Delhi’s Select Citywalk, one of India’s most recognised and highly felicitated shopping centre, is expanding its retail portfolio. This popular shopping destination is introducing 10 new brands in FY2019-20.
In an interview with Indiaretailing Bureau on the sidelines of India Food Forum 2019, CEO & Executive Director, Select Citywalk, Yogeshwar Sharma said, “We want our shoppers to experience something new every time they visit the mall. To keep up the exclusivity, and consumer demands, we are partnering with a variety of brands present in the centre. The focus this year will be on three categories – fashion, beauty and curated food.”
“We are in talks with two brands which have entered India, Tom Ford Beauty and Aveda Hair Care. We also want to try and bring in the brand Kiehl’s in the beauty space and are in touch with them too. In the fashion category, we recently added Ted Baker, Onitsuka Tiger. We are also in talks with Polo Ralph Lauren to open a store in the mall.”
He added that there was scope for improvement in the brands in the mall in the athleisure category. The mall management is currently in talks with Under Armour to get them to open a store in Select CityWalk.
Aside from this, Sharma said that the category to watch out for was F&B. “From occupying only 8-10 percent in previous years, the mall space dedicated to F&B has increased to 15-18 percent today,” he said.
Pop-Ups: The New Trend
“Although the mall is already full, we are being extremely creative in finding new, visible spaces for good brands that we want to bring in,” Sharma stated, adding that the mall may go in for smaller stores for some brands.
One way of bringing brands into the mall’s fold has been pop-up stores. Select Citywalk has recently started experimenting with fashion pop-ups. Brands like Madison, Masaba and Nicobar have already participated in pop-up activities in the mall.
“Pop-ups help in test marketing a brand and we as a mall understand how they are performing,” said Sharma, clearly indicating that pop-ups which bring in good revenues can be converted into permanent tenants.
Fashion & Beauty: The Clear Winners
When Select CityWalk was conceptualised, it was observed that there was a huge demand for both the beauty and fashion categories.
“Armed with this analysis, we dedicated additional area percentage to fashion. We worked towards creating space for brands like Zara, H&M and Sephora when they entered India. Today, 50 percent of the space in Select CityWalk is dedicated to fashion,” said Sharma.
He also stated that both the categories – although occupying a large amount of space – deliver good numbers, both for themseleves as well as the mall.
“At present, fashion is contributing almost 60 percent of the overall sales of the mall as per sq.ft sales of the category is very high,” Sharma said.
