Malls vie for shoppers' eye

Flat, cars and Harley

Besides saturation-bombing shoppers with discounts and gifts and offering branded shopping experience to shopaholics who splurge money with no signs of any impact of the impending economic recession, malls have themed the shopping season as a cultural experience.

The Forum Mall at Koramangala is offering a bumper prize of one 2BHK apartment worth Rs 35 lakh to a lucky winner. The mall is also giving assured gift for each purchase of Rs 4,000 in the mall.

“With an aim to promote Indian culture during this festival season, we have decorated each floor with cultural themes from different states,” Forum Mall General Manager Ramaraju told Deccan Herald.

Making the culture of Karnataka its centre piece, the Forum has organised Yakshagana and Tiger dance on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to woo the weekend crowd.

“This apart, we have put up eight different stalls here for promoting hand-made items,” said Ramaraju. According to him, Forum Koramangala has already witnessed 20 per cent rise in the footfalls.

“This increase in the arrival really boosted the enthusiasm of the shop owners. On the sales front, we are expecting an increase of 13 to 14 per cent,” he said.

Bringing branding mantra into sales promotion, Forum Value Mall at Whitefield termed the Dipavali sales “Shopaholic Challenge.”

“We have decked up the atrium with traditional Rajasthani haveli and the plethora of brands available here will give a complete shopping experience to the customers. We have also ensured adequate parking space,” said Marketing Head Nikitha Jaggi.

The City’s biggest mall, Mantri Square, is offering freebies and lucky draws. The prize to be won is a car, a Nissan Micra. “We are spending a lot of money on advertising. This Deepavali, we expect a 20 per cent rise in sales over last year,” Mantri Mall CEO Jonathan Yach said.

Another popular mall, Lifestyle, too is offering buyers an extensive product range, including home decor, apparels, jewellery, furniture and much more.

“We have announced a wide gamut of offers such as free gift voucher worth Rs 750 on purchases above Rs 7,500. For our loyalty card holders (Inner Circle members), the festive season ushers in additional joy as one can earn double the reward points,” said Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd Vice President (marketing) Devarajan Iyer.

Taking competition to another level, the Central and Brand Factory have come up with “Let’s Celebrate” initiative. The scheme offers the latest in festive fashion across categories like apparel, jewellery, watches, footwear, cosmetics, perfumes, hand bags etc.

“We are also ensuring shoppers get the best out of their shopping experience with assured gifts on purchases up to Rs 25,000, assured gold coins on shopping and lucky draw to win Toyota Etios cars, Harley-Davidson, Tag Heuer watches, LED TVs, iPads etc,” said Central and Brand Factory Chief Marketing Officer Shankar Suryanarayan.

“The inflation is high, but we ought to spend money for our family and these freebies and draws are a bonanza,” says Manjunath, a custmer from Indiranagar.