The shopping malls in India have evolved keeping pace with recent transformations in the urban lifestyle. With the Indian customers becoming more discerning and discreet, the malls are also upping the ante to match the standards of the globetrotting urban Indians. Malls have now become social spaces they were always meant to be as customers visiting one look for an experience that is beyond just shopping.Entertainment or, as we like to put it, Retailtainment, is the new buzz words.
Rise of FECs (Family Entertainment Centres) and amusement parks will become the quintessential part of malls in the near future. All the successful malls in the world have Retailtainment as a part and parcel of their mall mix. Following suit, this culture is being increasingly included as an important aspect of most malls in India.
Talking on the same, Rajneesh Mahajan, COO, Inorbit Mall, says, “In future, customer-visits to malls may be less for product purchases and more to do with leisure and entertainment. Memorable experiences will decide the success of malls.”
Deepti Sood, Head of Ambience Mall, added that, “There will be a compelling need to create customer-focused experiences to offer a complete one-stop family centre and social space. Our heritage and culture will have to be seamlessly integrated with the malls’ DNA.”
Majority of the developers are awaking to creating arcade style malls to not merely increase footfalls but also to develop entertainment spaces that can change the fate of the malls and, at the same time, interweave soul and life into the very fabric of the malls.
Many of the stalwarts of the industry, have brainstormed and ideated many great thoughts on what it takes to build a successful mall. To know more about this thoughts and many similar pressing issues, join us at The India Shopping Centre Forum 2014, which will bring together the stalwarts of the business to talk fresh and discuss tangible ideas for positive development with customer service in focus. ISCF 2014 is going to be held at The Renaissance Convention Centre, Powai, Mumbai, on 7th and 8th May, 2014.
