A look into the mall structure

The structure of a mall too plays a crucial role, beside other attractions, such as a good anchor store, a kid’s centre to relieve us from all day prank of the little ones, a spacious food court, which dishes out every possible cuisine, a multiplex to catch all the latest movies and finally a great parking space. It has a great impact on the shopping experience of consumers   

Structures speak

Unlike foreign countries, Indian malls are constructed based simply on design principles, neglecting shopping principles. And that’s the reason why many malls fail to generate adequate footfalls and the retail excitement. The unavailability of land has pushed the developers to think about vertical construction, but the point should be made so that the brand visibility doesn’t get reduced. A clever introduction of an atrium along the entire width of the mall can solve the problem. However, many malls do succeed to pull the customers. “We design keeping in mind the objective of not only the shopping experience but also the experience of entertainment for both nuclear and a joint family. Therefore, we don’t refer to our developments as Malls or Plazas but as Destination Points or as City Centres”, says Mr. Prodipta Sen, VP- Marketing, Corporate Affairs & Retail at  Alpha G Corp. But we should also remember that an appropriate structure cannot only ensure success. A lot of research is involved before setting up a mall. “There are many things we take care of, like catchment, supply of retail space, buying habits of the target group (TG), population & SEC profiling of the customers, etc.” says Mr Susil S Dungarwal, the founder of Beyond Squarefeet. To this Mr Rajiv Duggal, CEO, Select City Walk adds “Catchment will determine the zoning; you won’t open a luxury brand at Sahibabad, where the spending power is not much. It’s not the right TG.”

While both horizontal and vertical structures are being pitted against each other, which one stands as a better option for the consumers? Which one is the favourite of the retailer? All these questions spring up in our minds. “Horizontal malls are usually expensive as land resource is limited. Vertical malls are economical, look grandeur, offer more, all offerings can be seen from all levels”, says Mr Raj Singh Gehlot, Chairman & Managing Director, Ambience mall. Contradicting this statement Mr Duggal adds, “We can’t compare both, as in the name of vertical structure we aren’t above 3 to 4 floors. We have developed from high street to malls, so shoppers are more comfortable shopping in a horizontal structure. It’s said ‘as women climb higher floors their power of spending becomes low.”’

Vertical vs horizontal

The structures of mall affect the walking habits of the consumer. We walk horizontally and going upwards is a tedious job if we consider theory of gravity. This affects the vertical mall structures than the horizontal ones. However, the use of elevators and escalators is a common solution for vertical movement. On other hand, covering the sprawling area on each floor of a horizontally spread out mall can be equally tiresome for consumers. Nowadays developers are coming up with adequate resting zones to cope this problem. Developers differ on this issue. “It is human to find it an uphill task to move vertically. Horizontal movement is far more convenient”, says Mr Sen. Mr Ghelot differs to this conception saying, “The vertical mall offers solutions on each floor for vertical movement. That is how challenges of human tendency are greatly reduced.”

It’s more costly to build tall vertical structures than low ones, so owners need to risk more money to get started and then charge stores higher-than-average rents to extract construction costs.

Randy Brant of Macerich Co. once visited examples in Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, on hearing the success of vertical malls. But far from being impressed, he discovered that the floors above the third floor have high vacancy rates and non-retail uses like dentists’ offices.  This made obvious that traffic was off there and the landlords were getting lower rents upstairs.

Retailers’ choice

The malls are made for the retailers to buy the space so their preferences in the structure do matter. So what do retailers want? “Retailers have a mind set that everything should be on ground floor. We need to educate our retailers about vertical space”, says Mr Duggal. Mr Sen also agrees to the same as he explains, “Ideally horizontal with not too many levels so as to ensure consumer convenience work the most.”

Speaking money

The consumers prefer shopping on the lower floors, then what happens to the space in the upper floors? “The upper floors have to be an attractive destination and efforts have to be made initially to pull customers, post which the ball is set rolling”, says Mr Gehlot. To this Mr Dungarwal contradicts - “Both are different things and cannot be compared, however, there are certain retail formats which cannot work on upper floors and there are a few retail formats, which may not be sustainable on the lower floors. You should know what to put at what place.”

Future plans

Talking about expenses Mr Sen says, “It depends on the design element more than the structure of a mall when it comes to expensive built”.

Horizontal malls are obviously the current favourite of all, be it the consumer or retailer; we need to know is there a market for vertical malls? “In a 5 star hotel the presidential suite is at the top most level and people do pay for that luxury. Hotel industry is 50 years old in India and the mall culture is just 5 years old. We need to give it more time. Also, if you get more popular brand to open stores on the upper floor it’s obvious that the footfall would increase”, says Mr Dugaal.

The solution would be in the offerings and the best retail experience that will ensure profitability for all the stakeholders.