Need-based shopping trips drive up footfall at malls in Pune

PUNE: City malls, which reopened on August 5, have reported an increase in footfall and sales.
Mall operators said more people are walking into malls with a purpose, which has resulted in higher conversion rates (store visits resulting in sales) than in pre-Covid times.

“I would say that conversion rates are as high as 90-95%, from about 30-40% earlier. People are coming in focused and picking up what they seriously need. No one is spending any extra time looking for things they don’t need,” said Shashank Pathak, centre director, West End Mall in Aundh.
He said this has given rise to expectations of a better festive season in October and November.
On weekdays, each mall seeks an average of 8,000 walk-ins. This doubles to 15,000 during the weekends. And mall operators said each day has been better than the previous one.
“Slowly, but steadily, the footfall is rising. Currently, 98% of the stores allowed are open in the mall,” Surjit Singh Rajpurohit, COO of Amanora Mall, said.
Before the pandemic hit, a majority would be drawn to the food court or the multiplex. Not considering such visitors, mall operators said they were seeing 40% of the footfall compared to pre-Covid levels, and about 35% of sales, which they said was encouraging.
“Only serious shoppers are visiting the mall ... the numbers are better than expectation,” said Arun Arora, centre director of Phoenix Marketcity in Vimannagar.
In Pavillion and West End, over 95% of the stores allowed to be operational are already open. Malls are allowed to allow only one person for every square foot of space, after leaving out blocked areas like food courts, multiplexes and gyms.
However, mall owners feel purpose-driven shopping will take them only so far — the crowd-pulling shop-entertainment options will have to reopen to sustain them in the long run. “We are hopeful that these categories will also be allowed in a couple of months with some restrictions. There is always the hope that vaccine might help us all out faster than expected,” West End’s Pathak said.
Nethra K, a visitor at a mall, said, “It is relaxing to get out of the house. Malls are being sanitized frequently and this gives me confidence to go and get what I need. And parking space is easy to find too.”