Gratifying customers

India is seeing a lot of malls coming up, but the one which keeps going is the one which gives better coverage to brands and great experience for customer who walk in. DLF Place Saket is offering the same and working towards a better future. Benu Sehgal, Vice President, Mall Management, DLF discusses the plans in an interaction with Gunjan Piplani.

Gunjan Piplani (GP): What is the USP of your mall?

Benu Sehgal (BS): DLF Place,Saket has a eclectic mix of International and Indian brands which caters to almost all the age groups. Our mall offers the best of the dining options with almost all cuisines.

GP: If we talk about the nearby catchment area, who is your target audience?

BS: Being placed in South Delhi, our target regions are Saket, Shivalik, GK, Malviya Nagar, Sainik Farms, South-Extension and Chanakya Puri.

 GP: The Indian consumers always look for a complete experience, what kind of experiences does your mall offer?

BS: We offer shopping experience through a variety of brands at our mall. We cater to all age groups as we have brands including Marks & Spencers, Pure Homes, Vero Moda, DKNY, Mothercare, Boggi, Claires, Elle and Barbie.

The mall also offers F&B options with restaurants like Hard Rock Café, Big Chill, The Monk, TGIF and food court which has a presence of all cuisines while entertainment options like DT cinemas and a popular play area for kids called ‘Kiddyland’ is also available.

GP: Talking about brands, which are biggies that operate in the space, new additions happened and brands that are likely to join?

BS: The biggies at the mall include Mark & Spencers, Jack&Jones, Vero Moda, Only , Mothercare and Pure Homes.

The new additions to the mall are Jamun Tree, Barbie and Claires while the soon to the mall are The Beer Café, Yo China Café, Hamleys and Vans.

 GP: What kind of tie ups do you have with the brands? Do you sell out or lease the space (Kindly elaborate the model you follow)?

BS: We follow both the leasing and revenue share model.

GP:  Has inflation or slowdown, affected the way the people shop? What is the average footfall of the mall (weekdays and weekends)? What change have you seen in past one year?

BS: No, the inflation or slow down has not affected the footfall. The average footfall on a weekday is approx is 45,000 and on a weekend is 65,000. Along with the footfall, sales have also gone up. The proportion of serious buyers has gone up.

GP: Kindly elaborate on the marketing and promotional strategies? What in-mall activities that take place?

BS: Apart from the entertainment quotient, our activities are also inclined towards gratifying the shoppers in the mall while ensuring that the right target group is visiting us and our retailers are getting the profit out of it.

We constantly make an effort to offer many more reasons other than shopping to visit DLF Place and do events that would attract young couples and youth.

GP: In terms of expansion, what more do we see coming up in the mall? What investments are in the pipeline?

BS: The new additions to the mall would be an anchor tenant, which would further enhance footfalls and provide for more shopping avenues.

GP:  What are the present revenues and growth rate? What are your expectations for the future?

We don’t share number in terms of revenues but yes the mall is growing at a rate of 20 per cent. In future, the aim is better sales per sq ft and efficiency of sales for tenants.