1. A COMPARITIVE STUDY ON
CITY CENTER AND RAMEE MALL
Pradeep.M
Roll.No: 45
Mall Management
March 2013
Chennai Business School

3. Learning Outcomes:
The main objective of the study is to learn various steps to successful establishing of Mall from
concept stage to opening of the mall and then managing it further with best practices of CRM,
marketing, operations, leasing, tenant mix, facilities management, atmospherics,
communication mix and other add-ons like entertainment options, its importance, multiplex
operations, brand valuation for mall, parking management, food court management, retain
demand analysis, location analysis and site selection, store design, layout planning, footfalls and
marketing planning , Maintenance management, etc..
The Study focuses in depth in
• Understanding the concept of Zoning and Tenant mix across two different malls
• Get an idea of role and significance of different types of tenants like, anchor tenants and
vanilla tenants
• Knowing about major issues concerning tenants and tenant mix management
• Understanding the concept and need for marketing and promotional activities in a mall
• How Mall positioning and Customer profiling is integrated
• Effectiveness of Horizontal and Vertical navigation
• Role of Anchor Tenants and its correlation with Footfalls
• Proportion of Retail-Food-Entertainment-Services and its importance for a mall.

4. Parameters City Center Ramee Mall Remarks
City Center is situated at Mylapore
which is a cultural hub and
neighborhood in the southern part of
the city of Chennai, the catchment
areas are Mandaveli, Adyar, Marina,
Royapettah, Mountroad etc..
Location Mylapore Teynampet
Ramee Mall is situated in the heart of
Chennai, Anna Salai Teynampet which
covers the main areas like T.Nagar,
Nungambakkam, Egmore, Mylapore,
Gopalapuram ,Royapettah, Alwarpet
etc,
City Center occupies first five floors of
the property. The remaining 5 floors
are occupied by corporate offices.
Ramee mall occupies the first three
180,000sq.ft 201,879sq.ft floors of the property. The remaining
Size
15 floors are occupied by Hyatt
Regency Chennai.
Comparatively both the mall has
almost same retail space.
Complete mix of apparel, The clusters of like and similar tenants
fashion accessories, can hold up the rent levels more
consumer durables with a Clusters of like and successfully than shops of similar type
blend of few fast food similar tenants together. being spread widely apart across the
Tenant Mix
kiosks’ makes its very property. Though Ramee has made a
interactive to customers good tenant mix doesn’t attract much
but failed in forming a crowd. In case of city center its vise
cluster. versa.
The presence of a strong Anchor store
is also a very critical factor in
determining the success of that mall.
Strong brands like Lifestyle & Shoppers
Stop acts as a pillar to protect the
brand. They attract the majority of the
Anchor Store Lifestyle, Landmark, INOX Shoppers Stop, Q-Play customer through their brand names
& it results in the increase of footfalls
in the malls & thereby generating
more sales to other stores also.
Both the malls don’t have any food &
grocery supermarket, which is very
unhealthy.

5. In both the malls vanilla stores were of
similar size.
Park Avenue, Indigo Nation, Timex, Eye T World,
Mochi, Health & Glow, Archies, MAC, Biba,
Vanilla Stores
Begum etc.. Krylan etc.. Vanilla Stores in City center are low
premium and budgeted brands where
as in Ramee it’s more of luxury brands.
The walk ins is significantly very low in
Ramee when compared to City center.
The ratio of walk ins in each mall
Walk ins
Weekdays – 15000 Weekdays – 1500 between weekdays and weekends
(Approximate of Weekends – 25000 Weekends – 5000 City – 1 : 2.4
the Mall) Ramee – 1: 3.33
The walk ins is actually 3.3 times more
in Ramee during weekends than
weekdays.
More or less the percentage of walk
ins to the anchor stores in both the
malls is same.
70% - 80% of total walk ins 70% - 75% of total walk
Walk ins in the
ins But when actual numbers are taken it
Anchor Stores
makes a huge difference
City Center - 16000
Ramee - 2500
On an average the conversion rate for
City Center is 52% where as for Ramee
its 70%
Likely conversions
LS - 45% - 50% SS - 45% - 50%
( Your
LM - 30% - 40% QP - 85% - 90%
guesstimate) in INOX - 55% - 65% The Conversion for Q-Play is
Anchor Stores significantly high because it’s a
destination point where people make
a planned purchase.

6. There are a variety of ways to get in
City Center has Ramee has contact with customer service
conceptualized a French conceptualized a representatives in both the malls. The
Theme Boutique Theme representative tries to make your
Internal & External
shopping experience more enjoyable
Branding
Differentiated in the form Differentiated in the by providing General Mall Information,
of Kiosks and Vanilla stores form providing Services Mall Maps, Lost & Found, Mall Gift
proportion in the mall Cards, Wheelchairs, First Aid
Announcement Services, etc.
Designed in a double The Ramee Mall is
dumbbell shape, anchors designed in a ‘T’ shaped Both the malls have strategically
Landmark and lifestyle fashion (single dumbbell located their food court and
occupying two different shaped), entertainment zone at their top floors
corners and vanilla retailers Anchor tenant Shoppers to bring the maximum foot traffic.
in the middle Stop at each floor end
Lay out and vanilla retailers in But Ramee looks more organized
food court and the middle. when compared to City Center.
Multiplex(INOX) is
positioned on the top floor food court is positioned Both the malls placed restrooms at the
to attract consumers on the top floor to end of long service corridors.
vertically up attract consumers
vertically up
Ramee Mall’s tenant mix based on
zoning not only helps attract and
Ground Floor – Complete Ground floor – retain shoppers by offering them wide
mix of kiosk’s, fashion International Luxury range of choices and satisfying
accessories stores and brands (Mostly Fashion multiple needs, but also facilitates the
consumer durables. Apparels) Impulse smooth movement of shoppers within
(Impulse as well as planned buying products the mall,
purchase)
Zoning
Whereas in City Center few vanilla
1st and 2nd floor dominated 1st and 2nd floor well tenants have moved out (probably
by anchor stores(Landmark known premium brands lockdown period would have expired)
and Lifestyle) and some with consumer durable due to which the flow of similar
vanilla stores, Kiosk’s in the and fashion accessories. tenants is missing. To overcome this
middle.(planned purchase) (Planned Purchase) gap City Center has converted dead
space in the common area in to
attractive kiosks.

7. The size of the floors is almost same in
44,000 sqft at the both the malls. People tend to cover
ground floor, entire floor very well, but still the
50,000 sqft on the first navigational movement horizontally is
Ground, 1st, 2nd floor – floor, comparatively good in City center than
Navigation
40,000 sqft approx 75,000 sqft on the Ramee.
( Horizontal ) second floor and
50,000 sqft as parking Ramee has got some dead drop points
space. in its 1st & 2nd floor and some tenants
are yet to come.
The Vertical Navigation is good in both
the malls, strategically located food
court and entertainment zone at their
top floors to bring the maximum foot
Navigation
5 floors + 1(parking) 3 floors + 1(parking) traffic. Since Ramee mall has got only
( Vertical )
3 floors, the traffic travels all the way
up to the top floor with minimal
reduction of footfalls in each floor.
Ramee has got comparatively more
number of service providers than any
other malls in Chennai, the reason is
their main customer base is from
Proportion of
Ret - 60% Ret - 50% Hyatt Regency, to serve them Ramee
Retail,
Ent - 15% Ent - 20% has come up with too many service
Entertainment, Food- 20% Food- 20% providers.
Food & Services Serv - 5% Serv – 10% (Air/Train ticket booking, Spa/Saloon, Money
transfer/exchange, ATM, Photo shoot,
International Courier, Mehandi, Tour
consulting etc..)
Both the malls made good proportion
that caters their customer base.
Both the malls provide comparatively
good ample parking and maneuvering
of cars from the parking lot.
2 floors of underground Underground Covered
covered Car/Bike Parking Car/Bike Parking facility Smart car parking in City Center
facility available (70k sqft) available (50k sqft) enables customer to choose their
Facilities – Car parking plan depending upon their
Parking / Bike Open Air Parking available Open Air Parking usage hours. It’s good to have such a
Parking inside the mall premises available inside the mall plan. In near future it is expected that

8. premises all the malls will follow such a plan.
Pickup / Drop point
available Valet Parking available Though both the malls have Pickup /
Drop points, only in Ramee it serves
Smart car parking Pickup / Drop point well. The multiple lanes at the
available entrance of city center confuse people
so that drop point doesn’t cater its
purpose.
The car parking fee at Ramee mall is a
standard Rs.30 irrespective of the
number of hours spent.
Car-Rs20/ 1st hr However they need to have an
Additional Rs10/hr arrangement or consideration for
Car -Rs30/per day people who need to come and leave
Bike -Rs15/1st hr within 15min? (like say - pick up a
Charges Additional Rs5/hr baggage from store/ return an item/
Bike -Rs20/per day pick up an alteration given).
Full day parking-Rs40 on
weekdays and Rs60 on City Center has customized its parking
weekends charges in such a way that customer
can avail their parking coupon in
hourly or full day basis
Digital mall directory at Ramee follows a user friendly touch
Roof top fine dining with multiple points screen enabled digital mall directory,
scenic beach view where as in City Center they follow the
Toilets – separate for printed mall directory displayed
Toilets – separate for customers and beneath a huge transparent glass.
customers and Staff
Staff The Roof top fine dining with scenic
Water softening and beach view is really outstanding, no
Building and floor purification other malls in Chennai has such
Other Facilities directories detection facility.
system Signage directing
customers towards Ramee’s signage is significantly good
Water softening and elevators, toilets and in terms of visibility, font size, font
purification fire exits color and readability when compared
to City center.
Signage directing Uninterrupted power
customers towards supply with power City Center has to improve its power
elevators, toilets and fire backup supply to next level; there is a gap of
exits few minutes when it turns from direct
Emergency lighting in all current to generator.
areas

9. Both the malls has well defined the
category of services offered based on
demographics, psychographics,
income levels, competition in
neighboring areas and extensive
market research of the catchment.
Positioned itself as a
"family destination Positioned itself as a Ramee is clearly perceived as a mall
shopping mall built with a “boutique Shopping for entertainment. Q-Play Bowling
French theme, both the Mall and Entertainment Alley, Video games, and a kid’s
Customer Profiling exteriors and interiors destination”. entertainment zone appear to support
& Mall Positioning designed based on French the perception. Another factor
architecture. contributing to the perception is the
The mall provide absence of a departmental store like
The mall provides premium high-end luxury Big Bazaar or Easy Day in the mall.
and budget products products catering to the
catering to the middle class elite class City Center is also clearly perceived as
(socio-economic (socio-economic a mall for entertainment. The mall
classification B1, B2, C classification A and B having low range of shops is hardly
consumers) consumers) visited for purchasing goods, with
lifestyle, Landmark and INOX as
anchor stores; it is a hang out place for
the population in the catchment area,
especially students.
Weekdays: Weekdays:
Least crowded – 10am – Least crowded – 10am – The Least and Most crowded time in
11am 1pm weekdays is more or less same in both
the malls. But there is a significant
Most crowded- 6pm to Most crowded- 6pm to difference in weekends. It is because
9pm 9pm of the prime location of City Center
Least and Most which is very near to Marina Beach,
crowed time of Weekends: Weekends: Kapaleeswarar temple and Santhome
the week Least crowded – 12pm – Least crowded – 10pm – Bascillica which are tourist spots and
1pm 1pm naturally Chennai Citi Center also
attracts many tourists.
Most crowded- 4pm to Most crowded- 6pm to
9pm 9pm
Marketing & At least one or two events One or two events per Organizing cultural events has proved
Promotion per week. month. vital in attracting consumers to a mall.
activities Highly Involved with City Center is keener on such activities,
Uses Print media for Social networking which also act as a differentiator for
conducted by the
marketing & promoting websites to marketing & the mall.
Mall
promoting

10. In city center when a customer shops
at their anchor stores, they reimburse
the parking fee paid.
Parking Coupons from Loyalty cards provided In Ramee Mall a special loyalty card is
CRM measures
Anchor tenants (typically for Hyatt Regency given to Hyatt Regency customers
used by the Mall not a CRM measure) customers where they can avail discount if they
make a minimum purchase of Rs.5000
Both the malls follow a healthy
practice which motivates customer in
shopping and makes loyal towards the
mall.
CCTV equipped, CCTV equipped
metal detectors at all entry metal detectors at all Both the malls need to have those
points entry points signing boards that will clearly tell
people where from and how to
Patrol & Escort crew Emergency Phones or escape. Today these malls are not just
available Call Boxes visited by educated crowd. If people
are educated and made to understand
2 Emergency exits multiple fire escape there will be less panic and we can
Safety & Security routes with panic doors avoid mishaps.
measures of the Equipped with Fire alarm
Mall and fire extinguishers, Equipped with Ramee mall has Emergency Phones
safety masks, oxygen automatic fire which is highly visible, located in
cylinders, sufficient water suppression systems, parking areas and in the mall itself. I
sources etc.. smoke detectors, heat personally encourage such measures,
detectors, fire and this has to be followed in all the
extinguishers, safety malls.
First aid kits masks, oxygen cylinders
First aid kits,
ambulances on duty
Though the size of both the malls looks
similar, the no of employees working
No of Employees in city center is double the time when
compared to Ramee. The reason
working in the
150 – 200 80 – 100 behind this is the footfalls.
Mall (
approximate ) Footfalls play a key role in determining
no of employees in a mall. More the
footfalls, more employees to manage.

11. City Center is built up with a French
theme, taking inspiration from
traditional French culture. The Roof
allows natural light to pass through.
35% natural lighting 10% natural lighting Natural lighting helps to create a
Lighting
softer, friendlier environment.
Ramee is built up with Boutique theme
where electrical lighting is very
essential to maintain the consistency
of look and feel of the place.
Temperature was not Temperature was City Center’s air-conditioning is not
uniform all over the mall uniform all over the mall good enough to relieve people from
except some dead drop heat. Having such good foot traffic City
Central atrium was super spots Center has to do something about this.
hot and humid
A/C
Ramee should improve on using power
supply at an optimal level and reduce
*Time of visit : Saturday 2pm *Time of visit: Friday 12.30pm wastage.
The rating is given considering the
factors like Management of parks,
fountains, overall look of the mall,
Lush green landscaping with seating
Facilities, Infrastructure, Hygiene etc..
Ambience &
Rating: 2.5/5 Rating: 4/5
comfort inside City Center should improve the overall
shopping experience provided for
consumers because at the end it
becomes an important factor for the
success of any mall.
The number of Kiosks in city center is
comparatively very high than Ramee
mall.
30% - 35% of the shops are Hardly 6-8% of the
Kiosk’s vs Retail
Kiosk’s shops are Kiosk’s Looking at the bigger picture
stores
considering mall’s catchment,
demographics, and customer profiling
both the malls has good spread of
kiosks.

12. 16 yrs – 26yrs 16 yrs – 26yrs
(Students & Bachelors) : (Students & Bachelors) :
3 to 4 hrs 3 to 4 hrs
26yrs – 30yrs 26yrs – 30yrs
(Married Couples): (Married Couples):
Average time 2 to 3 hrs 2 to 2.5 hrs In both the malls, the average time
likely to be spent spent in entertainment zone is high,
by customer ( 30yrs – 40yrs 30yrs – 40yrs also the maximum time is spent by age
according to (Married Couples with (Married Couples with group of 16 to 26yrs.
profile ) Children): 2 to 2.5hrs Children): 1 to 2.5hrs
45yrs to 55yrs: 45yrs to 55yrs:
2 to 3 hrs 2 to 3 hrs
Above 55yrs Above 55yrs
1 to 2.5 hrs 1 to 2.5 hrs
Staff’s don’t wear a Wearing uniform can distinguish
Staff’s wear a uniform uniform employees and customers.
Mall employees
Knowledge about the mall Knowledge about the Ramee Mall should work hard on
is very good mall is very bad educating their employees; make
them in line with mall branding.
The restrooms in Ramee mall are in
line with latest infrastructure and
simply at its best. They are super clean
and well stocked, but restrooms in City
Restroom
Rating: 1/5 Rating 4.5/5 center are tucked into the corners and
Maintenance
are much disproportionate compared
to the area and footfalls of the mall.
They smell like no other, forcing you to
hold your breath, and run out quickly.
Connected only by MTC City Center is very well connected in
Well connected by MRTS buses as of now. terms of public transportation than
elevated rail network and any other malls in Chennai.
MTC buses. Metro Rail system is in
Connectivity
progress right now, but The ongoing Metro Rail construction
walk able distance from it will take 2 yrs to would take 1.5 years to complete;
Marina beach complete once it is completed Ramee will get a
significantly a better connectivity.

13. City Center has its competitive
Landmark Marina Beach Anna Arivalayam advantage on its location. It is very
near to Marina Beach, Kapaleeswarar
temple and Santhome Bascillica which
are tourist spots.
With three entry points, traffic
Management within the mall is better
Traffic 2 entry/exit points + 1 for Single entry/exit point + organised in City Centre. Also, the
parking 1 for parking strategically located exits ensure that
Management
moviegoers can get back to the mall
for a quick dinner or even a late night
shopping trip.

14. Report:
A good location defined in terms of factors like ease of access via roads, good visibility,
etc. is considered as one of the prime prerequisites for a mall. Both the malls have a very good
location but City Center being very near to Marina Beach, Kapaleeswarar temple and Santhome
Bascillica which are tourist spots makes it a competitive advantage.
Ramee has got a cluster of tenants, the customer perception is that the property offers greater
variety and therefore will have the item that the customer seeks. The customer is therefore
more likely to visit the property and acquire goods. City Center doesn’t have a cluster pattern
instead they have sprinkled Kiosks all over the mall which have a 360 degree exposure and are
placed in high customer traffic areas. But too many kiosks may look bad; it can give a high
street shopping experience to customers. City center has to significantly reduce the number of
kiosks to survive in the near future.
Both the malls have restaurants, entertainment and movie theaters (yet to come in Ramee) to
the mix. In addition to generating regular traffic, supermarkets can fill vacant spaces left by
closed department stores or other large tenants. It’s a way to lease space to somebody who
generates a lot of traffic on an ongoing basis. And because the mall pulls people from a greater
distance [than a shopping center], it’s now seen as a pretty good place for food stores to
locate.”
Like in a movie, storylines help create a consistent look and feel to the space. Many times the
story is part of the architectural and interior concept. In both the malls, the lighting was
different and supportive of the storyline. Lighting design complements and adds to the scheme.
Further to this, Signage’s used in Ramee mall show contrast of dark solid figure against a white
background and significant to be seen by the visually handicapped and the aged. City Center
uses fancy signage using “Queen” and “King” is confusing and should not be encouraged. It is
not easily distinguished by the visually handicapped and the aged.
Both the malls have placed restrooms at the end of long service corridors. Unfortunately I can
only give City Center a rating of 1 out 5 stars because the bathrooms are gross. There is always
a line. They smell bad. They are always dirty and in need of attention. Ineffective ventilation
makes restrooms unbearable.
Ramee has to work on drafting marketing strategies for them to meet the needs of the local
consumer base and the challenges of local and regional competitors. I personally feel Ramee to
take responsibility to generate productive footfall by signing up for revenue share and lowered
rentals.

15. Ramee has to consider putting their employees in uniforms. There is a famous quote “you dress
your employees to match your brand”.
Once the mall opens up and the number of vacant shops is huge, the consumer perceives the
mall as lacking because in an enclosed space the unlet premises are extremely conspicuous.
This leads to a bad first impression in the consumer’s mind. The same applies to a tenant too, if
prospective tenants see more of unlet areas, they perceive the mall as having failed to attract
tenants and may even change their mind to set up shop in the mall. Unfortunately, both the
malls fall in to this. It’s time to start working on this gap.
CONCLUSION
Positioning & profiling of the Mall plays an important role for the success of any Mall. A
very well designed Mall constructed with lot of aesthetics can be a failure if the positioning and
profiling is not done in a professional way. After positioning, Zoning & Profiling of the Mall is a
very critical aspect. It requires lot of planning and understanding the psyche of the buyers.
Right mix of the brands and products with right zoning & profiling is a key to success of the
Mall.
It is important to know that, even though both the malls carry shopping goods, entertainment
and food, perception of the target population varies from mall to mall. Perception has taken a
tilt towards the dominant component of the mall could be entertainment, shopping or some
other aspect. It is clear that both the malls are centrally located. The only difference is that the
target segment is different. City Center caters to the middle income group, where as Ramee
caters to the upper income segments.