Showing posts with label phoenix market city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phoenix market city. Show all posts

19 August, 2018

Can Malls resurrect?

I went to a once-upon-a-time popular Mall in Chennai a week back – to watch a movie at Inox. I went 10 mins before the show began; during the intermission, I bought a Samosa and Tea for Rs. 200 and left the venue just after the film ended. There was nothing for me in the mall to hang around. No coffee shops, interesting retail concepts, a poorly scattered food court and absolutely uninteresting Mall Management. The toilet was a saving grace, neat and clean as always. 


Chennai Citi Centre was one of the earliest new-age Malls in Chennai which opened almost a decade back. Compared to the previously popular and hugely successful Spencer’s Plaza, Citi Centre managed by the ETA Group preferred to lease retail spaces as against selling them like Spencer’s. The initial euphoria was huge – located on RK Salai leading to the world-famous Marina Beach and the road being used by two former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu viz., Dr. Karunanidhi and Dr. J Jayalalitha for their daily commute. The road was in its best form all these years with Traffic Police stationed all day and night as well as reasonably safe. The Mall opened with Chenai’s iconic Landmark Store, Lifestyle and Inox as anchors followed by Foodworld, Mc Donalds & KFC in the food court and roof top; a slew of national and international brands followed. The “Marina” food court had some interesting concepts offering a range of food and beverage options. Café Coffee Day was conspicuously missing inside. Instead, CCD opened a café right opposite the Mall which continues to be a crowd puller. The Atrium would be used for interesting events and activities.

A few years in to it’s bull run, Express Avenue Mall opened 3 kms away, followed by Phoenix Market City two years back. With a spread of no more than 2 lakh sq.ft for Retail and F&B, Inox Cinemas spread over 30,000 sft, private Office spaces spread over 20,00 sft. and two levels of basement Car Parking, the Mall had little to offer in terms of retail space. As always, Small is Beautiful. Plus, it had a great locational advantage. But the Mall Management let the mall die a slow death for reasons best known to them. Almost all the original Retailers have vacated but for Basics Life and Giordano apart from Lifestyle and Inox. I approached the Mall Management two years back and suggested we could do wonders with what we have on hand and give a run for money due to its locational advantage and easy access to South Madras. They refused to oblige and have remained adamant on letting the opportunity pass by. Even now, the mall is sitting on a gold mine, if only one could take a serious look at what could be done to make it great, once again. 


Citi Centre is not an isolated case. During the Mall boom in India between 2006 – 2012, about 800 Malls of all shapes and sizes were operational at its peak across India’s Top 50 cities & towns. Thanks to a slowing economy since 2013 onwards, uncertain consumer sentiment and tough business conditions, more than half of them have shut down or have morphed in to Office spaces. A recent research report suggested that the Mall vacancies have improved off late and over 80 Malls are expected to open in the next 24 months across India. As we speak about this, VR Chennai opened its doors to the city just a month ago, spread over a million sft. 

So what happens to these Malls which do not get the desired traffic (of customers) anymore? Many people compare this situation to the Ghost Malls in the US, which I believe is not fair. The Indian Economy continues to show strong signs but for some shortfalls here and there. Older Malls can be resurrected, if only the Mall Owners prefer to do so. In our country where most of the Malls are owned by Real Estate companies, their only focus is generating a certain “revenue” per sft. Taking an extra mile to get consumers walking in regularly and keeping them hooked – this is no rocket science. Can be done pretty easily at much lower costs with very minimal efforts. Add to this, inefficient Management Teams in many cases who have never worked earlier in Malls or have a deeper understanding of Retail dynamics. Just that the Mall Owners must come out of their slumber and their fixation for a certain “fixed” revenue model and consider Professional Management. Malls are community centers and Mall owners must connect with the consumers and not just their bank a/cs.
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05 April, 2017

D for Delight - Customer Delight

It is an almost daily endeavour for Retailers to “delight” their customers, which is perhaps the highest level of “Customer Service & Engagement”.  Brands like Apple, Gap, Disney, are a few global examples that have delighted their customers, which have become global case studies. Back home, Retailers like Shoppers Stop and Café Coffee Day have set very high benchmarks in Customer Delight which are continued to be emulated by small and medium retailers till date. One such recent example is restaurant chain “Rajdhani” which recently held a special preview for their preferred guests of the “Aamlicious” menu.


We were invited to be part of this special Dinner session on Monday 3rd April 2017 at the flagship outlet of Rajdhani that was held at Phoenix Market City, a premium Mall in the suburbs of Chennai. Even as we entered, the entire team who were eagerly awaiting our arrival welcomed us with a special mango-based welcome drink. The Head of customer engagement was personally present at the event who struck an instant conversation with all the guests. She was open to discuss the current business scenario and informed us that post Demonitisation, there hasn’t been much impact for them since a majority of their customers paid through debit or credit cards.



After a while of socializing, the team started serving the new Aamlicious menu, which is a summer menu with Mango, the King of fruits and the summer special as a central theme. There were starters, salads, entrees, main course items and of course the desserts. The Captain of the table explained each item in great detail and suggested pairing of food with the new Aamlicious menu. Despite our repeated requests, the team went on serving more and more of the tasty items that we were feeling over-fed in just 30-45 mins since starting dinner. I had to take a 5 minute break before the dinner was all over. At the end, we were introduced to the Maharaaj, the Chief cook who comes up with such delicacies year after year through extensive research and analysis of customer preferences.



To experience this menu, reach out to any of the Rajdhani outlets in your city.

So here are some lessons from this initiative of the Food Retailer about Customer Delight which is worthy of emulation by the Industry.

Remember your Customers: Every time you have a special activity, a new product launch or a new menu, do remember your loyal patrons. A single happy customer (like me) will talk about their happy experience to a hundred people.

Product Consistency: If you are in a product business, especially the food business, it is vital to ensure the consistency of the quality of the food items. It is one thing to invite guests but if the quality slips, everything is down the drain.



In-Store Experience: Retail is a business where no matter how many millions are spent on Marketing, Advertising, Branding & Promotion, it is the final experience that the customer encounters at the store that matters the most.

--> Customer Delight is not a destination but a journey which Retailers need to keep working on constantly, every day, every time the customer visits us.

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