Some of the most sought-after mall management experts, who offer their tactical expertise to the majority of successful malls came together to discuss the importance and ways to develop successful mall management strategies.
Anand Sundaram, Chief Executive, Pioneer Property Zone, kickstarted the session by talking about the expertise, instincts, negotiation skills that are required to develop and implement successful mall management strategies. Benu Sehgal, VP, Mall Management, DLF, emphasised on the point that proper planning for management strategies is essential but equally important is proper implementation of these strategies. “Visibility to retailers, a healthy tenant mix are also important,” she added.
Shubhranshu Pani, Regional Director, Retail, JLL, said to make good plans well implemented, the plans need to be realisable. He also said, that India is not a data centric market, unlike developed markets. One still has to go through the individual effort to guage what the customer or a population pocket wants.
Ketan Sanghvi, director–strategy and planning, Beyond Squarefeet Mall Management, said that there can be an instance that bigger, better mall comes across the road from your shopping centre or somewhere in close vicinity. Then what becomes essential is to reposition your property to keep the attractiveness quotient up. Benu seconded the thought by adding that, over the years, the retailers that are with your mall, their aspirational value has gone up or has come down. “Therefore, it becomes important that the tenant mix should be revisited.” It is an interesting business as it is about constantly gauging what the customers need, she added.
Neeraj Duggal, MD and CEO, Lighthouse Mall Management Company, said that there are, at times, mall properties that have planned layout, tenant mix wrongly and are on the downside, can be turned around. “It is never too late to turn around a shopping centre with the right planning and implementation,” he stated.
For a detailed coverage and intensive interactions with our key speakers, watch out for the next issue of Shopping Centre News.
