DELHI: Online shopping has been one of the buzzwords which have been shaping and reshaping the consumer trends across the globe. Indian market is also not untouched. The total number of online shoppers is estimated to grow 3.5 times from 50 million in 2015 to 175 million this year. Even the retail stores are working to create an online presence for themselves and e-tailers like Flipkart are investing in technologies that can give the consumers the physical look and feel experience online.
All this leaves the physical retail stores in a compromised position. According to industry estimates during the 2019 online festive season, retailers witnessed a dip of 30 per cent in their footfall. And with digital fabric of the country getting stronger, this trend might continue. This requires physical retail stores and malls to amp up their game to stay relevant in times of digital disruption.
One of the prime examples of malls that are doing it right, is Viviana Mall in Thane. Started in 2013, Viviana is constantly evolving itself to match its pace with the disrupting industry. According to its CMO Rima Kirtikar it is important for a property like theirs to run an experience-driven business to keep consumers engaged. She insisted that more than discounts or free stuff like most online places offer, the customer of today is looking for memorable experiences.
Viviana mall has come up with a unique initiative to keep its consumers hooked. It has dedicated each day of the week to a particular concept and runs discount and experiential offers for those categories. It has ‘Tuesday Treats’ with offers going on food, and ‘Women Special Wednesdays’ where it has special offers for women customers. Recently, it added Good Ol’ Fridays to its list, to make senior citizens feel special.
Speaking about the concept of Good Ol’ Fridays, Kirtikar told Indiantelevision.com, “Grandparents or senior citizens are often a neglected category of shoppers. They usually visit malls either because their kids are going or their grandkids want to go. But we always felt that the clientele for this mall is from 0 to 99. Every strata of the society comes to the mall but we have not been doing something for the senior citizens. So, we thought of taking it up as a concept.”
Kirtikar then happened to see a campaign video being run by AAAI and Rotary Club that was insisting the youngsters to spend a day with their grandparents. She got in touch with them and pitched for an activation at the mall level. This led to the launch of the experiential activity in January 2020.
“When we started this, we were a little apprehensive if the people would come or not but the response we got was overwhelming. Now we are doing it every week. We run special offers for senior citizens. The retailers at the mall like Starbucks and Chaayos have discounts for the senior citizens,” she elaborated.
On being asked what benefit such activities have for the retailers at the mall, Kirtikar said that offering complimentary or free services for a day leads to their discovery among people who are visiting their stores or the mall for the first time. This leads to increased footfall in the following days.
She also shared that one of the major reasons for the success of this on-ground activation has been the support from the retailers. Another reason, they don’t let the noise around the campaign fizzle.
“We have very little budget for marketing so we do minimalist campaigns. We invest greatly on digital, especially on Facebook where we run online competitions. Next we advertise in cinemas close to the mall. We put OOH hoardings, which we keep changing at regular intervals. Then we have great in-mall communication to guide the visitors about the special campaigns that we are running.”
Kirtikar feels that retail stores are not going to die anytime soon. In fact, their presence will only boost as Indian consumers still want to have the look and feel experience. She urges that physical stores should be investing more in activation and experiential events to maintain their growth trajectory.
