Indian brands make way for global brands in malls

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Nov 7, 2016

Indian malls are opting for international brands over domestic brands as foreign firms give back higher rents and bring in a new set of customers. 

International brands have been replacing Indian brands across India, according to a report in the Hindu Businessline. Oberoi Mall in the Mumbai recently shrank the size of its erstwhile anchor tenant, Central, to accommodate Spanish retailer Zara. Swedish clothing retailer H&M displaced Big Bazaar and Pantaloon at the High Street Phoenix mall in Central Mumbai and DLF Saket in Delhi, respectively.

“Indian retailers are getting sharper and downsizing their stores since growth in some locations has petered out. Today mall owners are getting better yields from international brands, whose sales per square foot every month are higher than those of the domestic retailers,” said T Anupam, Vice-President, Oberoi Mall.

“The rental yields are 25 to 30 per cent higher when it comes to international brands versus Indian brands,” adds Anupam.
 
Explaining the decision to give H&M Big Bazaar’s place at the Phoenix mall in South Mumbai, Rajendra Kalkar of Phoenix Mills Ltd said, “Rental revenues are better with H&M compared to Big Bazaar, which had been the anchor tenant for nearly 15 years, since the inception of the mall.”
 
“We knew that by replacing Big Bazaar we were not at a loss since it was the up-market South Mumbai clientele, who would not mind missing out on a mass hypermarket like Big Bazaar, that we wanted to address,” he added.
 
Future Group’s Central, the multi-brand seamless store that occupied 75,000 sq ft at the Oberoi mall, has now reduced its size to 60,000 sq ft to accommodate Zara on the ground floor, making the Spanish retailer another anchor tenant, over 30,000 sq ft.
 
Other domestic brands, such as ITC’s Wills Lifestyle, have been replaced by US speciality retailer Aeropostale, at the same mall.
 
The Aditya Birla Group-owned Pantaloon store at DLF Saket Mall in Delhi was also made to shrink its size from 30,000 sq ft to 7,000 sq ft to accommodate H&M for its first store in India.

For the mall companies, apart from higher yields, the global brands also bring in a new set of customers.

“We want to attract younger consumers. International fashion brands like H&M will help not only in getting footfalls but also boost the customer profile of the shoppers at the mall,” said Amaan Fakih, CEO, R City mall.