In Pic: Forum Vijaya Mall (Chennai) awarded at the Images Shopping Centre Awards 2016
Vijaya Mall, Chennai gets special honor under the IMAGES Most Admired Shopping Centre of the Year: Socially Responsible
~Mega retailer voting process culminates in glittering ceremony to recognize India's outstanding shopping centres~
12th May, 2015: The evening of Day 1 (11th May, 2016) at India Shopping Centre Forum culminated in the 9th edition of the annual IMAGES Shopping Centre Awards (ISCA), which recognized outstanding shopping centres and professionals across the country under 29 different award categories in front of an audience comprising the who's who of retail and retail real estate businesses in India.
Held at The Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai, ISCA 2016 honored India's leading malls -- from both metros and non-metros -- on basis of ROI and sales metrics for retailers, as well for outstanding marketing drives and social & community activities.
A special honor under the IMAGES Most Admired Shopping Centre of The Year: Socially Responsible category was given to Forum Vijaya Mall, Chennai, for its highly-lauded initiatives during the Chennai floods of 2015. A front runner in relief work and with the support of its staff and the tenants, the entire mall was open for citizens as a safe haven; hundreds spent three days within the mall. The cinema halls were used for accommodating people to rest overnight, the food court and the restaurants prepared food for thousands of people during the four-day period. The mall's hypermarket operated on all days; mall management bought groceries from the hypermarket in preparing food for the flood victims.
To shortlist and rank best performing malls in India for financial year 2015-16, IMAGES undertook a first of its kind exercise in the world -- involving over 200 top brands and retailers with their respective business development/ operations/ marketing & retail team members and associates -- to identify the best malls across India. Tenants in shopping centres with different retail verticals, formats and consumer segments joined in to rank malls on the basis of their overall performance including metrics like marketing promotion initiatives, trading density and ROI.
They voted and analysed centres that they were present in, as well as centres they would like to be present in. Eight of the 29 categories at ISCA 2016 were the RETAILERS' CHOICE AWARDS, decided purely by India’s leading national retail chains who voted for their preferred shopping centres from across the country on the basis of Return on Investment or ROI, and sales per square feet.
The Grand Jury for ISCA 2016, comprising distinguished personalities in the field of research, design and consulting with thorough insights into the business, and India’s top retailers, gave scores based on their own understanding of the nominees. Jurors included Mr. Amitabh Taneja (Chief Convenor, India Shopping Centre Forum), Mr. Anuj Puri (Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang Lasalle), Mr. Ajay Bijli (Chairman & Managing Director, PVR Limited), Ms. Ireena Vittal (Expert, India Agriculture & Urban Change), Mr. Krish Iyer (President & CEO, Walmart India), Mr. Neelesh Hundekari (Partner, Consumer and Retail, Head of Lifestyle Practice, Asia, A T Kearney),
Mr. Phil McArthur (Founder & MD, McArthur Company), Mr. Pankaj Jaju (Head - Strategic Partnerships, Axis Bank), Mr. Sanjay Dutt (Managing Director, India, Cushman & Wakefield), Mr. Simon Thomson (Founder & Principal, Retail International) and Mr. Shishir Baijal (Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India Pvt. Ltd.)
Hosted by Freishia BomanBehram, the ceremony featured performances by the Manuel Manual Trio, with guitarist and composer Adil Manuel, singer & songwriter Shannon Donald and beat boxer extraordinaire, Alan D-Souza. The trio performed some several popular tracks, including Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. Also entertaining the audience was popular comedian and author Radhika Vaz.
