Retail business is highly unpredictable. There is no single recipe for a successful retail business.
The unpredictability becomes even more complex when so many retail outlets are in on single place like a shopping mall. In such case, mall acts like a small ecosystem. There are many factors which contribute to the success or failure of this ecosystem.
For the sake of simplicity of thought, I am writing all this in a simple, non-technical language. I would put the factors in 3 major categories:
- Where is the mall located– Location, catchment, ease of accessibility, traffic conditions etc. These are interrelated factors. Location name by itself is a reflection of the status of people (which in turn tells their spending capacity), civic facilities and quality of public areas in this given location. So, the location can be considered a general term for many micro aspects.
- How is the mall designed– Design of the Mall-Façade design (first impression) and outdoor spaces, Internal ambience, visibility of shops, Overall lighting, natural lighting, public facilities, the openness of corridors and public areas etc.
A mall should be understood like a machine where each part plays a vital role. Any single malfunctioning part will affect the whole mall. - How management plans and runs it – decisions on the size of the mall, ownership of shops, a mix of brands, promotions, advertisement, events and overall maintenance etc
Let us dive slightly deeper now.
Where is the mall –
Location:
- If the location falls in an affluent area, it is suitable for high end brands and will support the medium level brands as well in a calculated mix. The look and feel of the mall should be suitable for such brands.
- If the location is in a middle-class area, this might probably be a slightly congested area but would have high footfall, it can still be a good location for a mix of medium level brands and upcoming brands. Such malls attract more families than individuals. Adding family level food brands, gaming zones and cinema will help a lot.
- If the location is none of the above two, it is not a good location.
Catchment area:
While designing new malls, the scope of time must be kept in mind. All feasibility factors should consider the city masterplan and sometimes political conditions as well. Masterplan will help in predicting the catchment.
Catchment analysis is of utmost importance, which involves the study of demographics, psychographic and social-cultural characteristics. The customer catchment area is the geographical area from which a particular location draws its customer or prospects. People will come from immediate and neighbouring areas. People from far areas will not visit frequently unless there is any unique factor about this mall. For example, we can say that a mall has been designed for a catchment area of 4km radius. This would mean that this mall will serve this much area on a routine basis.
- Catchment area size- Demographics-Bigger catchment area would mean more potential buyers. More potential buyers would require bigger mall. This also means that there can more outlets of similar category which creates a healthy competition. Customer gets better variety and service. It also allows bigger ticket sizes outlets like cinema and superstores to be accommodated and operate successfully. Such big malls wont work if the catchment is small or is saturated.
Smaller catchment areas would ultimately reach a decision of not having a mall at all. A mall would be too big an ecosystem to sustain. Smaller local shopping complexes with fewer shops each will suffice. - Catchment Quality– Psychographics-Quality here means the spending capacity of people in the catchment area.
Large population with lesser spending capacity cannot support big brands or outlets. So, there would be no point of placing big brands. This automatically reduces the size of the mall as smaller brands never take up bigger spaces.
Smaller population with bigger spending capacity is good enough for big brands. However, in such case, smaller brands don’t work here. Once again, this factor reduces the size of the mall, but it is sustainable. Such malls, in few years, establish themselves as hub for big brands and fashion designers. They start attracting affluent people from far areas as well. Their chances of survival are quite high.
Medium to large population with a mix of spending capacities can support a good-sized mall as they can have big and medium brands with several other outlets. Food and beverage business has the best offerings here.
How is the mall designed– Design of the Mall-Façade design (first impression) and outdoor spaces, Internal ambience, visibility of shops, Overall lighting, natural lighting, public facilities, openness of corridors and public areas etc.
- Façade Design: The power of aesthetics can be easily felt while standing outside a mall. The treatment of external skin of the building should be very attractive and inviting It should be a like a well composed graphics. Presence of brands should be made clear in a very decent way. Facade should give a feeling of celebration.
It should not be cluttered with lot of elements, signages and hoardings. Any intricate design elements are difficult to clean and start looking ugly after some time. Materials should be chosen with clear understanding of their weatherproof properties. Façade is costly affair and cannot be redone so easily. - Outdoor spaces: The landscape around the building should be very well defined. Vehicular and pedestrian circulation signage should be very clear. Person should feel well guided and not lost. The surface treatment should such that it can be maintained regularly and speedily. There should be no un-organised green areas.
- Outward shops: Shops opening on outer face of the mall should be handled as part of façade scheme. Food shops with outdoor seating add to the warmth. Large clear show windows enhance the shopping impulse.
- Inside planning and Environment: Internal ambience is a result of- spaciousness, look and feel of materials used, play of natural and artificial lighting.
Atrium: Having an atrium inside a mall makes it look spacious and provides good natural light. The spaciousness helps the visibility of shops as well. Natural light increases the energy of the mall.
Visibility of shops: Visibility is one of the most important criteria. Each shop needs visibility.
Corridors: Single wide corridors are best. They allow complete visibility to each shop. Branching corridors should be avoided. Even if there are branched corridors, they should make a loop and come back to connect to main corridor. A shopper feels comfortable if corridors keep coming back to main corridor. Deep corridors and dead ends should be avoided. They feel unsafe. Shops at the dead ends suffer a lot.
Lifts and staircases: Movement of people is the life of the mall. And visibility of moving people is the energy of mall. We should see people moving around. Therefore, the lifts, escalators and staircase should be placed in such a way that all movement of people is visible. Visible movement gives a sense of safety as well. Staircase may be hidden as per fire norms. Lifts and escalators can be made visible. All glass lifts work the best.
Common Facilities: Washrooms should be well designed for proper privacy No fixture of any washrooms should be visible from corridor. Proper layout, well maintained washrooms enhance the reputation of mall. Shoppers should be able to stay inside the mall for a long time. This is possible when their natural needs are also taken care of within the mall.
A dedicated customer care desk: For a busy mall, there should always be a help desk where shoppers can ask for quick information. All information regarding mall directory, promotional events, memberships etc should be available here. Most importantly, a feedback and complaint system should efficiently run from this desk.
Parking: The size of the parking area has a direct bearing on the store types and revenue. A mall should offer enough parking spaces to attract customers.
The absence of parking during weekends or on holidays, especially for car owners, could make customers feel uncomfortable and lead customers away to other stores. Apart from the comfort factor, having ample parking space is safe and helps in increasing the brand appearance of the shopping mall.
How management runs it: Management is involved in all stages and functions of the mall.
Mall design decisions: The management has the responsibility of making a very clear design brief. The design brief should be governed by the feasibility report which takes following criterion in consideration:
- Size of the mall- This shall come from the size and quality of the catchment area. If all factors are in favour, bigger malls do better than smaller malls. Bigger malls can offer more variety under one roof. Smaller malls just end up becoming an appliance store or turn into an office. The size also becomes a function of catchment.
- Categories
- Which categories should we have: Once again, the categories shall be governed by area and quality of catchment? It is better to have larger variety of categories if the size allows.
Category mix: How much area to be allocated to which category? There needs to be a logical distribution of areas for food, appliances, lifestyle products, accessories etc.
Placement of categories: how to spread categories across floors. e.g placing a few food stalls on each floor may be a good idea, ground floor should have bigger brands, some fast-moving products should be placed near the lifts and escalators and so on. Deciding the appropriate tenant mix is crucial to a mall’s success.
Ownership of outlets: Mall management should always keep ownership of outlets with itself.This is the only way to control right tenant mix.
If shops are sold, each shop owner will have his own way of choosing categories and it will be a chaos soon.
Promotion and Marketing Strategy: A marketing strategy is necessary to boost the number of sales and the traffic of a mall. The plans for marketing can include promotions like competitions, exhibitions live shows, community events, and charity campaigns. The promotional activities may be carried out during the season like the festive season or school holidays, to draw customers’ attention to the mall. Most malls get the space decorated during festive seasons, which creates a fun environment and invites more visitors to the place.
Maintenance: The mall management should make sure that every corner of the mall is neat and clean. The cleaner staff should be there throughout the day ready to act immediately. Washroom attendants should be right there all the time. The necessary inventor of spare items should be always maintained.
As an architect, we guide the builders on all the above factors and take care of all factors mentioned in the “How is the mall designed” section above. If you would want us to study your mall and suggest ways to improve it, contact us here>>.
