Heatwave and holidays drive 15-20% sales surge for mall retailers

New Delhi: Restaurants, fashion and beauty retailers, and multi-brand outlets in malls are raking it in as heatwave conditions, school holidays, and lesser travel combine to drive customers indoors into air-conditioned retail outlets and eating joints.

"Our restaurants have waiting periods stretching to hours at key locations like Mall of India in Delhi NCR even on weekdays. We have over 15 outlets across key malls in India, and the mall business is higher than last year. Our sales would be up by around 15-20% for outlets in malls compared to last year," said Saurabh Khanijo, managing director of Kylin chain of restaurants.

Pushpa Bector, group executive director at DLF Retail, said revenues for DLF malls should be up by around 10-11% for April and May compared to last year. "People are not travelling as much this summer," said Bector. "Because of adverse weather conditions, disposable incomes are going into malls, and per capita spending seems to have gone up. We should be doing considerably well all the way till August. Categories such as F&B, beauty and fashion are doing well," she added.

The average time a family spends at the mall has increased since the start of summer vacations, said Ravinder Choudhary, vice president of Vegas & Unity Group that operates half a dozen malls in Delhi and Punjab.

"We have also created activity zones in the malls that we operate. That crowd then spends time shopping and eating out as well. Food and entertainment zones are doing extremely well while there is a stable growth in fashion brands," he added.

Cafe Delhi Heights, which operates around 44 outlets across malls in India, is seeing a 10% uptick in sales over last year.

For standalone outlets in local markets and high street areas, restaurateurs are running offers like extended happy hours to lure more crowds.

"Extreme weather is increasingly becoming a factor in consumer decision-making. During periods of intense heat, air-conditioned malls gain a natural advantage as they offer a complete ecosystem of shopping, dining and entertainment in a comfortable environment," said Shriram PM Monga, co-founder, SRED, a retail advisory firm.

Monga said that it was not merely a seasonal spike in footfalls but a shift in 'dwell-time economics.'

"Based on what we are observing across our portfolio, mall footfalls increase by 15-25% during peak holiday and high-temperature periods, resulting in stronger sales for F&B and lifestyle brands," he said.