2. 2
Introduction
Our project focuses on the comparison between Open Markets and Shopping Malls. The main
criterion was energy consumption. It tries to find out which is better on the basis of following
broad factors:
1. Consumption of resources
2. Generation of waste material
3. Customer Satisfaction
4. Social Acceptance
5. Economic Feasibility
India is growing fast and enjoying international prestige as many foreign companies are
expanding their presence. Traditional shops are turning into departmental stores,
supermarkets and specialty stores. Over the last few years, retail has become one of the
fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy.
In the last decade Delhi and NCR region has witnessed an exponential increase in number of
Shopping Malls. People are relating it to the development of country, but are it really true?
Everything has its share of pros and cons.
In countries like USA and Europe Shopping Malls have already replaced traditional markets .
But those countries have already developed and are no longer in a position to change this, IF
Required. But India is in developing stage, so the decisions made now are crucial and will
decide the fate of our country in future.
Our project tries to answer these questions in a hope to find out an optimal solution that is
socially, economically as well as politically feasible.
3. 3
Background Information
“The Liberalization of trade in India in 1990's brought the people of India the similar status
as that of a US consumer and since then Consumer market has never looked back. The most
prominent result of this has been the rapid rise of malls in metropolis areas in 21st century.”[1]
But the impact of such kind of increase in “mall culture”[2] means a negative impact on
environment. Delhi currently boasts of 28 malls and about 17 more will come up in following
year. This “mall boom” has effected construction which had recorded increase of 10% and
this has also led to rise of 12% of total electricity requirement. [3],[4] Malls are gearing up to
reach small towns too, the question that we need to ask is how efficient they are when
compared to the traditional shops and complexes. Also are they as much eco-friendly as
they are consumer friendly or are they just another luxury to scar the face of our beautiful
planet 'Mother Earth'. We will like to take up aspects involved in coming up of malls and
their impact on economy environment and our daily lives.
Although malls have been on rise but they have faced their share of criticism too. One
of this is that currently, the Indian retail market lacks designated mall management firms.
Large real estate developers and retail chains either have their own mall management arms
operating as subsidiaries or have contractual agreements with international property
consultants. Till recently, mall management was limited to facility management by a majority
of developers in India, leading to gaps in mall management practices. Given the high future
supply of malls and increasing competitiveness within the Indian retail market, developers
must correctly address these gaps to ensure success.
A sense of concern was expressed over the following challenges to the Indian retail market:
lack of quality locations
shortage of trained staff
rising rental values
mall management
The first three concerns can be classified as external factors, whereas mall management is
internal. External factors are common to all players in the Indian retail industry, whereas mall
management is specific to individual malls. The success of Indian malls will not only be
achieved by housing the biggest and the best mix of retailers, but also by setting up new
standards and procedures in mall management that will provide a platform to differentiate its
products and services from competitors.
Globally, mall management broadly includes:
positioning a mall
zoning – formulating the right tenant mix and its
4. 4
placement in a mall
promotions and marketing
facility management – infrastructure, traffic and
ambience management[5]
Secondly malls could be regarded as the most hungry institution in terms of energy among
the service sector structures. Here are some statistics to support the statement:
The overall constructed area to increment by about 5 times from 21 billion square feet
(2005) to approximately 104 billion square feet by 2030 at a CAGR between 5% to
10%.
Building energy consumption accounts for over 30 percent of electrical energy
consumption in the country, and is rising annually at 8 % .
Lack of energy conscious designs lead to rampant inefficiencies in commercial
buildings . Energy Audits show energy saving potential of up to 30-50% .Energy
performance index (EPI) 200 to 300 kWh/sq m/year . [4]
Malls have been known to be causing pollution too.
Traffic and Parking Pollution. Shopping malls are usually accessed by cars and thus
they generate a dense traffic during the operation hours. Not only that traffic
increases substantially in the vicinity of malls, but cars are usually driven at slow
speeds when most of the toxic exhaust is generated. Although, the exhaust gases will
get into the atmosphere and thus dilute, studies have shown that within the mall and
its vicinity air quality is be affected. Additionally, the noise pollution may also be a
factor for nearby residences. A parking lot needs fairly large space, around 25 square
meters (270 sq ft) times the number of places. This means that parking lots usually
need more land area than for corresponding buildings for offices or shops if most
employees and visitors arrive by car.
Plastic Waste Pollution. A study from India identified the plastic bags that usually
pile up in and around malls may be a major cause of pollution. This pollution
generally comes from the restaurant and similar types of shops.[6]
` Despite all this problem malls have overpowered open market complex in terms of
sense of luxury and quality that they provide. Now hardly any developers are taking up
open market projects. Everyone have their hearts set on building more malls.
Hence The Force by which malls are rising is to be reckoned and realizing this, the
idea is to minimize the cost of running a mall or even a shopping complex for that matter to
ensure that the damage done to environment is minimizes and we carry on the development
5. 5
sustainably. Thus some of measures that are expected by government to take up in
their policy are :
Green rating systems for buildings that will save energy and diminish pollution;
Better management of wastes (especially plastic waste) involving proper
collection and disposal;
More efficient lighting system;
Replacement of plastic bags with paper bags or fibre-based bags[7],[8]
These measures and solutions will be further discussed elaborately in a later section of this
report where we will try to come at a solution as to how we can make our Indian markets
especially Shopping Malls energy efficient and eco-friendly.
At last I would like to conclude in the words of Mr. Pachauri:
“Energy-efficient buildings are, perhaps, even more necessary than energy-
efficient cars — you can change your car but you can't throw away houses.”
-R K Pachauri (July, 2005)
People interviewed and surveyed
Mall Architect
Mr. Rahul Mishra - Architect Of JMD Mall
Since architect is like a mother for mall in it's development stage with thought it would be
appropriate to get his views on getting to know about the impact of malls on us socially,
geographically, and health-wise.
Maintenance head of Mall
SP Roy, AGM, DLF India
Maintenance Head( In charge of both maintenance and architecture) of Open Market :
Sreenadh Tripathi :DGM - DLF Galleria
To get an Idea as to how the energy is distributed and also how the waste is treated we sought
to interview the maintenance head of respective mall and open market and later on compare
the two to get conclusion on the area of Eco-friendliness.
Developer of a mall :
Vidyadharan DLF India (City centre mall)
6. 6
To Understand the strategy of developer in going for mall rather than open market and to
know if he really feels good about malls or it was for financial reason that he opt for the
former was necessary to make a conclusion. Thus this interview was made.
Government Official :
MrGulati(including his contacts which he used to answer the questions):
MCD Department
Under this category we planned to include different government officials to have knowledge
under various departments though we were not fully successful in gaining all accesses we
wanted as explained later.
We chose government official(s) to interview because:
We wanted to gain knowledge about various rules and their
implementations on commercial lands like malls/open markets.
To know about the detailed specifications placed on architecture of
such places.
To know about the rate at which they use facilities like electricity,
water etc.
To gain access to government data to have knowledge about levels
of pollution and electricity consumption.
To know about the restrictions of different sorts imposed on
malls/open markets.
To have better knowledge about real life scenario about the extent
to which rules and regulations are actually implemented.
To see what is the procedure that various Government departments
follow like what data and other things they maintain in order to
have better knowledge of the procedure followed.
To see if there are any loopholes in the rules or their
implementation and to find a better way, if possible.
To know the differences of rules / facilities provided by
government between open markets and malls.
7. 7
I asked the related questions under government official category from Mr.Gulati, who is in
MCD department. He used his contacts from other government departments also to provide
me the related data and answers. We actually wanted more descriptive data in order to have
better analysis but unfortunately the official government data we got was limited. The reason
and corresponding shortcomings are explained in detail in subsequent section.
Mall Manager
Mr Katyadi
Earlier Maintenance Secretary (5 Years), Manager since 4-5 months
DLF City Centre
Mall Manager was an important person to be interviewed. We had data and corresponding
information from sources other than mall manager. We could analyse it.Though we gained
some data from mall manager as well but the main reason was thatwe wanted to have opinion
of an expert like mall manager who could figuratively tell the role of malls in present society
and its corresponding relation with Indian society and its modernisation.
We chose mall manager to interview because:
We wanted to have his view on the reason for exponential rise in
number of malls in Delhi in the past decade.
To know about the corresponding relation between development and
number of malls.
To know about the position and status that malls hold in our society.
To have his view on open markets and difference between malls and
open markets on basis of ecological preservation.
To have data regarding distribution of different types of shops,
especially trade-off between branded v/s non-branded shops.
To know about distribution of electricity and other sources among
different shops present in malls.
To know about measures being taken for ecological preservation and
promotion of renewable resources.
To know what position he holds as a manager when it comes to
implementation of new rules and efforts for greener future.
To know the influence of board members on him, his decisions and
overall operation of malls.
8. 8
Survey Data
Customers
The people surveyed were generally between ages 18-30.
A relatively young crowd was chosen as most of the mall-goers nowadays are these
young people.
Most of the malls and new markets target the young generation as they form the
majority group among their customers.
60% of the people were surveyed online as we thought social networking sites (like
Facebook and Google) are one of the best platforms to reach out to the young people.
People in the age group 18-30 are socially very active and hence these social forums
provide an excellent platform for productive discussions.
The field survey was conducted in and around the Priya Marketing Complex. The
DLF Promenade and the DLF Emporio Shopping Malls being near it, it was a perfect
place where many shoppers come daily. Moreover, it was a convenient place for us to
conduct the field survey as it is much closer to our campus.
The field survey too involved many young people .
Shopkeepers
Around half of the shopkeepers surveyed were from the Priya Marketing Complex
and the other half from malls in the Saket area (Select City Walk and DLF Malls).
Almost equal number of people were chosen from each group as it was realised that
certain responses might be biased .
Restaurants and food stalls were not included in this field survey as malls have mostly
franchise-based fast food restaurants (like KFC,McDonald‟s,Domino‟s etc.) , while
restaurants in open markets are generally the traditional ones. Although Priya Market
did have some fast food joints , we thought comparison between these two classes of
restaurants wouldn‟t be proper.
Moreover, these fast food joints are generally filled most of the time and so the staff
working there has their hands full.
The shops (shopkeepers) selected for the survey were carefully chosen so as to
include every category of shops (except food stalls) in both Priya Market and the
Saket Malls.
Apparel Shops were given special interest as they are one of the most important
categories of shops in both open markets and shopping malls. It is the section of shops
that interests the highest number of people.
9. 9
Personal Experience and Difficulties faced during
Interviews
I, had a very nice experience in interviewing people and everyone of them (Architect,
Maintenance head and Developer)were very eager to share their knowledge with me. The
only problem that I may have faced was maybe the unavailability of time with some of
interviewees with whom I had to take interview on phone which was different kind of
experience in it's own.
Otherwise each my questions were answered very politely.
Government Official :
MrGulati is a nice person and showed full co-operative. I actually have my aunt in Ministry
of Home Affairs in Delhi branch. I took her help to find the person to be interviewed. We
actually planned to interview people under different departments including Energy Bureau,
MCD Department and Electricity Board. But we were not able to do so. One of the reasons
was lack of proper communication between Home Affairs department and energy bureau. I
was strange to find this. I mean if different departments do not interact properly, how we can
expect proper functioning of government?
The MCD person could be easily accessed through my aunt‟s help. The electricity board
person was also accessible but they refused to give exact data regarding electricity
consumption and bills. I thought of using my aunt‟s power to get the data but I felt that it
would not be the right thing to do, so we couldn‟t count on that.
Mr Gulati from MCD department was fully co-operative. He even called a person in energy
bureau to help me and gain some of the knowledge. But I felt that because of the position in
which he is in department, he did not truly give the answers to one or two questions where
inefficiency of implementation of rules by their department was seen. He also avoided one of
thesekinds of question and I had no way to convince him to answer!
Rest went fine with interview with him.
Mall Manager :
Mr Katyadi, Mall Manager, DLF city centre showed full co-operation. I was able to contact
him using my sister‟s contacts. She was somehow able to get contact of one of the person in
maintenance department of mall. Using him, I climbed the ladder, he giving his boss‟s
number, his boss giving his own boss‟s number, which finally was mall manager.
I felt people in private sector are far more co-operative, lending their help compared to people
in government departments. Communication is also easy with these people. He told his views
on role and position of malls in our society these days.
10. 10
There was one observable thing – though the mall people were doing recycling of water, they
were not more worried about switching to greener ways by compromising on some things. He
was more concerned with sales figures, as explained later in subsequent section.
Analysis:
Interview analysis
My analysis would be that In a bid to reach high level of lifestyle we have created a “mall
cultre” as told by Mr. TRIPATHI THE COORDINATOR OF DLF open marketplace which
promises a better place for us but in reality as most of people I interview agrees that they are
ultimately not very healthy for clean living. But then I also came to know that they and
government is aware of these and they have been following measures laid by government in
order to create a green marketplace. But the case of reviving Open Markets was not really
fancied by anyone. Thus this was in agreement in background data where it was concluded
that malls have really over taken open market to a point of no return.
Although this may seem bad but this is not really the case as when I asked Mr. Vidyadharan
the developer of city centre Gurgaon about the measures taken for green rating he said, “Well
as i said before at time of development of mall there were no norms But since 2006 we have a
certain rules by government. These include:
1. Minimize Glass surface to reduce heat trap.
2. Use of Double paneled with vacuum in between to stop heat.
3. Making structure that relies on daylight and not entirely on external lightning
4. Use of Filters in Chimneys to settle heavy particles.
5.Solar panel installation for minimum 15% of lights.
Also before mall is opened it need Clearance from Environmental Impact Assessment
Authority.”
This really made me believe that we can make malls sustainable for environment and enjoy
the luxury that they provide.
Government Official :
Following important observations were made:
There is a proper procedure to be followed before passing the
architecture of the commercial property like malls/open markets.Delhi
Urban Art Commission (DUAC) plays a major role in this.
11. 11
NOC‟s are to be taken from different departments while construction
of building. This also includes checking before the construction of
building begins, as well as after the construction of building ends.
Whole plan is decentralised. It is the duty of respective Government
departments to check whether the rules are being followed or not.
100% area covering is allowed for such buildings opposed to 70-75%
for residential area.
Nowadays, it is necessary for commercial zone to facilitate parking
and also to ensure that it is earthquake resistant.
Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) was launched in May,
2007, which addresses the design of new commercial buildings. This
basically focuses to optimize the building‟s energy demands.
No subsidies are provided by government to any commercial
operations like malls/open markets. Rather they have to pay a higher
price for usage of sources as compared to that paid by residential area.
E.g. - the cost of per unit electricity is Rs.2.5 in non-commercial
buildings, but all commercial activities get it at around Rs.7 per unit.
The above observations tell us the important concept of ECBC, introduced by “Bureau of
Energy Efficiency”. Since this has been introduced recently, it‟s effect and the extent is not
clear yet and nothing can be said determinately. But according to us, this could be a big step
for ecological preservation. Presently it is optional for buildings to come and apply for
ratings. The cost fee is greater than Rs.1, 00,000. Rating is done on scale of 1-5, 5 star
labelled buildings being the most efficient. This has not yet started for retail malls but will be
implemented in near future.
We propose a further modification in this. Government can make the cost of per unit
electricity inversely proportional to the rating of the building. This will make malls and open
markets more efficient on energy basis since they will try to be as efficient as possible in
order to have less cost per unit of electricity.
Other rules are being implemented. Especially the Disaster Management department is
playing a great role by carrying drills at regular interval. New parking related rules are also
very efficient.
Mall Manager :
Following important observations were made:
. On an average, a shop in a mall covers around 2,000 sq. foot.
. The minimum electricity bill per shop is Rs.3, 000.
12. 12
“Escalators, hallway AC‟s etc. are common to all shops. Also the
cleaning of floors, maintenance of toilets etc. All such costs come
under maintenance charges. The maintenance charge is around Rs.25,
000 – 30,000 per shop.” Said Mr Katyadi, the manager.
Recycling of waste water generated by the mall is going on using a
plant that is installed in the mall.
According to manager rise in number of malls is a symbol of
development.
Manager himself agrees that prices of goods in malls are higher as
compared to outside.
Manager also agrees that people come to malls not only for shopping
but also for recreation.
“Developing malls in or near slums is not at all feasible.” Says
manager, thus indicating that such development is not feasible in a city
of slums.
The above observations agree with the data of survey conducted on customers that people not
only come for shopping but more because of recreation. It also agrees with the result of
survey that prices of goods in malls are higher.
From above points it is clear that high maintenance charge is imposed on shops, for facilities
like escalators and hallway A.C‟s, resulting in hike of price of goods. This indicates that
comfort does come with fancy facilities like escalators but simultaneously at a high cost. This
is not the case in open markets since there are no hallway A.C‟s and escalators there.
Thus there is a scope of certain optimisations that can be used in malls to cope up with high
energy consumption.
Survey Analysis
Analysis of Customer Survey Data:
According to the survey, a majority of the people (83%) believe that the products in
Shopping Malls are of high quality. This agrees with the common belief that
Shopping Malls do have quality products. One of the main reasons for this can be that
Shopping Malls mostly have shops with big brand names. The quality of products of
these brands are generally unquestioned and are believed to be good. Also, the survey
shows that the same cannot be said for open markets. There is a relative decrease in
people (52%) who believe open markets have quality products. Same arguments can
be placed here. Traditional open markets don‟t have branded shops and outlets.
Although the open markets in Delhi (including the Priya Market) do have a lot of
branded shops (in fact, around 75% of the shops in Priya Market are of reputed
13. 13
brands) , but they are still lower in number than that of shopping malls. 83% of the
people agree that new style, new design products are available in Shopping Malls. A
relatively lesser number of people (71%) believe the same for open markets. This
shows that people prefer Shopping Malls over open markets in terms of product
quality and product availability
Only 13% believed that Shopping Malls provided good bargains. It‟s not a surprise,
since Shopping Malls generally house branded shops , the discounts are very rare to
come by. While 79% believe that open markets provide good bargains. This is
probably the result of the various unbranded shops in open markets which provide
huge discounts.
The next result was a surprising one as Shopping Mall was given a slightly more
preference than open markets in terms of social and eco-friendly environment. Since
most of the young people prefer Shopping Malls and frequently visit Shopping Malls
even if they don‟t buy anything, Shopping Malls have turned out to be the hangout
place for these people. Traditional hangout places like public parks or even open
markets have been shunned and Shopping Malls have taken over as the best place to
socialize with friends and family. Moreover, more and more Shopping Malls are
being constructed with state of the art infrastructure and design. These Shopping
Malls are doing everything to lure the customers with better entertainment facilities
and a better social environment. These are probably the reasons why people believe
that Shopping Malls are a socially better option to hang out. Again, since Shopping
Malls have a dedicated maintenance department, they look much cleaner than open
markets which are generally maintained by the Municipal Board. Hence, people
believe that Shopping Malls are more eco-friendly than open markets. Our
background research contradicts this fact though; and the interviews with different
people associated with both Malls and markets revealed that Shopping Malls have a
bigger negative impact in the environment than open markets. Probably, a lack of
technical knowledge on environmental and energy issues led our surveyed people to
conclude that Shopping Malls are more eco-friendly than open markets. Overall (not
relatively, absolutely) people did believe that both open markets and Malls are
energy-guzzlers and generate a lot of wastes.
Undoubtedly, 97% of the people believed that Shopping Malls have better parking
facilities. Open Markets don‟t have good parking facilities (Priya Market doesn‟t
have and people park their cars just beside the road).
62% of the people said „no‟ when asked if buying from Shopping Malls was a matter
of high social status for them. People generally visit Shopping Malls for the quality of
products and the good entertainment facilities; status has nothing to do with it. But we
cannot ignore the rest 38%, there are people (especially the rich and the super-rich)
who do consider social implications before visiting a place.
14. 14
Factors like entertainment, availability of food stalls and facilities like central air
conditioning, elevators, escalators etc. play a huge role in luring people to Shopping
Malls. Although many people don‟t buy anything , they go to shopping malls simply
because of these factors. As stated earlier, Shopping Mall has become hangout place
for most of the general public. Almost 90% of the surveyed people too agree with
these facts.
Even though Shopping Malls have been preferred over open markets in majority of
the points above but overall almost half the people chose open markets and the other
half Shopping Malls. This might be a surprising result for many (including us) but
after proper and careful analysis some reasons have been meted out as to why among
the surveyed people roughly 50% of the people still preferred open markets. One of
the main reasons being prices of products in Shopping Malls and that in open
markets. The Indian society hugely comprises of the middle class families. The
number of rich and super rich families is relatively much lower. The middle class
families like to adhere to a certain budget. They compare prices in both malls and
markets and prefer the place where stuff is less costly. And since products in
shopping malls are generally pricey, open markets are preferred by these people in
this regard. Moreover, the shopping mall boom in India has been prevalent only
during the last decade. There is still much more time for it to reach its full potential.
Also, in India, shopping malls have been popular and rising only in the big metros
(Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai etc.). It is still a long way out to reaching people in small
cities and towns. Our online survey comprised of people not only from the Delhi
region but also people from other smaller towns and cities of India. So, accordingly
50% of the people did not prefer Shopping Malls as they are still to see the full
potential of the Shopping Mall industry. But with the exponential rate with which the
Shopping Mall Industry have been growing, it won‟t be far when Shopping Malls will
penetrate the lives of these people too.
Analysis of shopkeeper survey data:
82% of the shopkeepers who took the survey believed potential for sales in malls were
high. When the same question was asked to the shopkeepers about open markets, 68%
of them said that potential for sales in open markets is high. The relatively higher
potential of sales in Shopping Malls can be due to the popularity of shopping malls in
Delhi. Shopping Mall density in Delhi is quite high than the other places in India. The
NCR has been the place where the Shopping Mall boom has been the most effective.
With this growth in view, the shopkeepers in NCR today believe that potential for
sales is higher in India. (One thing to note here that the same cannot be said for other
smaller cities of India. Since the survey included only shopkeepers from Delhi, the
results will only be Delhi based).
Many of the surveyed shopkeepers believed that the layout and categorization of
shops is much better in Shopping Malls than in open markets. This point cannot be
disagreed with. It is common knowledge that that the layout of shops and stalls is
15. 15
quite efficient in Shopping Malls. While most open markets have shops in a
disorderly manner. Although Priya Market did have some order in the layout of the
shops, it still is far behind in this respect as compared to Shopping Malls like Select
City Walk and DLF Malls.
Like the customers, the shopkeepers too believed that pleasant surroundings, interior
design and entertainment facilities in Malls do have a positive effect on the customers
and help in luring them into the Malls.
Finally, the shopkeepers in both Malls and open markets were asked where they
would like to put their shops in if they are given a choice. The answer we got was a
little surprising. Here too, 50% of the shopkeepers went for Shopping Malls and the
other half for open markets. The shopkeepers in both Malls and open markets opted to
stay at their respective places without any change. Even though some shopkeepers in
Priya Market did agree that potential for sales in Shopping Malls is better and there
has been an ever increasing growth in the Shopping Mall sector, they still wanted to
stay in the open market business as they consider the Shopping Malls as their arch
rivals and it would be like accepting defeat if they too shifted their shops to Shopping
Malls.
Solutions:
Pros , Cons and solution
Our study and analysis of the data obtained from surveys and interviews revealed that both
Shopping Malls and open markets have their share of pros and cons. Although, the general
belief is that Shopping Malls are energy guzzlers, but our interview data shows that they have
a better potential in utilising the resources optimally and reusing the resources as compared to
open markets. In this section, we will describe pros and cons of both Shopping Malls and
open markets and the scope of modifications and improvements that can be brought in both
these sectors for better utilisation of resources with minimum impact on the environment.
PROS and CONS of open markets
In terms of energy use, open markets don‟t have escalators, elevators and central air
conditioning and hence consume much lesser energy in this respect as compared to
Shopping Malls. But it is to be noted that the general public do prefer these things and
take these factors into consideration while visiting a place.
Prices of goods and products in open markets are lower and reasonable compared to
Shopping Malls. This fact was further supported by the interview with Mr.Katyati
(Mall manager, DLF City Centre) who said that a product may have a higher price in
Shopping Malls than in open markets. Same was verified by the analysis on the data
collected through the customer survey.
16. 16
Parking facilities are a big minus in case of open markets. Lack of proper parking
facilities in these markets has always been a problem not only in Delhi but also in
other parts of India.
Open markets lack entertainment facilities as compared to Shopping Malls
Open markets lack the cleanliness that exist in Shopping malls.
Open Markets can better cope up with natural calamities as they provide open areas as
well as easy exits.
PROS and CONS of Shopping Malls
Shopping Malls are energy guzzlers. The central air conditioning, escalators, elevators
etc. consume a huge amount of energy. The lighting systems and interior design of
Shopping Malls too contribute to the over-consumption of energy.
All the shops in Shopping Malls are rented under direct control of the authority, the
managing committee of malls. So there is a better control on shops and decisions can
be quickly and efficiently taken. Whereas in open markets, either they are under the
control of Government or there is some association which is controlling. In both the
cases, the control of the management authority is much less and thus there is a less
concern for energy conservation also because the burden of management is widely
spread.
Parking facilities are much better in the modern Shopping Malls and has been one of
the biggest factors contributing to the growth of Malls.
Shopping Mall products are overpriced. Discounts are pretty scarce and results in lot
of people actually not buying anything from the shops in Malls.
The number of shops per square metre of area is much greater in case of shopping
malls. There is better utilisation of space in Shopping Malls than in open markets
which would require a large area to house the same number of shops. This is also a
disadvantage as there is a problem of space crunch in most of the Malls and there is
very less space outside the malls for free roaming. (Recently, there have been Malls in
Delhi which have been constructed over a large area with adequate amount of free
space around it).
Although, Shopping Malls have adequate parking facilities, traffic problems have
been noticed in the roads leading upto and leaving from Shopping Malls. Proper Mall
specific traffic rules are still to be implemented in many cities of India in the roads
around Shopping Malls. Proper positioning of the malls is not done which leads to
these traffic issues.
17. 17
Proposed Solution :
Before doing the surveys and interviews, we believed that open markets would be much
better than Shopping Malls ecologically. It is still the case but not to the extent that we
thought. After the careful analysis of the interview and survey data, we observed that open
markets also consume significant amounts of energy. Moreover, the scope of recycling and
reusing the waste materials from Shopping Malls is much better than those from open
markets. The reason being: in open markets, which are either under the control of
Government or some association, the control of the management authority over individual
shops is much less and thus there is a less concern for energy conservation also because the
burden of management is widely spread. While, all the shops in Shopping Malls are rented
under direct control of the authority, the managing committee of malls. So there is a better
control on shops and decisions regarding recycling and other proper eco-friendly practices
can be quickly and efficiently taken.
Mentioned below are some solutions proposed by us to increase the efficiency in energy
output of both Shopping Malls and open markets:
Green rating systems for market places especially Shopping Malls. Recent
studies in buildings in India have shown that there is a large potential for energy
savings (upto 40%) in commercial Shopping Malls in end use such as lighting,
cooling, ventilation, refrigeration etc. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry
of Power (Govt. Of India) has proposed to introduce the STAR Rating Program
for buildings which would create a demand in the market for energy efficient
buildings based on actual performance of the building in terms of specific energy
usage. These rating systems need to be extended to Shopping Malls as soon as
possible.
Merely introducing rating systems wouldn‟t do. Shopping Malls and markets
which exceed their energy usage and wastage generation limits must be
severely penalised by the government. Government can make the cost of per unit
electricity inversely proportional to the rating of the building. This will make
malls and open markets more efficient on energy basis since they will try to be as
efficient as possible in order to have less cost per unit of electricity.
Proper parking facilities must be introduced in open markets. Usually, it is
observed that vehicles are parked on the road itself near open markets due to lack
of parking space. Government or the association controlling the market should
construct parking facilities near open markets and defaulters must be fined
heavily.
Strict traffic rules and regulations must be implemented in and around the
areas having Shopping Malls to ensure people park their vehicles only in the
parking space provided in Malls and also to prevent blockage of roads near
Shopping Malls.
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Better management of wastes (especially plastic waste) involving proper
collection and disposal. Currently, most of the Shopping Malls do have a proper
wastage disposal system. But the same lacks in open markets. Moreover, in both
Shopping Malls and open markets the wastes generated must be placed into
separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable bins which is not generally
followed in either Shopping Malls or open markets.
Regular energy audits should be conducted by the government on both
Shopping Malls and open markets.
Trigeneration systems, absorption chillers and, hybrid chilled beam/low
temperature variable air volume air conditioning system and water recycling
should be made mandatory in all the major energy consuming Shopping
Malls. This way there will be an even better utilisation of the energy consumed by
these Shopping Malls. Some kind of energy generation systems can also be
introduced in major open markets by the association controlling it.
Other means to increase energy efficiency like using more energy-efficient
light bulbs, planting more green plants, instead of flowers (which are more
expensive) and optimizing the use of escalators by turning them on only just a
few minutes before the mall opens must be adopted by shopping malls.
Our project required us to carry out the detailed analysis of the Energy consumption between
Open Market like Priya shopping complex and a Shopping Mall like DLF promenade. And
consequently we tried to answer the question about the sustainability of the rise in malls that
the city has witnessed in the past decade.
Through various stages that we have been through in our field project, it has been realized
that the analysis is very complex in nature and requires understanding of the shape that Indian
Economy has taken since the beginning of Globalization scene. First thing that we realized is
that development of mall is driven by the consumer - centric growth approach which was
famously inspired from American culture. Then we realized that this is not the whole story as
despite less demand malls are coming up and seen empty in cities like Gurgaon. Although
malls came out to be much more energy hungry than open market but their utility over the
open market is so high that it is not possible to revert back to old school shopping complex.
What is actually required and is now been followed by government is a hybrid of the two that
incorporates the needs of people along with the energy measures. This seems to be achieved
with adoption of some measures that may leads to high initial cost but will ultimately help for
the betterment of society. Through the interviews it seems that everyone is slowly yet surely
turning towards the above given solution and the problem of energy consumption with malls
does not comes out to be a grave problem as it was perceived earlier.
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Limitations of our study
Our study has some loop holes because of some limitations in it. They are as follow:
Survey done on customers couldn‟t include people with all age-groups. They
were in between 18-30 hence limiting the study by being influenced by
customers of particular age-group rather than of all age-groups.
Since 60% of customer‟s survey was done online, it also leads to some non-
Delhites also filling the survey. This may lead to change in data as compared
to what was expected because of possibility of different mind setups. One
major reason is that malls are more common in major cities in India like Delhi
rather than other parts.
We were unable to directly talk to someone in Energy Bureau, thus limiting
our data.
Shopkeepers were a bit non co-operative while asked to fill out the survey
thus leading to unfair answers when we sometimes requested them to fill.
View of shopkeepers was biased. If they were from open market, they tended
to favour open markets only, (even though agreeing on lot of other questions
suggesting malls are better) and same was the case with shopkeepers from
malls.
We haven‟t done any verification of the data which we got from the people
interviewed due to lack of sources. Hence our study is based on assumption
that whatever data we got is correct and questions were truthfully answered.
Shopkeepers in some of the branded stores avoided filling up the survey or
answering to our questions. The reason they told us was that they were strictly
instructed by their bosses not to entertain any sort of questions to anyone.
Our data collection and interviews were scattered i.e. out of the people
interviewed, some were from one mall and some from other, hence may
leading to inappropriate observations.
Only one person under each specific position was interviewed, i.e. only one
mall manager, only one maintenance secretary and so on. Thus in overall
sense, more of people under each category should have been interviewed for
better general data.
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Citations/References for background information:-
1. " Adhyayan" , School Of Management Studies
http://www.smslucknow.com/v2_2010/pdf/Adhyayan.pdf#page=39
2. Term referred by Mr. Tripathi of DLF India in his Interview.
3. " Adhyayan" , School Of Management Studies
4. “Transforming a retail centre into a brand through professional mall management"
Prof. R K Sharma , Institution : IJRCM
http://www.ijrcm.org.in/download.php?name=ijrcm-3-Evol-1_issue-
2.pdf&path=uploaddata/ijrcm-3-Evol-1_issue-2.pdf#page=47
5. "Road Map For Energy Efficiency in Building" , Sanjay Seth, Organisation : BEE
6. Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Govt. Of India, “Scheme for bee
star rating for shopping malls”, January,2011
7. http://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/shopping-mall/
8. "Mall Management - A Growing Phenomenon in Indian Retail Industry" , June 2007,
J.L.L. Meghraj