Malls see higher conversions from lower footfalls after resumption of ops

Malls, which reopened in the last fortnight, after being in lockdown for two months are seeing higher conversions from footfalls despite fewer visitors on the back of need-based shopping. Sales have picked up across the board for clothing, electronics and computers, and specific home accessories.

According to a recent roundtable conducted by the Shopping Centers Association of India, trends vary depending on the city and the state the mall is located in. While the Centre Square Mall in Kochi saw a 65 per cent return in footfall with people buying groceries and apparel, the Kolkata-based Ambuja Neotia Group's malls showed an uptick in sales of computers, phones, and sporting accessories from Adidas and Reebok. The Pacific Mall in New Delhi has seen 78 per cent of its retailers open doors with sales surging for Apple products and Zara's apparel.

Uma Talreja Chief Marketing & Customer Officer for Shoppers Stop, which runs 90 department stores across the country, said, "There is a growing trend of men visiting the store rather than women. They come alone and shop for the whole family. Beauty, children’s wear, inner wear, and home categories perform better, while there is a decline in luggage, footwear, handbags, sunglasses, and formalwear categories."

Conversions hold promise despite lower traffic

Rajneesh Mahajan, CEO of Inorbit Malls, whose Bangalore, Hyderabad and Vadodara units are open, said, "We see 25 to 28 per cent of footfalls as the same time as last year and 35 to 40 per cent of sales. Children's wear, easy wear, sportswear is selling," he said.

Premium malls report "new mall syndrome" after reopening

Sanjeev Mehra, Vice President of Quest Properties India that runs the Quest Mall in Kolkata said, "People come surely and slowly for a newly-opened mall, and that is how shoppers are now coming. Footfalls are around 12 per cent of pre-Covid-19 era, but are growing week on week and we should get to 35 per cent in a couple weeks." "Premium malls lag behind mass malls. In demographics its single adults or couple but no children at the malls," he says, adding that no cinema and 9 pm curfew means a certain reduction in overall numbers," he said.

Like him, Rajendra Kalkar , President at Phoenix Mills, whose malls in Bangalore and Bareilly in UP are open, sees between 10,000 to 15,000 daily footfalls in the malls with sales being 50 per cent of last year. In Bareilly, stores are performing better than the year before, he said. "We are seeing good traction in electronics, dailywear apparel and personal care. In malls where salons are open, we are seeing growth," he added.

Retail brands in high street malls have it better than others

Meghna Singh, CEO of Apple reseller Aptronix, which has at least 9 stores across cities that are in malls and are open, said that footfalls were very low at about 20 per cent of what they used to be before the lockdown, but sales were as high as 90 per cent of the footfalls. She said that her high street units where egress was easy and which were less crowded helped. Others see similar trends.

"In the last week, we did business worth Rs 5 crore and consumers are buying stuff like computers, laptops, mobile phones which are now things that are essential," said Ramesh Pandey, whole time director with Ambuja Neotia Group, which runs City Center Salt Lake and City Center NewTown, Kolkata, adding that a recovery was underway. “We have recovered 30 per cent of our footfalls," he said.

Some malls are implementing visitor limits

Muhammad Ali, COO Mall division of the Prestige Group, which operates around 9 malls said, "Total footfall of malls has been limited to one-third by the operator." "Parking and automatic detectors stop access after a threshold. We are even launching an app so entries can be pre-booked," he added. While Prestige is seeing just 20 per cent of normal footfalls, it accounts for 40 per cent of turnover from last year. "Conversion rate used to be 10 per cent, it is now 100 per cent," he said.

In the long haul, a return to normalcy will be gradual. Gajendra Singh Rathore, senior centre director, Phoenix Marketcity Bengaluru, said he expects "a slow transition to regular footfalls as word of mouth is growing slowly adding that a few customers have also paid repeat visits."

BOX

Flying Off The Shelves New Customer Behaviour

Computers, Phones, Electronics Shoppers Are largely adult males, couples

Athleisure Wear Visit Durations Shorter, Targeted

Shoes High Footfall Conversions at 90 % Plus

Groceries, Food Items F&B Consumption Is Low

Source: Malls, Companies