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Many experts within the retail industry have been found to correctly refer to the malls as shrines of modern day entertainment in India. Shopping, eating and entertainment have been the three main service avenues being offered by the malls in India.
Malls have generally been found to occupy some of the most attractive plots in various Indian cities with the objective of attracting the maximum number of foot-falls. An inviting exterior along with well-done interiors and impressive shopping ambience have been what the malls are presently offering to the aspiring Indian populace.

The Malleria (referred to the incredible growth statistics for malls in India) story started with the Crossword Mall in Mumbai. It was the first mall in India. Later, the northern and southern parts of the country were found to fast embrace the mall-fever as malls with superb architecture housing some of the most-revered brands of the country came up. In the East, Forum was one of the first malls to come up in Kolkata. With the inauguration of the South City Mall (the largest mall in Eastern India), Kolkata has certainly established itself as one of the high-growth cities as far as growth of organized retail in India is concerned.

Although malls have been found to re-define shopping with the introduction of the 'Shoppertainment' concept, there are a number of challenges faced by this retail format. There’s no doubt that malls attract significantly large number of customer foot-falls but then as far as the conversion rate is concerned, its quite dismal as mostly people visiting malls are window-shoppers rather than active buyers. Additionally, retailers have to face the brunt of ever-escalating real estate costs which negatively impacts their revenues.

To offset the challenges, mall-owners have lately been found to adopt mall make-overs which would, to an extent, address the low revenues issue. Along with shopping, eating and entertainment, mall-owners are including office establishments and hotels in their business plans. Offices and hotels are supposed to bring in new revenue streams and trigger foot-falls of newer customer segments. Treasure Island Mall in Indore is one such mall.

Also open mall concept is being considered seriously by many mall owners. Open malls are supposed to be spread over great areas, will be located a little away from the heart of the city, and are supposed to serve as not just shopping destinations, but as picnic spots for the customers.

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* Contributed by -
Kisholoy Roy,
MBA (Marketing),
Content Editor, Infoedge Management Solutions.
Article posted on August 9, 2008.