How to conduct Market Feasibility Study for Malls and Commercial Properties

​It’s been more than a decade since organized retail came up in India. In the early phase of development, it was just restricted to plaza culture. Post 2003, mall culture started multiplying in the metro cities, and India started becoming the hub of organized retail. The modern Indian retail industry has gone through a plethora of changes to attain the stature that it has now. This article shows the way forward to establish successful shopping malls and commercial properties.

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Though shopping malls are mushrooming across the length and breadth of the country, only a handful of them are running successfully, while others are losing their glory and are on the verge of winding up. Why is it happening? Well. Malls are more complex than normal commercial buildings. You need to do a detailed market research before taking the plunge.

Once you have decided to construct a mall, you need to determine if it's viable. To figure out if you should go ahead with your business idea, you need to ask questions like these:

• Is the market saturated? 

Does your city really need another mall? How much money is spent in your industry each year in your area? Is there room in the market for one more mall?

• Does the market want what you're offering?

Study has to be done to know if there are enough customers who can afford to shop at malls. And would there be retailers who will like to move in.

• What's the competition doing? 

What do the other malls do well? What do they do poorly? What's unique about them? Can you offer something different that'll encourage customers to patronize you instead of more established malls?

• Can you reach your target audience? 

Are you opening in an area with a population of the right age and disposable income?

Market feasibility study has various angles such as Competitor analysis, Market analysis, Customer analysis etc. Each has its own importance. For instance, a deep understanding of customer behavior will provide the right information to better understand what influences shopping patterns.  The resulting consumer insight will immensely improve marketing performance. You will be able to take advantage of the following benefits:

Understanding Visitors

• Identify which are your most effective marketing strategies
• Learn about your true catchment profile, see detailed demographics
• Discover accurate visitor insights
• Accurately target the most profitable visitor profiles
• Plan and promote effective events
• Find out which consumers in your catchment area are not shopping in your centre and why

Tenants

• Discover if your tenant mix is best suited to your catchment area
• Target new retailers most suited to your customer profile and catchment profile
• Attract compatible and sustainable tenants
• Forecast the success of prospective tenants

 
All this detective work will pay off, either by helping you validate your business plan, sending you back to the drawing board, or convincing you to shelve it altogether. And don't worry if that happens, inspiration will strike again.