Shopping Centre News - November 2020

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Virtual & Contactless Technology To Lead Fashion Segment Revival
Fashion retail, as a segment, has been one of the hardest hit categories in shopping centres ever since the lockdown was imposed in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Despite getting a green signal to open up in the month of July, sales in the apparel and accessories segment remained below par, due to low consumer sentiment and also because shoppers only stepped out for essentials in the initial days. In such an environment, a huge decline of almost 70 percent was reported in the business of apparel, clothing, and accessories segment (including jewellery and watches) in both the stores in malls and high streets. Although the fashion segment started picking up soon after the lockdown was eased, but a large ‘working from home’ populationmeant a change in the shopping behavior of the consumer, who was now buying more comfortwear, athleisure and loungewear than formal wear, than ever before.
This shopping behaviour started returning to a more normal pace as the months rolled on with no change in the pandemic. The festive season rolled in, and retailers and mall developers were not disappointed. Every mall has so far reported good sales, moving further along on the road to recovery than ever since COVID hit.