Entertainment-A Leverage or a Distraction for the Retail Outlets in Shopping Malls

The concept of including entertainment and experience into the retail mix has been recently catching on very fast into the market. It has been termed as "Retail-tainment". The trend has picked on in the last few years and accelerated during the economic slowdown as retailers, showroom keepers, and malls were looking for ways to attract customers into purchasing from their stores. Hence report has been prepared on the topic "Entertainment - A leverage or a distraction for the retail outlets in shopping malls". We have set objectives of examining the effect of age and gender on buying behavior in malls and to also examine how the entertainment in the malls influences the buying behavior of the customers. In order to determine the factors affecting the buying behavior and cause of it we have conducted a study between 20 to 60 age group of people, in Pune. The study was conducted on 137 people of various age groups and different professions and the questionnaire was prepared accordingly with objective questions seeking their opinion. In conclusion, we can say that entertainment in-fact aids the retail in the malls rather than being a distraction. The young people are more prone to impulse buy things then the older generation which is more or less due to the presence of the entertainment present in the malls, it was seen that higher percentage of males preferred having entertainment zones near retail as compared to females who segregated shopping from entertainment. The malls should mainly focus on having more entertainment zones near the retailers as it helps in increased footfalls which leads to a higher tendency of purchase. The younger generation is more prone to this compared to the older generation as their purchase is highly impulsive whereas in case of older generation the shopping is more planned and pre decided.