Malls cash in on social sites

Mrs Madhu Goyal least expected to win the contest that she entered into through Twitter. Half expecting the gifts, she walked into a newly opened shopping mall in Kolkata. To her surprise, she received gift vouchers worth Rs 1,000 more than the promised gift.

As competition heats up, Kolkata-based mall developers — increasingly conscious of garnering more footfalls in their properties — are embracing social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as the next-best alternative to print advertisements.

While the easiest way would be to use these platforms to generate user interest, by putting up approaching promotional activities, organising contests and lucky draws have also emerged as the other alternatives for some developers.

“A social media platform helps us connect to our users. And it also helps us gauge the mood and get user feedback on the probable additions or changes to be made in the mall,” Mr Subir Das, COO and Co-Founder, Avani Riverside Mall told Business Line .

Active both on Twitter and Facebook, this latest entrant in the mall space in the city has seen a huge surge in footfall for its recently-opened property, following a promotional campaign that include contests through social media and networking sites.

While an exact quantification of footfalls because of promotional campaigns on social media isn't possible, Avani Riverside Mall has more than 5,000 “Likes” on its Facebook page.

“Contests have generated a substantial interest, and people have actually come to the mall to collect prizes. Footfalls have increased substantially too,” he added.

And some of the other mall developers like South City Mall and Mani Square too have their own Facebook pages, where events and promotions organised by the developers are put up to garner user interest in the plazas. While South City has more than 11,000 “likes” on its Facebook page, Mani Square has more than 800 “likes”.

Mr Harsh Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty, and developer of City Centre plazas said: “All I can say is that these (social media campaigning) are good opportunities for ensuring better footfalls.”

THE EVOLUTION

Mall owners have got savvier in combining traditional, on-site marketing events with their social networking efforts.

An evolving social media platform such as Facebook can be a tool that lets the mall manager project a human face for the mall without having to worry regarding spokespersons and cost. By empowering the average consumer with a forum, a specialised mall page allows the plaza manager to post events and information to a central location that people can check.

They found that technologies that were once expensive to own and costly to upgrade — electronic bulletin board, discussion forum, picture uploads, video-sharing and emails — come standard and free.

While there were initial hesitations on if the forum would be used to air grievances and customer complaints only, most malls found that there were some willing to promote them. There are also people with genuine complaints, which the smarter plaza managers were quick to respond and report solutions.

Mall vendors also found a forum where the consumer can give feedback, and they can test promotions and talk to the consumer directly.

MALL VENDORS

Shoppers' Stop, one of the retail chains in the country, agrees to the advent of social media as a potent tool for advertising products. According to them, a sync between user profiles and target customers have the retailers reaching out.

“Of the several people who have ‘liked' our Facebook page, nearly 53 per cent are actual users of Shoppers' Stop. We also have an online store, from which people can actually buy some of our collections,” Mr Vinay Bhatia, Customer Care, Assistant Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Loyalty, Shoppers' Stop, said.

Some other retailers, such as Future group's Pantaloons and Big Bazaar, too, are active on these social media platforms.

According to Mr Mayank Saxena, Managing Director, East, at real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle, the importance of social media as a marketing tool will see several new developers take to it.

Even existing developers, who are currently averse to this, will also choose online promotions through social networking sites.

“It is inevitable. Even those averse to such promotions might be forced to follow it,” he said.

PITFALLS

While there may be excitement regarding the supposed better connect with shoppers, market sources and analysts warn of the pitfalls. According to them, social networking site pages need to be “dynamic and active”, with regular interaction between users and mall developers.

Leaving questions unanswered, or not attending grievances, could spiral into having a negative effect.

Moreover, relying just on on-site promotion, too, won't generate the expected interest levels (read footfalls).

“Ideally, there should be a mix of online and offline promotional activity. You cannot rely on one and ignore the other,” Mr Saxena adds.

Avani Riverside Mall officials agree. According to an official, one person has been appointed by the company to constantly monitor its “online promotional campaigns” on Facebook and Twitter.

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