What buyers want?

Indians are spoilt for choice when it comes to brands. You walk into any mall and you will see both, big international brands as well as domestic brands vying for your attention and eye ball. And if you have walked into many of these international brand shops, you would surely know by now that for most of us, these shops are way beyond our budget, even when on sale. Invariably, we end up going and buying at ‘local’ brands or Big Bazaar is the biggest draw.

And malls seem to be finally waking up to this reality. Alongside Marks & Spencers, Pantaloons, Lifestyle, Max and such, we now also have RmKV, Vivek’s, Chandan Suparis, Malabar Gold and local eateries like Vasantha Bhavan. This has become the norm in most of the malls, more so in South India. Yet, the mindset of almost all is that buying from these regional or local shops in malls is more expensive than buying in the non-mall shops, like the ones in your market area. The perception is that they add-on the cost of high mall rentals and jack up the price. That explains why despite the malls housing regional shops, people shop in non-mall shops only. Tamil Nadu-based retail giant RmKV and Kerala’s Kalyan Silks, still maintain a strong presence on high streets. The numbers indicate why: both are estimated to have an average trading density of about Rs 1,450 per sq. ft. per month. In comparison, Shoppers Stop has a psfpm of Rs 653. Bangalore-based consumer durables retailer Girias has an estimated average trading density of Rs 3,700 psfpm, much higher than most malls in India.

Understanding the buying preferences of people is as Quixotic and mysterious as understanding a woman.