Interviewer: When was the last time you visited a mall?

Interviewee: June, Basically I was jobless. I wanted some fresh air. There you find lots of
activities like bowling and ice skating. We went there just for having fun and to hang around
with friends. We didn’t actually go there to get anything specific but we did some window
shopping and had a good time with friends, yes we did had a good time.

Interviewer: So basically it was time pass experience?

Interviewee: Ya it was

Interviewer: How about your general trips to malls? Are they usually planned or are they just to
have fun? To be more specific, is it to buy something in particular, like a pair of shoes?

Interviewee: 60% without any purpose and 40% probably if want to shop for a shoe for then, I
wouldn’t know which brand or what to buy, where I have not decided what to buy, when I
know, I want to get the shoes. If I want to get a jersey, I know that there will be lots of options
available, that’s the case when I prefer the mall.

Interviewer: So it’s generally for shoes and those kinds of accessories?

Interviewee: In my case I go for fancy stuff, not specifically. I’m not a big shoe fan, I go for
jersey, t-shirts, jeans and I love caps and those funky gloves and all those things.

Interviewer: Other than shopping, what do you look out for in a mall?

Interviewee: Yes, and foods stalls like café coffee day. A good sort of collection places where
you go and have good food. Nice place to sit and talk and have a good time.

Interviewer: How was your experience? As you said, you were going to buy jerseys, caps and
spend time at CCD. All these brands have their outlets as retail stores as well. How was the
experience visiting them in the mall and outside?

Interviewee: Inside the mall you are really confused. You go on and you keep rejecting, you
don’t know what to choose so. You have lot of options. If not one brand you go to the other.
The elimination is more than the selection, so unless you really like something you are not
gonna stay in the stall and take it. I’m already gonna have that as a side shot, then go and visit
the all the other brands then go for it. If probably I am a brand person suppose you take in my
case I love Nike, when I want a shoe I usually tend to go to Nike, so in that time when I go to a
mall, if go to Nike and search for all the shoes there. I won’t get all the models like take the case
I wanted a cargo I checked out a mall okay. There were not many good cargo options available.
So you get good cargo at this ah I forgot the name, I forgot the brand name. Let’s take the
brand name as x. I got to know that this x is best for the cargo. So when I went to the mall and
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checked the mall you know the stuff and didn’t get the colors that I wanted so I later checked
out the retail store, and explore more options. Eventually I got one which I really liked. So in
that sense when I’m pre fixed, when I have a fixed notion that this brand is good, this is what I
want, what’s when I prefer to retail store over a mall.

Interviewer: This is a nice example you have given. Do you think, ever since you started
shopping at malls, there has been an impact on the way you shop? Has your behavior towards
shopping itself changed? You gave the example of eliminating certain kinds of products because
you got so many options, is that really impacting your shopping behavior?

Interviewee: I thought about, I thought about this… definitely because later on before the
presence of malls I’m from Tuticorin, port town there is one small mall, it is okay. Before that
we used to go around shops and window shopping was a hectic task. We have to walk for a lot
of distance, from you couldn’t get specifics, if you are looking for jersey. I had to walk a long
distance if I need to go to the next shop ah it’s not the case in malls. It’s a good way to window
shop; I can do shopping without any purpose unless I get the thing that I am looking for. So that
has changed my whole perspective towards shopping, rather than going one time and getting
whatever is the best in that specific time. I can shop over a period of time and choose the best
product. So I think I hold on to that answer.

Interviewer: Malls give you a variety of options. Is it that it has increased your spending budget
compared to a retail store, where you had limited options? When you go to a mall say you have
to buy a jersey, but when you go for a jersey in Nike, you see a track pant also available and also
you see many eatables, like you see CCD available, you see barista available, so do you feel it
has increased your spending budget compared to retail stores?

Interviewee: In a way not really, I would like to tell you why but definitely ya because I don’t
know somehow the prices in the malls are always costlier. But when you are in the mall,
suppose you go in for a day and then you are going through a variety of things, you actually
know you have budget. Supposing you have Y amount of cash on hands and then you are
looking to buy a variety of stuff. You know how much to spend. So you are not gonna, okay I
take a cookie in café coffee day and I know I am not gonna shop for pants or something.
Suppose I am outside ahh I know I have hectic task of coming outside to retails stores and all
that so I’m definitely gonna make it worth it, even if don’t have cash I go to the atm and take
cash, spend some time and spend some good time. Also I think I rather spend more and
supposing I’m going shopping, I definitely have to shop that day and definitely gonna have
lunch or dinner outside. Definitely go to a lot of shops by the way I start buying in some other
shops and something else also, I want to get the job done ah at one stretch right, it’s not the
case in the mall maybe once or twice ya that will be the case but if I’m going to the mall
frequently I don’t think ah. Spending in a mall would be greater than spending in a retail store.

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Interviewer: That’s an interesting take. Can you give us an idea of how much time you spend in
a mall?

Interviewee: In Trichy there is no time supposing I am in Bangalore, I spend two months in

Bangalore in internship so ah it’s pretty much hectic, the work you go in the morning and you
come back in the evening. This if you wanna get some fresh air at least in the weekends. So,
weekend in the mall, without question yes. So if I go to the mall in the weekends, I would like to
spend the entire evening there. I go somewhere at 4 and I would like to come back at 8. So, 4
hrs and Sunday also. So that adds up to 8 hrs a week, if it were possible I probably like to take
one hour during the weekdays. So you can put a fair of 7-9 hrs per week. Say if I were in a
metro city like Bangalore or Mumbai.

Interviewer: Interesting. How frequently do you visit malls? Not just in Trichy, give us your
experience in Bangalore as well.

Interviewee: I was there in December and I was there in June and May. Ya 2 months.

Interviewer: So during that time, what was your shopping pattern of mall visit?

Interviewee: Every weekend malls at least twice per week

Interviewer: Okay, let’s shift gears and now talk a little bit about retail stores. When do you go
to retail store? Is there any purpose or reason, or do you randomly walk into a retail store
without any plan. Give us your views?

Interviewee: Generally ya, but then in Bangalore I was living in Indra Nagar, so along the lane
you find lot of retail stores. So generally when I walk on the lane. I had to walk from HAL to
Indra Nagar. So it’s along the lane, I walk along the lane every single day. So to just make my
walk more interesting. I just visit any random store, random retail stores. And check out if there
were any good collections and new things coming up. So I used to love this Celio stall. Especially
for their caps and their variety of collections and I used to love that and suddenly they put up
the discounts and all that. So you keep regularly visiting them, if you are in luck you get the
discounts.

Interviewer: How was your experience with the staff in the retail outlet vis-à-vis the malls?

Interviewee: In the malls and in the staff, I mean in the retail stalls personally I don’t find any
big deal of difference. In the malls, people they are not even concerned. Because lot of people
they know they are window shopping, they know they are not coming for purpose, in the retail
stores there is little bit more attention, when you walk in one or two people just come in to you
and ask what you want, need help or something. But then if you keep coming there often, they
know you. Okay probably he is looking for something. So ya, apart from little bit more attention

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there is no much of a difference and you tend to have a bit more collection in the retail stores
than malls.

Interviewer: What reasons make you decide to go to the mall? One thing is shopping. There
could be others, like, to have a dinner or to watch a movie. Which would be your main reason
to go to a mall?

Interviewee: You mentioned going to a movie that was personally my number one point, I
would like to go to a movie which is in a mall rather than outside, I know because they are
going to charge some for the popcorn or Pepsi. So doesn’t make much big deal of difference. I
get to shop also, If I didn’t like the movie I walk out and just walk around the mall or even
probably you know if I’m looking for dinner probably I could have in the mall itself. In a way is
gives a comfort, movie and if I’m out of ideas of how to spend my time I would choose a mall
and mall is the place where they usually have fun stuff going on, there are usually some or
other event going on. Some games or stuff and there are usually links to other events. All these
big events happening around the city, they usually publish in the mall. So you get an idea of
what actually going on in the city, you go to a mall and then shopping.

Interviewer: What other events like the ones you mentioned, have you come across in the
mall? Any promotional event or any entertainment event?

Interviewee: I’m from the Festember team and marketing team so we target malls

Interviewer: How did you actually go about it?

Interviewee: We actually spoke to the mall manager and it seems to get the bill board in
Coimbatore you have to pay 10k for a month and there are so many places where you could put
posters and all that. So it’s all charged. They make money out of it and its extra publicity for us
as people would get to know. Recently our alumni conducted this event at various malls. What
they did was they went to ITPI mall then went to various malls and then they had handouts
which were delivered at the entrance and stuff like that. So malls are good place for publicity. It
necessarily doesn’t mean that its bad, people are charging and making money out of it but it’s
actually good for people to know stuff.

Interviewer: If you were to tell me one thing that you dint like about a mall or one thing you
want to improve about the mall?

Interviewee: You are asking this about an ideal typical mall or general? There are many malls
which are very pathetic like Spencer’s.

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Interviewer: Not specific but in general like the format of a mall, or the layout or things like
that.

Interviewee: One thing about malls is, first of all the mall taxes, which I find very disturbing
because, I mean, there is the MRP and then there is the tax. It is a bit bad that we have to pay
extra because we are going to a mall. Secondly, supposing it is a very new mall, I do not know
what the stalls there are or where to find out. I will have to walk through the entire mall and
finally come to know that these are all there or I have to ask someone. So it would be good, if
perhaps every mall had this chart, a layout chart, where all this information could be got. Even
if these malls have Wifi, it may not be free, but it would be good if that is there as well.

Interviewer: It is a nice a point to improve.

Interviewee: Why the Wifi.!! Point is, supposing everyone is using a smart phone these days. So
probably if I want something like the Jersey and if I just type I want jerseys and I can look for
places where I can get jerseys within the mall. That will be comfortable for the mall people in
terms of time saving, rather than people just walking around the mall looking for places. It will
be efficient for the mall managers in terms of more number of people and they can grow more
efficiently, and for me as well spending lesser time and energy.

Interviewer: Interesting. So again the retail stores, if you could suggest one point of
improvement, one thing that you don’t like about the current way these stores function and
what improvements should they do in order to enhance your experience in retail shops?

Interviewee: The way I see it, the mall itself is an improvement over the retail stores, but then
taking retail stores, the ways to improve a retail store, it would be unjustified if I tell-“include a
variety of things within in a retail store”, then it wouldn’t be retail store at all. So you want me
to tell how you can improve a retail store.

Interviewer: Basically anything that you feel. Probably, even for you the last time when you
went to the retail store and there was something that disappointed you from that experience.
Not just the last time it could be anytime, it could be anything small also. For example like retail
stores accept only debit card, credit card or cash something like that or the sales person who
are available are little pushy, they are nudging you something like that.

Interviewee: Sales people are nudging. I have not observed this credit card, debit card thing
even in the malls but not too bad of an experience but I wouldn’t want to generalize it.
Probably If I were to have a retail store under me, I would want to get more people coming to
it. I will probably think of having a lounge with stuffs delivered, which is not specific to any retail
store. Any retail store could have it. People generally come, especially if women want to shop,
the men can sit and watch a game and friends could just come to retail stores and they sit for

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some time, that I think would engage more people to come, sit around spend some time.
Basically spending time. People want to spend time. They can as well spend more time in my
retail store than anywhere else probably a mall. So that I think would attract more customers,
not exactly like a mall experience but like a night out experience.

Interviewer: Basically where they can relax. Only reason for being there doesn’t have to be to
buy something.

Interviewee: Exactly. I would even think of having little games like for Christmas and all. They
also have the basket ball thing. So you just come and you win prices and all that. That attracts
kids a lot. Not necessarily to attract young people, I think people would have fun. That as well
would attract customers. Sort of small events.

Interviewer: You normally go to a mall with your friends or you are fine going alone or you go
with your family.

Interviewee: I would like to go with my friends. That is what I like. But there have been a
number of times when I have gone alone. And there is a threshold limit to it. As in when you are
going to a new mall or new place, but then it loses its essence when you go to the same old
mall again. If I am going to a new mall. I would go once or twice alone, check it out, but then
why I would go to the same mall again is because if I am going with a couple of friends.

Interviewer: Say for Bangalore if you have a number of malls that you can visit, how do you
choose which mall to visit? On what basis? Say you have five six malls like Express Avenue and
you have couple of malls in Bangalore, how do you select on which mall are you going to visit?

Interviewee: Firstly, what the public opinion is about the mall, for a random choice. I am a
person who would love to check out all the malls. So how I went about it is, I didn’t stick to one
mall. In my two months, I split up. I wanted to visit all the malls. So I visited around five to six
malls. But then when you go to a good mall and then to a stupid mall, you get disappointed. But
if I am suddenly put in Bangalore, then certainly it would depend, what people around me tell.

Interviewer: So what do you stress more on when you are visiting a mall? Like say for example,
this is the first time you are visiting, would you give more preference to the brands which are
available or the ease of access, which is close by or what all extras you get in the mall. How do
you rate your preferences?

Interviewee: I think that varies from person to person. I wouldn’t care if I had a bike. So if I am
looking for brand, I would go to a mall with brands. Again it is not really the matter of first. But
if I have a choice like, first I am making a choice between two malls and I have not been to both
the malls, I think it would be the proximity. I would like to check the closer mall first. But once I

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have gone there a couple of times and again I know the brands that are available, then it would
be the mall with a better brand.

Interviewer: Your mall experiences, which we have understood from you, are generally
positive. So you would encourage other people also to go to malls.

Interviewee: Yes, definitely. I would advise them that it would be better or more fun
experience going to a mall than to a retail store. I wouldn’t advise them to go to a mall because
if someone is specific with the brand, they can always get good products from a retail store. But
then for general good experience of spending good time, a mall is a better choice.

Interviewer: You shop at normal Kirana stores to buy vegetables. So there will be some items
normally where obviously you prefer to go to a local store. There is no big advantage in going to
mall to buy those items right?

Interviewee: Yes definitely, I wouldn’t shop for vegetables in a mall. And even juices, I would
like to have juices in a small store or a parlour than the mall. So, firstly in a mall it is expensive.
Secondly in a mall it is pretty much more crowded than a small Kirana store. It’s not necessary
that you have to go to a mall to have a juice or something, unless it is for brand, if it is a cafe
coffee day probably I would look for a mall but not for a juice.

Interviewer: And for your regular house hold items like toothbrush, toothpaste?

Interviewee: Small Kirana stores.

Interviewer: Kirana Store or say if there is some Reliance Fresh or Big Bazaar the variety of
items which you get is large. Compare a retail store or a mall on the basis of the variety of the
items or the ease of access to the products. For example, if you are going to a retail store you
will be dealing over the counter with the sales person, whereas in a mall you have easy access
to all the products. So which one do you prefer in order to have a good experience?

Interviewee: First of all I would like to ask you two more things, the sort of products you are
asking me and now-a-days even in retail stores there is a culture where in you can go and
collect stuff.

Interviewer: Generally the packed products that include soaps, shampoos and food items for
example like Haldirams, Lays and all stuff. For example if you are planning to have a party, you
will have a lot of things to shop for. So would you prefer buying it from a Kirana store or a mall?

Interviewee: Again I think there are three categories like mall, retail stores and Kirana stores. I
would go for retail stores where you get quality stuff and you walk around. In the sense I like
the mall culture but not necessarily going to the mall.

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Interviewer: And you told already that you end up going with your family also to malls, because
of your family bonding and you just basically want to spend a quality time with your family. So
can you remember the last time when you went with your family? Was it like with a lot of
cousins and your entire family?

Interviewee: It was when I was in Chennai, I went with my uncle, aunt and my cousins, and my
sister was also there.

Interviewer: Do you remember what all you guys did, very generally?

Interviewee: We thought we would go out and we went to Spencer’s and we were shocked!!
Then we wanted to check out Express Avenues and there were a good lot of comparisons
between Spencer’s and Express Avenues. We were shopping for a shoe. Going with a family you
got to be fast. I was under a lot of pressure to pick up a good shoe. The peace of mind which I
would get, the amount of time I would dedicate to pick a shoe was lost. I had to pick a shoe and
make it very fast. Finally I ended up not picking a shoe and we had to leave early. And one more
which I would want the malls to improve is, I would like to have the malls throughout the night.
I think it pretty sad that they close the malls by 10 or 9.30. I think they should make it 24*7.
Why not?

Interviewer: Ya sure…….Thank you very much for your time. It was nice talking to you.

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