Shopping Mall and Retail 2011 in India: A Researchers' Perspectives

The skyline is filled with boxes built of mirrored windows, skeletons of new malls and billboards promising a better life for the country’s modern maharajas. Shop at EASY DAY and eat at DOMINOS’ PIZZA. The toilets flush automatically; the floors are spotless. It seems new culture has come. The retail landscape in India is changing rapidly and is being scrutinized by large scale investments by global and domestic players. Market liberalization and changing consumer behaviour have sown the seeds of a retail transformation. Today consumers are limited with time and loaded with incomes. They have a need shopping place where they could get every thing from households, clothing, and electronics to entertainments. And their search ends at Shopping Malls. These malls are part and parcel of their daily life in Mumbai, Chennai, NCR and is becoming important constituents of Raipur, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Kanpur, Jaipur and Chandigarh. Shopping was never as convenient for people as it is now. People find these malls to be the best place to shop or hang out in summer heat as they offer free entry to a completely air conditioned complex with good music playing all around and loads of window shopping opportunity which is appreciated by one and all. Though malls are equally popular among all ages, the true lovers of multiplexes are the youngsters for whom malls are the `ultimate place to be`. These malls serve their various purposes like shopping, watching movies, dating or just to hang out though they really don’t need a purpose for being there. Shopping Mall is an invention for modern consumers of every level and having impacts on shopping inertia, climate and styles.