Kolkata: Longer hours, new offers may drive sales in malls – Times of India

KOLKATA: Malls in the city are getting ready for a bumper weekend with retailers pinning hopes on longer business hours and end-of-season sales to register double the revenue that they had clocked last weekend.
Retailers in malls said sales recorded between June 25 and 27, the second weekend since malls reopened on June 16, was more than what they had been able to achieve in the eighth weekend after malls resumed operation following the first lockdown.
“The recovery of sales following the shutdown has been much faster in the second wave than in the first. People have returned to malls without fear. In the first wave, the fear of the unknown had led to poor footfall for nearly two months. This time though, people are back in numbers. Perhaps, vaccination has made them confident,” said Quest mall vice-president Sanjeev Mehra.
What’s also significant is that senior citizens and children who were not allowed to step into the malls after they opened during the first wave year are now visiting malls. “Both these categories generate spends. While senior citizens who come to malls have serious buying capacity, children also drive sales, not only of kids wear and toys but also phones, laptops and televisions,” said South City VP Manmohan Bagree.
With many brands set to introduce end-of-season sale this weekend, Ambuja Neotia group whole-time director Ramesh Pandey expects this weekend’s footfall to be the highest during the pandemic minus the festive season (October-November). “Retailers are very happy about the revised timings. Now, it’s almost like regular hours. Store-keepers are bracing up to do some serious business and make up for the loss incurred during the 45-day closure,” said Pandey.
K Vijayan, the general manager at Acropolis, said it was not just the timing but also the relaxations in staff deployment and capacity that will come in handy.