The Hindu Business Line : Retail business boom may get more organised

Bangalore May 30 The retail business boom will see itself getting more organised against the somewhat discordant trail that it witnesses. This was because of lack of rapport between the real estate players who have jumped into the bandwagon of shopping malls by investing in the infrastructure, while giving little importance to the dynamics of the retail business to promote it to become a sustainable proposition.

Retail representatives at a two-day conference `The Shop — Southern Retail' here on Wednesday outlined the issues associated with mall retailing that they faced with various developers such as change of layout, fluctuating rentals and compromises on significant promises made at the time of signing the deal.

Various developers on the panel said the need of the retail sector was for developers to understand the requirements of the retailers and sustained communication between the two parties.

Mr Tim Enyon, Director, Prozone, a group company of apparel brand Provogue, said that there were two kinds of developers in India at the moment — the local developer involved with residential properties and merely looking for cashing on the retail boom and the other with genuine understanding of the retail environment and the specific needs of each retailer.

It was important for retailers to work with those developers who understand the retail sector and are prepared to work towards meeting the needs of each individual tenant.

Mr Paul Merrifield, National Shopping Centre Manager, Aditya Birla Retail, suggested that it was advisable to build a mall around consumers by first identifying the kind of consumer profile that the mall intended to cater to and then bring the right retailer to serve that consumer profile.

This kind of speciality retailing would help to solve the many problems that developers and retailers are facing in India today, he said.