What Frequent Flyers want? A guide to Induce Soul in Modern Airports..

It has been found out in research that flyers are stressed most when they leave from their homes for airport, or when they’ve just landed at an airport to catch the connecting flight. Flyer stress is the minimum when he’s through all security checks and is waiting near boarding gate. So on an average, a flyer is stressed for about 160 out of 180 minutes, or for about 90% of the total time it takes to board the flight – from home to aircraft. Most of this stress comes from various factors including security, waiting in numerous lines, lack of sleep, tiredness, hunger, panic (of missing the flight) or just simple anxiety of the whole process. Airports, on their own part, can do a lot more than the current state in order to reduce traveller stress that is there for 90% of the total time, in order to make the flying experience more pleasant and generate revenues for the airport alongside.
As the case with any consumer facing business is, it would be righteous for airport managers to identify its consumers before providing them with right set of facilities.

Typically, an airport would have a mix of leisure/ vacation travellers and business travellers. Airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad would cater more to business travellers whereas airports like Cochin, Ludhiana, Varanasi etc. are expected to cater mostly to leisure travellers and tourists. We would now take a look at what basic facilities should an airport, irrespective of whether it caters to business travellers and leisure travellers or whether it is a low cost or a full service terminal, should offer. We would then analyse additional services based on segment requirements.

Any airport needs to address the key factors of stress mentioned above to make the airport more consumer-friendly. Like we say that the three most important criterions in retail are location, location and location; for airports it is simply information, information, information. The information can be provided in through various channels and by various stakeholders in the whole travel value chain. There is no point in upgrading the airport to the state of the art, feature and service rich airport if the information on the same is not available through correct channels. Let’s look from a traveller’s perspective as to what all actions he takes the moment he wakes up to boarding flight (180 minutes) and what all factors contribute to the stress.

The only time when airport does not have a real control over passengers’ stress are the 100 odd minutes of getting ready and travelling to airport. But can the Airport, combined with airlines, provide passengers with end to end flying experience? Let’s see what all airports can do to address the stress related with each and every action.

Apart from the above mentioned steps, airports should have round the clock medical care facilities, free water and clean toilets at both pre-security check and post security check. Keeping in mind today’s passengers, mobile and laptop charging points should be available aplenty throughout the airport, especially post security and not limited to specific areas. Free Wi-Fi is a must for today’s tech-savvy travellers. All the above mentioned facilities and services are to be accompanied by easy, intuitive and efficient airport layout, along with clear and well spread signage.

Airports catering primarily to business travellers should keep in mind specific needs of such a traveller. These may include business lounges providing a relaxed and quite atmosphere for a traveller to finish his pending work, have a drink or dine, take a quick shower or a short nap, away from maddening enthusiasm of fellow travellers. Similarly, airports catering to leisure travellers or tourist should provide for tourist related information and guidance to the travellers regarding places to visit, hotel bookings, medical care etc., and making arrangement for next travel destination. Needless to say, airport is the first window and the last gate that a tourist sees when he visits or departs from a destination.

An airport should not be viewed an airport but as a sum of various parts that help a traveller to catch his flight. When a traveller enters the airport, the airport should behave as a welcoming figure, not an imposing or impeding one and hence courteous staff and signage plays and important role, along with information availability. When a traveller is relatively relaxed after security check, the airport should behave as a one stop solution to pamper traveller as a guest till he boards. This would include diversified options in retail, F&B, entertainment, business, pleasure, relaxation centres, spas etc. The beautiful irony being, that only when the airport stops behaving like one in traditional sense, it provides passengers with pleasant travel experience.

Effect of security check on shopping behavior

Today while passing through the Mumbai domestic terminal, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. There was a long line before entering the terminal building as well as pressure on the security check line. Subsequently when I entered the retail area and the lounge, i found they are empty. Though the peak times for any lounge is between 5-7am and 6-8pm. But today i was at the peak time of business, but the lounge had just 2/3 people.

What could have been the reason?
It is in fact simple. Whenever there is pressure/traffic build up at the two high stress points in an airport, it will translate into dip in retail. Travellers would like to rush to the gates after a stressful check in. The last thing they would like to happen is to miss the flights. The reverse happens when the two critical stress points have less pressure.

If our airport operators must understand that sales is inversely proportional to the amount of stress which builds up in a traveller as he/she enters the building. If they look into this specific issues, it will be of great use.

Malls- Some ideas...

We can have many interesting way to position malls and make it an attractive proposition for the consumer. Other than the above mentioned areas which are necessary for a classic mall, any developer or promoter must start thinking from the needs of the consumer and the problems faced by them in the current set of malls. We can randomly think of some interesting ideas around this.
Some of these can be pure whimsical and some which can turn out to be a winner:

Position the mall around categories: Instead of all categories in a single mall, why not have single or similar categories in a mall. For example a mall which sells only food and grocery or apparel under one roof. Consumers can come and pick and choose products. Time per trip would be short and purchases meaningful. We know by know that most of times, we go for specific category purchases. And this kind of thought through category wise positioning will help bring real customers.
Position the mall around themes: Another interesting way is to think if we can create the mall around a focused theme. It can be music, entertainment, kids, women or family. Some of the new age malls do try and cater to this part but ultimately if becomes mix of all things.
Open malls (no aircon): One of the critical aspect of any mall in today India is the idea that there is air-conditioning inside and that is assumed to be reason that many shoppers will come. We now know that there are many free loaders who visit a mall just to spend time and no money. How do we get around these issues? One idea can be a open mall which doesn’t have any air-conditioning. It doesn’t mean the temperatures inside will be hot. It simply means a restricted environment where only serious shoppers will go. Needless to say, a huge cost of operations goes down by doing this.
Drive through malls (park in front of the shop where you want to go): One major challenge which a modern day mall rat faces if the trouble of parking. Now how do we circumvent this issue? One easy way would be to have parking in front of the shops. So that means we have shops on all levels and cars can be parked closer to the shop area where you want to go. This goes very well with the idea open mall which we mentioned before this point.
Flexible malls spaces: To take care of situations where tenants keep failing and there is need to utilize the available space, one way could be to design the mall in such a way that space can used in various ways based on the market need. For example if there are sections of space in the far corners of a mall, instead of looking for tenant there to set up a shop, why not convert that space into a temporary office space or business center. Of course there would be the issues around regulations but that can be looked into a solution found.
Smaller size malls (less walking): The last but not the least idea is to have manageable sized malls. Lately there is this tendency to make larger and larger malls. By doing this they are surely increasing the size, but it does increases the problems around travel time with in a mall, parking, security and most importantly difficulty to get tenants which can make money and sustain. It would be good idea if developers started looking at the right size of a mall for India and its towns and cities.

Informal Social Networking- Powerful tool for Consulting firms

For long I was wondering when will social networking online will be embraced wholeheartedly by modern day corporates to build teams and share knowledge. It is a well known fact that younger people have a liking for web and SNS. Like it or not they spend 20-30 mins each day surfing and commenting on SNS. Why not harness this into more productive activity. I feel, specially for consulting firms, this becomes useful. I read about Cognizant and other such firms have already started that.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/For-tech-firms-social-media-is-serious-biz-investment/articleshow/6543289.cms
Gone are the days when team members are expected to deposit the deliverables in a database and then expected to read them. Now tell me, how do you expect a young consultant to share his/her thoughts and ideas with getting worried about castigation from "seniors" for misusing formal platforms like email. they too shy to even stand up and "present" on a ppt. This is where a SNS works. Create an informal platform where all younger and older members of the team and participate and showcase their ideas. it will fulfil one another important need, the need to be "seen" and "heard" and maybe appreciated as well. I am thinking something of that sort for my firm. lets see!!

The Early Learning Centre Shop

ELC has recently opened some outlets in Delhi and Mumbai. I visited the one on Ambi Mall, Gurgaon and observed a critical area of improvement.

The shop and the products are very good and innovative. so is the category divisions and VM. what made me smile was the staff and their behavior. They are all uniformed and look so serious man. I mean, in a kids shop for Gods sake, smile and interact and be friendly. Its good they want to follow the well structured and as -per-the-book SOP lead behavior. I along with another couple and two kids spent close to 30 mins in the shop and we were on the brink of buying few things but decided not to. Our rational self overtook the emotional part. Had their been some "involvement" of the staff, I am sure we would have shopped and spent close to 2000/- Rs.

But my suggestion to ELC would be as follows;

1. Please ask your staff to smile and be informal. Kids environment needs warmth and interactivity.
2. Start interacting with the kids and their parents as soon as they enter the shop
3. Be an advisor to the parents like to get some guidance on what is the best toy/item for their kid. be proactive and not wait for them to ask.

Otherwise all looked nice and this concept would only grow in future.

Shooting Sales in Airport Terminals- Who says flying is boring?

All too often when we travel by air, we wonder why we cannot have a good quality food or a gift shop where we can spend some time. How many times, when you were waiting in a terminal, you wished there was a spa where you can get a foot massage. Well my friends, things are changing and changing rapidly. Let me take you through the speed at which these new terminals of Indian airports are catching up with the international concepts and experiences. I am referring to an altogether new area of retailing revolution in India, Travel Retail.
It has been a practical no brainer that we are country which is in the build phase. What it means is; we are watching the construction of big and broader highways, more airports, better railways stations and an increasing number of metro network. We have all seeing 15+ % growth of sales in cars and other motor vehicles,18+% increase in air travel and similar trends in other forms of travelers. Indian is travelling and traveling big time. Needless to say, as we travel more and more, so will our “need to spend”, “eat” and “shop” increase throwing opportunity in this space of travel retail.
One of key area where we have seen sudden growth is in airport retailing. Across the world airports generate more that 40% revenues on an average from non-aeronautical commercial streams and there is no reason why Indian airports won’t see such trends. We have been watching the development of “World Class” terminals like the new T1D domestic for New Delhi Airport and more such in Hyderabad and Bangalore. As the airport developers (DIAL, MIAL, AAI etc) feel the pressure to generate revenues and money from various available resources, the need to create experiences for travelers to shop will increase. Needless to say, they have already tasted blood in the form of revenues from these spaces, whether it is retail, food or lounges. Take the case of Delhi’s new terminal, it has all the making of a great terminal experience, it has all the categories of products and services which a traveler needs but was never provided in our old fashioned terminals. We have books & music, Electronics and eyewear. Then we see interesting ideas around gifting, Indian Handicrafts and fashion.
The story is same on the other side of the table. Indian retailers are seeing some of the best performances in their stores in these airports. Be it Odyssey, Fabindia or electronics brand like Croma, all of them have sales and productivities from these terminal stores which is 3-4 times higher than their high-street/mall stores. Here I am not even talking about the interest levels of established international travel retail players who are big in duty free and other established categories. What does this all mean? It only means that airports have a captive set of people who are “high on cash” and “low on time”. It also means that Indian players have a big opportunity to develop concepts and formats suiting the Indian traveler as well as the international traveler who would like to take a piece of India while leaving this great country.
Some of you would be thinking, what about setting a shop in our bureaucratic setup? What about rules and security and procedures? Agreed that there are many bureaucratic processes and hassles in opening and running a store in an Indian Airport, but let me assure you, it’s the same case anywhere in the world. Airports are the hotbeds of political interference and procedural nightmare. The fruit of the labor is high volumes and margins and returns within a very short period of time. Not to forget the fact that retailers and brands get to showcase to a select and targeted set of people who are on top of the pyramid. Retailers have to always remember the golden rule for airport retailing, “Give them an offer which they cannot refuse”. Making the store open, merchandise interesting and alluring and price points competitive. This will ensure traveler shell out cash and spend and spend happily.

With 100+ AAI airports and out of which 20+ can be high potential airports, things look better and better. We already are on the verge of seeing the unveiling one of the largest airport terminals in Asia that is the T3 terminal in Delhi. This will be shortly followed by the new terminals for Mumbai. All this will see travel retail business in India shooting way past the 1000 Cr and well on its way to higher numbers. Here I am just referring to retail, food and lounges. We will talk about other avenues of revenues like advertising, car parking, hotels, business parks etc some other time.

Shopping Centres: Looking Beyond Real Estate

Malls and Environment
For the last ten years or so we have been watching the creation of an altogether new form of experience in shopping experience called the mall. As of today we have data which says by the first quarter of 2011, India can expect to have nearly 120 million square feet of total mall space available through about 350 malls. That means we have 350+ touch points which will have direct or indirect impact on ecology surrounding these points. With these malls, the developers are now facing a new challenge. This is not just about having the best tenants and the best location. It is about engaging with the surrounding environment and ecology. It is all about making the existence of a mall meaningful. Some experts have seen that consumers are willing to pay extra if they are confident that a mall is green and also socially responsible.
Impact of a mall

We can clearly divide the impact of a mall into three major categories:

1. Earth, Water and Air: This in nutshell means the impact of the building on the land it occupies, the water it uses and the air it pollutes by way of emissions from various machines inside the mall. One of the major causes of pollution is the vehicle traffic which gets generate outside the mall. Both noise as well as smoke.
2. Energy: The second important way a mall impacts us by way of the energy it uses. The key question here would be “Is this energy from sustainable resources?” if not, then what should be done about it?
3. Social: The most none core impact is social. This where most of the new malls and some old ones are focusing. The very reason is the fact that our society is complex and many times we have situation when a plush mall is in the middle of a low or middle class habitat. This obviously generates frictions and clashes. Both in physical as well as subtle forms. Malls are acknowledging the fact that we cannot have an epitome of consumerism in the the very middle of poverty and depravation.

Let’s see what all is being done around the world and in our country to address these issues. Let’s start with what are the trends and what are the success stories. The basic ways in which these shopping centres have been engaging in our countries are either by way of ensuring green energy initiatives and the other way is engaging the community. The last one is becoming very powerful in establishing the acceptance levels of a mall.

Trends in Green Mall:
Besides LEEDs certification and other such assurances, malls are focusing on ensuring that energy usage is minimized. As of now they don’t have great say in where the energy is generated from. But they can optimize the usage. This can be done along with the retailers while at the design stage itself. There are other ways also malls are encouraging green thinking. No usage of plastic bags and wood. Encouraging the usage of bio- degradable material. Lights are switched on just before mall opens, escalators stops if not in use. Doors close automatically. These are some of the many ways malls are focusing on reducing energy consumption, thereby saving money as well as becoming a positive contributor to saving environment.

Engaging Society- Some ideas and Trends:

1. Job generation- employment- There are hundreds of jobs which are generated in a mall, Security, Parking, Housekeeping and customer sales agents. Lately many malls makes it’s a conscious decision to engage local boys and girls for these jobs. Just imagine the impact of these initiates in and around the community and the mall. It’s a simple yet high impact activity. Surely the malls need trained people and many times they don’t get them from the immediate vicinity. It is here the mall developer and the occupants must pool in resources and provide help like training.

2. Centre point of community engagement: Malls can b the centre point for not only shopping but also become a kid of club and community centre for surrounding community to share ideas and thoughts. One of the well known malls in Mumbai has started such an initiative where community people use mall space to get together and exchange information. This is an excellent example of engaging with the people ith asking them to shop.


3. Sharing knowledge- using resources: What malls have is property and space. Some of these remain without ay use for hours during the week. Can these spaces be used for say, class rooms for kids? Can the terrace be used for training areas for under privileged? Can the retailers share some knowledge to the people from surrounding help them earn a living. Can they adopt kids and train and absorb them as CSAs? I can understand these are lofty ideas, but they can be effective if translated into some sort of reality.

4. Supporting Mom & Pops: Last but not the least, one of the major causes of concerns in a country like ours if the constant fight between traditional retail and modern retail. Whenever a mall comes up, surrounding retailers get threatened. Can a mall support these retailers in some form or other? Can a space be shared with them within the mall to ensure they also share the fruits of modern shopping phenomenon?.

It is a fact that malls are here to stay and also they have to find a balance and harmony with its environment. Unless these are done, mere sales and real estate making will not take them far. Malls have to become the centre point of the community in both consuming as well as non consuming way. It has to be inclusive. Only then we will see a long life and more profits for a mall.