India’s first ‘Smart Mall’ coming up in smart city of Bhopal

With the Government creating 100 smart cities in India, now it is the turn of a ‘Smart Mall’. To kick-start the same Capital Mall, Bhopal is gearing up to become the first ‘Smart Mall’ of India.
The mall is undergoing various technical and infrastructural changes to accommodate the tag of a ‘Smart Mall’. The mall will have 100 percent Internet (4G) connectivity to all customers coming to the mall. The parking management system is being upgraded to make it cashless and also with digital parking management, with the ease of navigation in the parking lot and also bay identification.
The Visual Digital experience of the mall is being created by an international company from UK, to create the first 4D Digital experience in the mall, which will be spread over 40,000 sq. ft. across the mall. Even the ambient lighting in the mall would be converted to digital, with lumen sensors. The smart Capital Mall will have an app to help navigate shoppers to various stores, along with their range, offers and discounts (if any).
The owners of Capital Mall have already invested about Rs 5 crore till now and shall further invest about Rs 10 crore in the next 2 years to convert this into a ‘Smart Mall’ thereby making it national benchmark.
Speaking about the Smart Mall initiative by the Mall, Mukesh Kumar, Managing Director of Capital Malls says “We would like to match our mall to the expectations of with todays’ ‘Smart Customers’, hence inspite of being in a Tier II city, we are taking Bhopal on the national map. Bhopal already marks number 2 in the Swachh Bharat initiative, we are complimenting the city by making the first ‘Smart Mall’ here.
Talking on the development Susil Dungarwal, Chief Mall Mechanic, Beyond Squarefeet says, “While the mall owners are putting in all efforts in converting the mall into Smart Mall, we are working on creating a smart retail mix and experience in the mall. We have already tied up with various national and international retailers for the mall, most of who will be first time in Bhopal. Our focus is to create a unique tenant mix and category mix, which will add to the USP of the mall.”
Apart from converting the mall into a Smart Mall, Capital Mall has been very active in conducting various events in promotions in the mall on a regular Basis.
“Since day one, Capital Mall – Bhopal, has been conducting various events to engage with customers and retailers. Our CSR activities and connect to the community has been happening on a daily basis, which is resulting in the quality and quantity of footfalls” adds Susil Dungarwal.