No more Mallamaal

No more Mallamaal


Mohammed Shariff | ENS
First Published : 17 Oct 2008 11:57:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 17 Oct 2008 01:11:06 PM IST

BANGALORE: The ongoing financial turmoil in the markets and the recent spate of bomb blasts across the country have hit the business of shopping malls in the city. Shoppers, who usually throng the city’s many malls during the festive season, have decided to stay away from the malls this season.

A source from the The Forum mall said, “Surprisingly, this time over, the malls have not come up with any aggressive marketing plans. Confidence of the consumer has been very low during the last four weeks. Though the stock market crash does not have a direct bearing on us since only three per cent of our population invest in the market, business has been hit. In other words, consumers haven’t lost money; they are only apprehensive and therefore not too keen on spending.’’ A retailer at Garuda Mall said, “Most of us witnessed alomost 18 per cent decrease in footfalls, especially in the weekends. Firstly, people are scared to go to crowded areas and secondly, many have cut down their shopping budgets. Though Diwali is just a few days, we have not had too many customers.’’ Another retailer at The Forum said, “Most of the BPO and call centre employees are not getting gift vouchers, and these customers never use to purchase by cash. In fact, this has hit the business, especially in the weekends.” The recent announcement by the many IT and ITES companies that employees will not be entitled to any special gifts this Diwali have made matters even worse.

The current financial crisis has come as a double whammy for the malls and retailers as the market sentiment is pretty low and they cannot do much in terms of discounts because of inflationary pressure. Most of the organised retailers noticed nearly 20 per cent decrease in their total business.