hopping is an art. Take it from the one who goes shopping and gets fleeced, but still comes back cheerful because she haggled for a Rs 5 discount! But most customers have more discretion. As the consumer has evolved, so has the shopping destination - from chaotic markets to shopping plazas, supermarkets, hypermarkets and general purpose malls. Delhi-based retail consultancy KSA Technopak estimates that by 2010 there will about 600 malls across India, up from the 20 last year. But all is not hunky-dory. Sceptics believe, and not without cause, that more than half of these malls will fail. This is because most people come to malls to spend time not money. The conversion rate, that is the percentage of people who visit malls and turn consumers, is as low as 10-15 per cent, suggests KSA Technopak.

Retailers rue how malls are no longer a place to conduct serious business but have become centres for entertainment. They have become places where say a Barista or a McDonald�s might want to set up shop, but which a home furnishing business might be wary of. Enter the specialty mall, a mall that caters to specific needs - be it weddings, cars, home interiors or jewellery - and where focused buyers are offered all possible options at one destination. It is estimated that by 2010, about 15 per cent of the upcoming malls will be thematic. Besides creating niche markets, specialty malls also create synergies, points out a real estate consultant. In a jewellery mall, for example, the security will be centralised rather than each shop making separate arrangements.... more