CBRE’s India Retail Market View for H2 2014 reports on the status of organized retail real estate across the country’s leading cities. Retailer demand remained steady across India’s key market places during the second half of 2014. New supply addition for the entire year remained sluggish, with just about a million square feet of organized shopping space across Bangalore and Chennai becoming operational. The completion dates of a significant number of prominent retail projects were delayed to 2015, largely due to construction delays. Quite a few shopping centers spanning the Delhi National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Bangalore and other prominent cities that were expected to reach completion by end-2014 were delayed further. Consequently, H1 2015 is expected to remain buoyant, with cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata likely to witness fresh shopping center space during the period.
The following are the key points from the report:
- Prominent brands expanded footprints across the country’s leading cities. Prominent global as well as domestic brands—such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Michael Kors, Brooks Brothers, Krispy Kreme, Naturals Ice cream, and Fab India—expanded their retail presence across leading cities. Global retailers Burger King and Fat Burger made inroads into the country as well, with stores in Delhi. Sri Lanka’s premier spa lifestyle brand, Spa Ceylon, also made its India debut with a first outlet in Mumbai. Luxury jewelry brand, Bvlgari, re-entered the country (after withdrawing stores in 2011) with a store at DLF Emporio, Delhi.
- E-retail gained ground in 2014. A key trend observed during the year was the increased activity in the online retail space. Retailers such as Burton, Paper Dolls, Scotch & Soda, and Xiaomi entered into exclusive tie-ups with leading Indian online retailers for selling their merchandise rather than setting up physical stores. Moreover, brands with already established brick and mortar formats—such as Mango, Aldo, Superdry, etc.—were also keen on establishing an online presence. Domestic brands were seen towing the line too, with brands such as Shoppers Stop and Trendin (website for brands of Madura Garments, including Louie Philips, Van Heusen and Allen Solly) setting up dedicated online shopping websites. Footwear brands Bata and Clarks set up their online shopping portals as well.
- The Rise of Large-Sized ‘Destination Malls’. Shopping center development in India has seen a strategic shift in recent years, with the focus shifting from smaller format spaces to large malls. Large formats provide developers greater flexibility towards attaining a complete tenant mix across formats and categories. These can also be positioned as ‘destination malls’ with a much larger footprint than a small to mid-sized shopping center (100,000–300,000 sq. ft.).The average mall size in the country has been on the rise across leading cities. This is expected to almost double in Bangalore and Mumbai between 2010 and 2016, while increasing by around 25–30% over the same period in Chennai. The Delhi NCR has so far remained stable on this front, having been host to large sized shopping centers that were already operational before 2010.
- Retail Real Estate
Market Outlook: 2015. The first half of 2015 is likely to witness a shift in development
completions from the established hubs of Delhi and Mumbai, towards cities such
as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. As availability of quality retail space in
established markets of Delhi and Mumbai is expected to remain tight, rents in
prime malls and high streets are expected to increase marginally.
An
shuman Magazine, Chairman and Managing Director of CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd., commented:
“Leasing demand is expected to strengthen on the back of an anticipated improvement in economic performance in 2015. Quite a few retail firms are expected to execute their expansion plans during the first few months of the year. The influx of global brands is expected to continue, with F&B and fashion segments likely to remain the dominant demand drivers for quality retail space in India. Online retailing is also likely to maintain its momentum in the country, as various international brands are expected to enter the market through the e-retail mode.”
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CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2016 revenue). The company has more than 75,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate investors and occupiers through approximately 450 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
