Pradeep.M

Roll.No: 45

Mall Management

March 2013

Chennai Business School

A COMPARITIVE STUDY ON

CITY CENTER AND RAMEE MALL

Learning Outcomes:

The main objective of the study is to learn various steps to successful establishing of Mall from

concept stage to opening of the mall and then managing it further with best practices of CRM,

marketing, operations, leasing, tenant mix, facilities management, atmospherics,

communication mix and other add-ons like entertainment options, its importance, multiplex

operations, brand valuation for mall, parking management, food court management, retain

demand analysis, location analysis and site selection, store design, layout planning, footfalls and

marketing planning , Maintenance management, etc..

The Study focuses in depth in

• Understanding the concept of Zoning and Tenant mix across two different malls

• Get an idea of role and significance of different types of tenants like, anchor tenants and

vanilla tenants

• Knowing about major issues concerning tenants and tenant mix management

• Understanding the concept and need for marketing and promotional activities in a mall

• How Mall positioning and Customer profiling is integrated

• Effectiveness of Horizontal and Vertical navigation

• Role of Anchor Tenants and its correlation with Footfalls

• Proportion of Retail-Food-Entertainment-Services and its importance for a mall.

Parameters City Center Ramee Mall Remarks

Location

Mylapore

Teynampet

City Center is situated at Mylapore

which is a cultural hub and

neighborhood in the southern part of

the city of Chennai, the catchment

areas are Mandaveli, Adyar, Marina,

Royapettah, Mountroad etc..

Ramee Mall is situated in the heart of

Chennai, Anna Salai Teynampet which

covers the main areas like T.Nagar,

Nungambakkam, Egmore, Mylapore,

Gopalapuram ,Royapettah, Alwarpet

etc,

Size

180,000sq.ft

201,879sq.ft

City Center occupies first five floors of

the property. The remaining 5 floors

are occupied by corporate offices.

Ramee mall occupies the first three

floors of the property. The remaining

15 floors are occupied by Hyatt

Regency Chennai.

Comparatively both the mall has

almost same retail space.

Tenant Mix

Complete mix of apparel,

fashion accessories,

consumer durables with a

blend of few fast food

kiosks’ makes its very

interactive to customers

but failed in forming a

cluster.

Clusters of like and

similar tenants together.

The clusters of like and similar tenants

can hold up the rent levels more

successfully than shops of similar type

being spread widely apart across the

property. Though Ramee has made a

good tenant mix doesn’t attract much

crowd. In case of city center its vise

versa.

Anchor Store

Lifestyle, Landmark, INOX

Shoppers Stop, Q-Play

The presence of a strong Anchor store

is also a very critical factor in

determining the success of that mall.

Strong brands like Lifestyle & Shoppers

Stop acts as a pillar to protect the

brand. They attract the majority of the

customer through their brand names

& it results in the increase of footfalls

in the malls & thereby generating

more sales to other stores also.

Both the malls don’t have any food &

grocery supermarket, which is very

unhealthy.

Vanilla Stores

Park Avenue, Indigo Nation,

Mochi, Health & Glow,

Begum etc..

Timex, Eye T World,

Archies, MAC, Biba,

Krylan etc..

In both the malls vanilla stores were of

similar size.

Vanilla Stores in City center are low

premium and budgeted brands where

as in Ramee it’s more of luxury brands.

Walk ins

(Approximate of

the Mall)

Weekdays – 15000

Weekends – 25000

Weekdays – 1500

Weekends – 5000

The walk ins is significantly very low in

Ramee when compared to City center.

The ratio of walk ins in each mall

between weekdays and weekends

City – 1 : 2.4

Ramee – 1: 3.33

The walk ins is actually 3.3 times more

in Ramee during weekends than

weekdays.

Walk ins in the

Anchor Stores

70% - 80% of total walk ins

70% - 75% of total walk

ins

More or less the percentage of walk

ins to the anchor stores in both the

malls is same.

But when actual numbers are taken it

makes a huge difference

City Center - 16000

Ramee - 2500

Likely conversions

( Your

guesstimate) in

Anchor Stores

LS - 45% - 50%

LM - 30% - 40%

INOX - 55% - 65%

SS - 45% - 50%

QP - 85% - 90%

On an average the conversion rate for

City Center is 52% where as for Ramee

its 70%

The Conversion for Q-Play is

significantly high because it’s a

destination point where people make

a planned purchase.

Internal & External

Branding

City Center has

conceptualized a French

Theme

Differentiated in the form

of Kiosks and Vanilla stores

proportion

Ramee has

conceptualized a

Boutique Theme

Differentiated in the

form providing Services

in the mall

There are a variety of ways to get in

contact with customer service

representatives in both the malls. The

representative tries to make your

shopping experience more enjoyable

by providing General Mall Information,

Mall Maps, Lost & Found, Mall Gift

Cards, Wheelchairs, First Aid

Announcement Services, etc.

Lay out

Designed in a double

dumbbell shape, anchors

Landmark and lifestyle

occupying two different

corners and vanilla retailers

in the middle

food court and

Multiplex(INOX) is

positioned on the top floor

to attract consumers

vertically up

The Ramee Mall is

designed in a ‘T’ shaped

fashion (single dumbbell

shaped),

Anchor tenant Shoppers

Stop at each floor end

and vanilla retailers in

the middle.

food court is positioned

on the top floor to

attract consumers

vertically up

Both the malls have strategically

located their food court and

entertainment zone at their top floors

to bring the maximum foot traffic.

But Ramee looks more organized

when compared to City Center.

Both the malls placed restrooms at the

end of long service corridors.

Zoning

Ground Floor – Complete

mix of kiosk’s, fashion

accessories stores and

consumer durables.

(Impulse as well as planned

purchase)

1st

and 2nd

floor dominated

by anchor stores(Landmark

and Lifestyle) and some

vanilla stores, Kiosk’s in the

middle.(planned purchase)

Ground floor –

International Luxury

brands (Mostly Fashion

Apparels) Impulse

buying products

1st

and 2nd

floor well

known premium brands

with consumer durable

and fashion accessories.

(Planned Purchase)

Ramee Mall’s tenant mix based on

zoning not only helps attract and

retain shoppers by offering them wide

range of choices and satisfying

multiple needs, but also facilitates the

smooth movement of shoppers within

the mall,

Whereas in City Center few vanilla

tenants have moved out (probably

lockdown period would have expired)

due to which the flow of similar

tenants is missing. To overcome this

gap City Center has converted dead

space in the common area in to

attractive kiosks.

Navigation

( Horizontal )

Ground, 1st

, 2nd

floor –

40,000 sqft approx

44,000 sqft at the

ground floor,

50,000 sqft on the first

floor,

75,000 sqft on the

second floor and

50,000 sqft as parking

space.

The size of the floors is almost same in

both the malls. People tend to cover

entire floor very well, but still the

navigational movement horizontally is

comparatively good in City center than

Ramee.

Ramee has got some dead drop points

in its 1st

& 2nd

floor and some tenants

are yet to come.

Navigation

( Vertical )

5 floors + 1(parking)

3 floors + 1(parking)

The Vertical Navigation is good in both

the malls, strategically located food

court and entertainment zone at their

top floors to bring the maximum foot

traffic. Since Ramee mall has got only

3 floors, the traffic travels all the way

up to the top floor with minimal

reduction of footfalls in each floor.

Proportion of

Retail,

Entertainment,

Food & Services

Ret - 60%

Ent - 15%

Food- 20%

Serv - 5%

Ret - 50%

Ent - 20%

Food- 20%

Serv – 10%

Ramee has got comparatively more

number of service providers than any

other malls in Chennai, the reason is

their main customer base is from

Hyatt Regency, to serve them Ramee

has come up with too many service

providers. (Air/Train ticket booking, Spa/Saloon, Money

transfer/exchange, ATM, Photo shoot,

International Courier, Mehandi, Tour

consulting etc..)

Both the malls made good proportion

that caters their customer base.

Facilities – Car

Parking / Bike

Parking

2 floors of underground

covered Car/Bike Parking

facility available (70k sqft)

Open Air Parking available

inside the mall premises

Underground Covered

Car/Bike Parking facility

available (50k sqft)

Open Air Parking

available inside the mall

Both the malls provide comparatively

good ample parking and maneuvering

of cars from the parking lot.

Smart car parking in City Center

enables customer to choose their

parking plan depending upon their

usage hours. It’s good to have such a

plan. In near future it is expected that

Pickup / Drop point

available

Smart car parking

premises

Valet Parking available

Pickup / Drop point

available

all the malls will follow such a plan.

Though both the malls have Pickup /

Drop points, only in Ramee it serves

well. The multiple lanes at the

entrance of city center confuse people

so that drop point doesn’t cater its

purpose.

Charges

Car-Rs20/ 1st

hr

Additional Rs10/hr

Bike -Rs15/1st

hr

Additional Rs5/hr

Full day parking-Rs40 on

weekdays and Rs60 on

weekends

Car -Rs30/per day

Bike -Rs20/per day

The car parking fee at Ramee mall is a

standard Rs.30 irrespective of the

number of hours spent.

However they need to have an

arrangement or consideration for

people who need to come and leave

within 15min? (like say - pick up a

baggage from store/ return an item/

pick up an alteration given).

City Center has customized its parking

charges in such a way that customer

can avail their parking coupon in

hourly or full day basis

Other Facilities

Roof top fine dining with

scenic beach view

Toilets – separate for

customers and

Staff

Building and floor

directories detection

system

Water softening and

purification

Signage directing

customers towards

elevators, toilets and fire

exits

Digital mall directory at

multiple points

Toilets – separate for

customers and

Staff

Water softening and

purification

Signage directing

customers towards

elevators, toilets and

fire exits

Uninterrupted power

supply with power

backup

Emergency lighting in all

areas

Ramee follows a user friendly touch

screen enabled digital mall directory,

where as in City Center they follow the

printed mall directory displayed

beneath a huge transparent glass.

The Roof top fine dining with scenic

beach view is really outstanding, no

other malls in Chennai has such

facility.

Ramee’s signage is significantly good

in terms of visibility, font size, font

color and readability when compared

to City center.

City Center has to improve its power

supply to next level; there is a gap of

few minutes when it turns from direct

current to generator.

Customer Profiling

& Mall Positioning

Positioned itself as a

"family destination

shopping mall built with a

French theme, both the

exteriors and interiors

designed based on French

architecture.

The mall provides premium

and budget products

catering to the middle class

(socio-economic

classification B1, B2, C

consumers)

Positioned itself as a

“boutique Shopping

Mall and Entertainment

destination”.

The mall provide

high-end luxury

products catering to the

elite class

(socio-economic

classification A and B

consumers)

Both the malls has well defined the

category of services offered based on

demographics, psychographics,

income levels, competition in

neighboring areas and extensive

market research of the catchment.

Ramee is clearly perceived as a mall

for entertainment. Q-Play Bowling

Alley, Video games, and a kid’s

entertainment zone appear to support

the perception. Another factor

contributing to the perception is the

absence of a departmental store like

Big Bazaar or Easy Day in the mall.

City Center is also clearly perceived as

a mall for entertainment. The mall

having low range of shops is hardly

visited for purchasing goods, with

lifestyle, Landmark and INOX as

anchor stores; it is a hang out place for

the population in the catchment area,

especially students.

Least and Most

crowed time of

the week

Weekdays:

Least crowded – 10am –

11am

Most crowded- 6pm to

9pm

Weekends:

Least crowded – 12pm –

1pm

Most crowded- 4pm to

9pm

Weekdays:

Least crowded – 10am –

1pm

Most crowded- 6pm to

9pm

Weekends:

Least crowded – 10pm –

1pm

Most crowded- 6pm to

9pm

The Least and Most crowded time in

weekdays is more or less same in both

the malls. But there is a significant

difference in weekends. It is because

of the prime location of City Center

which is very near to Marina Beach,

Kapaleeswarar temple and Santhome

Bascillica which are tourist spots and

naturally Chennai Citi Center also

attracts many tourists.

Marketing &

Promotion

activities

conducted by the

Mall

At least one or two events

per week.

Uses Print media for

marketing & promoting

One or two events per

month.

Highly Involved with

Social networking

websites to marketing &

promoting

Organizing cultural events has proved

vital in attracting consumers to a mall.

City Center is keener on such activities,

which also act as a differentiator for

the mall.

CRM measures

used by the Mall

Parking Coupons from

Anchor tenants (typically

not a CRM measure)

Loyalty cards provided

for Hyatt Regency

customers

In city center when a customer shops

at their anchor stores, they reimburse

the parking fee paid.

In Ramee Mall a special loyalty card is

given to Hyatt Regency customers

where they can avail discount if they

make a minimum purchase of Rs.5000

Both the malls follow a healthy

practice which motivates customer in

shopping and makes loyal towards the

mall.

Safety & Security

measures of the

Mall

CCTV equipped,

metal detectors at all entry

points

Patrol & Escort crew

available

2 Emergency exits

Equipped with Fire alarm

and fire extinguishers,

safety masks, oxygen

cylinders, sufficient water

sources etc..

First aid kits

CCTV equipped

metal detectors at all

entry points

Emergency Phones or

Call Boxes

multiple fire escape

routes with panic doors

Equipped with

automatic fire

suppression systems,

smoke detectors, heat

detectors, fire

extinguishers, safety

masks, oxygen cylinders

First aid kits,

ambulances on duty

Both the malls need to have those

signing boards that will clearly tell

people where from and how to

escape. Today these malls are not just

visited by educated crowd. If people

are educated and made to understand

there will be less panic and we can

avoid mishaps.

Ramee mall has Emergency Phones

which is highly visible, located in

parking areas and in the mall itself. I

personally encourage such measures,

and this has to be followed in all the

malls.

No of Employees

working in the

Mall (

approximate )

150 – 200

80 – 100

Though the size of both the malls looks

similar, the no of employees working

in city center is double the time when

compared to Ramee. The reason

behind this is the footfalls.

Footfalls play a key role in determining

no of employees in a mall. More the

footfalls, more employees to manage.

Lighting

35% natural lighting

10% natural lighting

City Center is built up with a French

theme, taking inspiration from

traditional French culture. The Roof

allows natural light to pass through.

Natural lighting helps to create a

softer, friendlier environment.

Ramee is built up with Boutique theme

where electrical lighting is very

essential to maintain the consistency

of look and feel of the place.

A/C

Temperature was not

uniform all over the mall

Central atrium was super

hot and humid

*Time of visit : Saturday 2pm

Temperature was

uniform all over the mall

except some dead drop

spots

*Time of visit: Friday 12.30pm

City Center’s air-conditioning is not

good enough to relieve people from

heat. Having such good foot traffic City

Center has to do something about this.

Ramee should improve on using power

supply at an optimal level and reduce

wastage.

Ambience &

comfort inside

Rating: 2.5/5

Rating: 4/5

The rating is given considering the

factors like Management of parks,

fountains, overall look of the mall,

Lush green landscaping with seating

Facilities, Infrastructure, Hygiene etc..

City Center should improve the overall

shopping experience provided for

consumers because at the end it

becomes an important factor for the

success of any mall.

Kiosk’s vs Retail

stores

30% - 35% of the shops are

Kiosk’s

Hardly 6-8% of the

shops are Kiosk’s

The number of Kiosks in city center is

comparatively very high than Ramee

mall.

Looking at the bigger picture

considering mall’s catchment,

demographics, and customer profiling

both the malls has good spread of

kiosks.

Average time

likely to be spent

by customer (

according to

profile )

16 yrs – 26yrs

(Students & Bachelors) :

3 to 4 hrs

26yrs – 30yrs

(Married Couples):

2 to 3 hrs

30yrs – 40yrs

(Married Couples with

Children): 2 to 2.5hrs

45yrs to 55yrs:

2 to 3 hrs

Above 55yrs

1 to 2.5 hrs

16 yrs – 26yrs

(Students & Bachelors) :

3 to 4 hrs

26yrs – 30yrs

(Married Couples):

2 to 2.5 hrs

30yrs – 40yrs

(Married Couples with

Children): 1 to 2.5hrs

45yrs to 55yrs:

2 to 3 hrs

Above 55yrs

1 to 2.5 hrs

In both the malls, the average time

spent in entertainment zone is high,

also the maximum time is spent by age

group of 16 to 26yrs.

Mall employees

Staff’s wear a uniform

Knowledge about the mall

is very good

Staff’s don’t wear a

uniform

Knowledge about the

mall is very bad

Wearing uniform can distinguish

employees and customers.

Ramee Mall should work hard on

educating their employees; make

them in line with mall branding.

Restroom

Maintenance

Rating: 1/5

Rating 4.5/5

The restrooms in Ramee mall are in

line with latest infrastructure and

simply at its best. They are super clean

and well stocked, but restrooms in City

center are tucked into the corners and

are much disproportionate compared

to the area and footfalls of the mall.

They smell like no other, forcing you to

hold your breath, and run out quickly.

Connectivity

Well connected by MRTS

elevated rail network and

MTC buses.

walk able distance from

Marina beach

Connected only by MTC

buses as of now.

Metro Rail system is in

progress right now, but

it will take 2 yrs to

complete

City Center is very well connected in

terms of public transportation than

any other malls in Chennai.

The ongoing Metro Rail construction

would take 1.5 years to complete;

once it is completed Ramee will get a

significantly a better connectivity.

Landmark

Marina Beach

Anna Arivalayam

City Center has its competitive

advantage on its location. It is very

near to Marina Beach, Kapaleeswarar

temple and Santhome Bascillica which

are tourist spots.

Traffic

Management

2 entry/exit points + 1 for

parking

Single entry/exit point +

1 for parking

With three entry points, traffic

Management within the mall is better

organised in City Centre. Also, the

strategically located exits ensure that

moviegoers can get back to the mall

for a quick dinner or even a late night

shopping trip.

Report:

A good location defined in terms of factors like ease of access via roads, good visibility,

etc. is considered as one of the prime prerequisites for a mall. Both the malls have a very good

location but City Center being very near to Marina Beach, Kapaleeswarar temple and Santhome

Bascillica which are tourist spots makes it a competitive advantage.

Ramee has got a cluster of tenants, the customer perception is that the property offers greater

variety and therefore will have the item that the customer seeks. The customer is therefore

more likely to visit the property and acquire goods. City Center doesn’t have a cluster pattern

instead they have sprinkled Kiosks all over the mall which have a 360 degree exposure and are

placed in high customer traffic areas. But too many kiosks may look bad; it can give a high

street shopping experience to customers. City center has to significantly reduce the number of

kiosks to survive in the near future.

Both the malls have restaurants, entertainment and movie theaters (yet to come in Ramee) to

the mix. In addition to generating regular traffic, supermarkets can fill vacant spaces left by

closed department stores or other large tenants. It’s a way to lease space to somebody who

generates a lot of traffic on an ongoing basis. And because the mall pulls people from a greater

distance [than a shopping center], it’s now seen as a pretty good place for food stores to

locate.”

Like in a movie, storylines help create a consistent look and feel to the space. Many times the

story is part of the architectural and interior concept. In both the malls, the lighting was

different and supportive of the storyline. Lighting design complements and adds to the scheme.

Further to this, Signage’s used in Ramee mall show contrast of dark solid figure against a white

background and significant to be seen by the visually handicapped and the aged. City Center

uses fancy signage using “Queen” and “King” is confusing and should not be encouraged. It is

not easily distinguished by the visually handicapped and the aged.

Both the malls have placed restrooms at the end of long service corridors. Unfortunately I can

only give City Center a rating of 1 out 5 stars because the bathrooms are gross. There is always

a line. They smell bad. They are always dirty and in need of attention. Ineffective ventilation

makes restrooms unbearable.

Ramee has to work on drafting marketing strategies for them to meet the needs of the local

consumer base and the challenges of local and regional competitors. I personally feel Ramee to

take responsibility to generate productive footfall by signing up for revenue share and lowered

rentals.

Ramee has to consider putting their employees in uniforms. There is a famous quote “you dress

your employees to match your brand”.

Once the mall opens up and the number of vacant shops is huge, the consumer perceives the

mall as lacking because in an enclosed space the unlet premises are extremely conspicuous.

This leads to a bad first impression in the consumer’s mind. The same applies to a tenant too, if

prospective tenants see more of unlet areas, they perceive the mall as having failed to attract

tenants and may even change their mind to set up shop in the mall. Unfortunately, both the

malls fall in to this. It’s time to start working on this gap.

CONCLUSION

Positioning & profiling of the Mall plays an important role for the success of any Mall. A

very well designed Mall constructed with lot of aesthetics can be a failure if the positioning and

profiling is not done in a professional way. After positioning, Zoning & Profiling of the Mall is a

very critical aspect. It requires lot of planning and understanding the psyche of the buyers.

Right mix of the brands and products with right zoning & profiling is a key to success of the

Mall.

It is important to know that, even though both the malls carry shopping goods, entertainment

and food, perception of the target population varies from mall to mall. Perception has taken a

tilt towards the dominant component of the mall could be entertainment, shopping or some

other aspect. It is clear that both the malls are centrally located. The only difference is that the

target segment is different. City Center caters to the middle income group, where as Ramee

caters to the upper income segments.