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The new age shopping experience

Malls offer quality stuff at low prices while allowing customers to take their pick in a relaxed ambience, writes B. Madhu Gopal

PHOTOS: K.R. DEEPAK

AMBIENCE MATTERS An inside view of two malls

Shopping has never been such fun. Want to buy anything under the sun? Just walk into a retail chain store or a mall and shop in an air-conditioned ambience at your own pace.

Walk through the neatly stacked shelves, pick your choice, put them on a trolley and continue with your shopping.

Tired? Have your fill at the attached eatery and continue your quest for more products with renewed zeal. The growing patronage of retail chain stores and malls indicates the changing lifestyle of the people and their shopping preferences.

The average urban middle class man seems to have neither the inclination nor the time to hop from shop to shop to pick up his choice. Paucity of time due to the growing dual income families and rise in disposable income is also fuelling the demand for one-stop-shops.

Little wonder that in hardly three years after the first mall was opened at Jagadamba junction, about half-a-dozen malls, hypermarkets and chain stores have already made inroads into the city. Two multiplexes are under construction and a few more are in the offing.

Not long ago high specialisation and branded showrooms were the order of the day. Several eyebrows were raised when CMR Mall was opened three years ago. Does the city have such potential? Will buyers patronise the mall? Though the promoter Chandana Mohan Rao had got a survey done, he kept his fingers crossed till the launch.

It, however, didn't take long to prove his detractors wrong.

Fierce competition has already set in among the malls to the benefit of customers. Middle and lower middle class people are now able to get costly home appliances and electronic goods at very low prices. The corporate retail chains with a nation-wide presence are selling some products at even one-tenth of their price.

Big Bazaar, which has about 150 outlets across the country, is also promoting small retailers by partly having the shop-in-shop concept. The selected retailers put up their counters and sell through the outlet. The small retailers also lower their prices as they gain through bulk sales.

Spencer's Hypermarket, after its success at Resapuvanipalem, has opened a second one `Spencer's Daily' at NAD Kotha Road and another chain store Magna has also opened shop at Butchirajupalem nearby.

"Saving in costs, ambience, comfort and added facilities attract customers to our mall. The added advantage is that families with busy working schedules can finish off their shopping at one go," says Sridhar, proprietor of Kalaniketan.

Kalaniketan has recorded an average growth of 30 per cent since it was opened two years ago. "Ours is a traditional concept and we market saris, jewellery, readymade textiles and cosmetics. We are not into furniture," he adds.

"The concept of malls has already caught up in a big way in the metros and people of the city do not want to lag behind. The concept of providing everything under one roof is working wonders and we have recorded a positive growth since our launch two years ago," says A. Panduranga Rao, managing director of ANR Mall.

ANR has plans to shift its electronic appliances showroom located at TSR Complex to the mall very soon. It also has plans to open a branch in Tanuku in West Godavari district on Vijaya Dasami day. It would be the first mall in that town.

"Though we had teething problems for about a year after the launch, there was no looking back ever since. The growth in sales for the last three years has been good. Wide range of goods, service and competitive rates make customers come back to us every time," says Mavoori Venkata Ramana, managing director of CMR Mall.

He doesn't see the entry of corporates and Multi National Companies as a threat. "We seek healthy competition. It's good for customers as they can choose from the available range and pick up the best and the sellers are benefited by increased sales. Our sales have increased after the entry of competitors," he says.

"The tie-up with manufacturers and direct purchases from the mills in bulk is helping us in maintaining the prices at the bare minimum. Though the entry of foreign companies in future is bound to lead to cut-throat competition, Indian players with their high standards and better understanding of consumer behaviour would be able to withstand the competition", he adds.

CMR is constructing a multiplex near Maddilapalem. To be constructed on the lines of malls in Dubai, it scheduled for opening in early 2008.

Another multiplex is being constructed on the old Super Bazaar site. There are proposals for construction of multiplexes at MVP Colony and a few other places.

Going by the current trend, the next few years will see a spurt in the number of shopping malls in the city.

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