Malls & hypermarkets: perspectives of contemporary shopping

Abstract

Research suggests that malls and hypermarkets – the physical expression of a society’s retail desire – are booming. But the harsh truth is that the heady gold-rush days for organised retail are clearly over. Oversupply, fierce competition, high rentals, poor infrastructure and shoddy marketing are just some of the problems that are dogging these cathedrals of consumerism. Beneath the gleaming façades, colour coded displays and nattily turned out shop assistants, there is a hum of unrest. Success stories still abound, but tales (often untold till now) of vacant lots, lost investments and shattered expectations are growing with every passing day. Hence, the statement of problem “Malls & Hypermarkets: Perspectives of Contemporary Shopping” was formed with the objectives of studying and analysing the reasons for this patchy growth of organised retail, especially the larger formats vis-à-vis shopping malls and hypermarkets, and its uneven progression in India. This research has intended to focus on the theory and concept of professional and effective mall and hypermarket management. The study also tried to investigate the factors which can possibly lead to the expansion of loyalty concept to include preference for a shopping mall and / or a hypermarket – deciding where to buy in an increasingly complex retail mall globe and simultaneously delve into the future of Mom ’n Pop stores and consequently investigate the changing paradigms and emerging challenges of retail centric projects. There is a sharp and contrasting transformation in consumer behaviour in accordance with Indian retail trends and hence this research has tried to find out the shoppers’ retailing attitudes and behaviour in shopping malls and hypermarkets, along with the Mall Retailers’ opinions, Mall /Hypermarket Managers’ perceptions and Mall / Hypermarkets’ Builders’ / Developers’ views about the changing landscape of Indian Retail. Furthermore, an insight has been sought into the changing preferences of the people towards new– age, trendy, swank and ultra-modern multiplexes from the cinema houses of yore. Additionally, this study has also attempted to investigate the competition posed by the ‘No Frills’ lifestyle stores and the hypermarkets like Big Bazaar, Easy Day etc towards the shopping malls, and whether the former poses any threat to the latter. Apart from this, the advent of the ‘theme malls’ or ‘niche malls’ has also beenexamined and their chances of survival in the typical price sensitive Indian market.