Guess what the growing wedding market has done to the retail business in the country. It has been able to create a successful business model — theme malls — which have been doing better than what retail malls are doing these days.
Theme malls such as Wedding Mall and Gold Souk (jewellery mall), catering to specific needs and occasions, have changed the dynamics of the Indian wedding bazaar.
And how? Delhi-based real estate developer Omaxe group is setting up India’s first chain of wedding malls. The first five wedding malls are coming up in Gurgaon, Agra, Ludhiana and Patiala at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 cr.
These malls will be a one-stop shop catering to all wedding-related needs of people, from designing and printing of invitation cards to buying honeymoon packages. The five malls will cover more than 9 lakh sq ft of space and the group plans few more in other cities.
Says Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Group: “These malls, besides all the wedding shopping, will also have banquet halls. The tenants will be a judicious mix of leading international and Indian brands and wedding-related service providers, including makers of bridal wear, clothing, jewellery, cosmetics, F&B, entertainment, decor, floral management, footwear, white goods, accessories, beauty parlours, wedding planners and leading travel agencies. The Omaxe wedding mall will take away the hassles of numerous visits to the market. The focus will be on maximising customer comfort and providing complimentary products under one roof.”
The wedding market in the country is growing at a whopping 20% per year and now people are looking at hassle-free and comfortable weddings.
Taking the shopping experience to a higher level, Gold Souk is India’s first mall dedicated to jewellery retailing, which is promoted by Aerens Gold Souk International. Besides Gurgaon, the Aerens Group will develop Gold Souks in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad Kochi, Jaipur, Ludhiana and Kolkata.
In fact, speciality malls are the places where consumers will go shopping since there will be more choice and variety under one roof. Since the concept is in its infancy, most people are not aware of the advantages. It’s only a matter of time before consumer preference shifts towards specialty malls, which are very popular in the West.
Says Anuj Puri, chairman & country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj: “With the retail market boom in India, we will slowly see a big emergence of speciality malls — first in major metros and then in other smaller towns. Popular categories in the international market include home-malls — that feature all kinds of home products ranging from tiles, fittings, furniture, or toy malls for kids.”
Source: Economic Times
3 comments:
The financial crisis in the US is expected to have a cascading effect on the Indian commercial real estate sector that has already slowed down considerably over the past one year. According to industry sources, there could be a softening in the values of commercial property to the tune of 10% to 15% post the US meltdown. As a result, vacancy levels in commercial space across the country are expected to touch 10% by the end of this year from 6% last June. Market analysts can see prices cooling and projects being held up because of the drying up of cheap funds. In fact, raising funds from US and Western European investors, who accounted for a bulk of FDI in the sector, will now be difficult.For more view- realtydigest.blogspot.com
Hi,
We completely agree with you. Citing the financial meltdown, the real estate is already feeling the heat and developers will find it hard to raise funds for their projects. The big players in the market who have been able to pile up the money during good times will sustain while others have to rethink and prepare a robust strategy to counter the crisis.
But as the article talks about the specialty malls, we believe that there is a huge scope in this sphere as such malls will cater to specific needs of the people and act as one-stop destination for consumers who look for quality, guarantee, brands and overall a unique shopping experience.
Theme mall is a unique concept and I believe it is going to attract consumers because of convenience and assortment. However if you notice India has always had traditional theme markets almost in every city specializing from spices to weddings like Karol Baag in Delhi is a famous wedding market and T-Nagar in Chennai is one of the oldest Indian jewelry market. Theme malls seems to be a modern look of these good old bazaars.
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