High Street Shopping: The new trend

According to Daljeet Singh Executive Director of Advance India Projects Ltd (AIPL), retail is a sector that needs to keep reinventing to remain relevant. He elaborates. Retail Industry is a true reflection of social & economic health of a country. India has witnessed multi fold growth in this sector and developers like DLF, Pheonixgroup & Advance India Projects Ltd have contributed to this growth of the sector with their trend setting retail & shopping developments. India’s retail market is expected to nearly double to US$ 1 trillion by 2020 from US$ 600 billion in 2015, driven by income growth, urbanization and attitudinal shifts. While the overall retail market is expected to grow at 12 per cent per annum, modern trade would expand twice as fast at 20 per cent per annum and traditional trade at 10 per cent. There's a rising trend of luxury brands moving from 5-star hotels to malls, & from malls to high street retail areas. Old heritage properties that can do with some retrofitting are becoming precious real estate assets.For example, Hermes and Christian Louboutin have set up standalone stores at the historic Horniman Circle in Mumbai. With the buoyant support of retail brands the Indian retail isn't slipping into a market-induced fatigue anytime soon. Ultimately, it all boils down to leveraging the brand, understanding the demographics and striking the right mix. All in all, it's good news for retailers and consumers alike! After the initial euphoria of malls,the retailers are actively looking to diversify into high street retail format as the latter offers variety of advantages over the malls like lower maintenance,lower CAM charges, higher visibility,flexible outlet sizes and ease / convenience for shopper while shopping at a high street retail market. It is proven fact that there has been a resurgence of popularity in High Street retail.It is worth noticing that at Iconic retail destinations like Orchard Road in Singapore,Oxford Street in London,MongKokin Hong Kong are more popular as compared to the mall developments of these developed cities. High street developments are a preferred choice for brands as they have substantially lower maintenance cost & higher visibility for the occupants of the stores. The shoppers or guests also feel at ease with the unbound market like experience that the high streets offer. “Customers get personal attention and discount on the quoted price at high street which forces them to visit the shop again and again”Sarita Hunt, Managing Director – Chennai and Coimbatore- JLLhad quoted. Also, shopping malls & High street markets have undergone a dramatic change over the years. Earlier, they were meant purely for retailers. Then, they started housing multiplexes, fast-food joints, restaurants, hotels and entertainment spaces. Today, they stand ascomplete family entertainment destinations where consumers come for more than just shopping. Nevertheless malls are still a rage in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as the customer experience with malls is comparatively new in small cities. There are malls like Celebration Mall at Udaipur developed by AIPL and Elante mall of Chandigarh developed by Larsen and Toubro that have an unparalleled brand mix that small cities can boast of. The Celebration Mall in Udaipur is a fine example of Luxury and rich heritage of Rajasthan. Developers clearly show a change in trend as per the developed countries, focusing on High street retail developments over malls. These developers are showcasing mixed use retail developments which shall serve as complete family entertainment & shopping destinations. Even after incredible success with its Celebration mall Udaipur, that rivals the brand mix & opulence of urban city malls, AIPL is now developing a complete chain of mixed use retail projects like the Joy City, Jalandhar, the Joy Central & Joy Street at Gurgaon as High street retail clearly indicating the change in trend.