the malls. Moderated by Subhrangshu Pani, Joint MD-Retail, Jones Lang LaSalle, the third session of the second day at the ISCF initiated talks on the support services being the backbone of successful shopping centres. Anil Makhija, VP, Skidata; Naveen Luthra, VP-Strategic Alliances, Getit; Sathyanarayan, MD, CPS; Wilfred H. Menezes, CEO, Omnitec Group; and Sanjay Prabhu, CMO, Beyond Squarefeet were the panelists who expressed their views on the same.
For any customer at a mall, it is the shopping experience that matters the most. Right from parking to security, they expect the best of services provided by the mall owners. Speaking on this, Sanjay Prabhu, CMO, Beyond Squarefeet said, “Mall developers should make it a point to have the best services provided, as it not only makes your customers happy, but is also of great benefit to you. It’s the security guard that a shopper comes across first while entering the mall. So mall developers should employ well-trained security guards at every nook-and-corner of the mall, in order to ensure safety to the customers.”
With parking services at malls becoming a huge issue to both mall developers and shoppers, panelists discussed how parking at malls pose a major challenge and how the problem can be tackled. “Initially parking system at malls wasn’t taken seriously. Though there was an increase in footfalls at the mall, but there wasn’t any increase in parking space for the customers. But there has been a distinct shift where mall developers have realised the need to involve car parking service providers, in order to help them facilitate and generate more parking space for the shoppers,” stressed Sathyanarayan. Menezes further added: “In South-East Asian countries, parking service providing companies are involved in the project right from the initial days of mall planning. But in India, parking comes into the picture, once the structure of the mall has been built. Indian mall developers should understand that involving parking management companies can avoid faltering them. Good technologies and providing great comfort to the customers is what is required. Installing equipments that will provide high security to the mall and its customers can also save a lot of revenue garnered.”
The concept of mass media marketing adopted by several mall developers helps them in creating mall identity and its image in the market. But there has been a lot of wastage of such facilities too.“Around 10 percent of the CAM is allocated for the marketing services. Apart from print, social media, and smartphones are playing a great role in creating awareness for a mall in public. Social media presence helps mall owners to know the number of visitors on the company page, number of clicks, comments, and so on. Even mobile apps available in smartphones have made the business of marketing pretty easier. By 2015, people belonging to the SEC A are sure to be using smartphones. These technologies are cheap but have a better and long-lasting impact on the customers,” pointed out Luthra.
With facilities like house keeping and security playing a vital role in creating a good image of the mall, Prabhu said, “The major problem today with security guards and house keeping staff is that they aren’t well-trained. Malls often compromise on these two aspects of CAM and try saving money when it comes to employing them. But a major share of the investment should go into hiring the best of people in this field, even if it gets costlier. After all, customers can wait for 15 minutes at the valet, but would not compromise or visit a restroom or mall that is dirty, unhygienic, and not well maintained.”
Throwing light on what changes should be incorporated by mall developers to ensure better experience to their customers, Makhija said, “Instead of having multiple CCTV cameras, image capturing of cars and people visiting the mall should be done technologically at the entrance. Taking a note of the vehicular footfalls, more men can be deployed at the parking space. Instead of incurring the parking charges while leaving the mall, mall developers should integrate with the multiplexes and should take parking charges from their customers while they purchase movie tickets.”
-Tista Sengupta
