The commercialisation of shopping malls in India: from « creating » to « meeting » demand

Abstract

We explore the engagement of the Indian society with a new place of consumption in India —the shopping mall. Based on extensive interviews with managers and consumers across Indian cities, we address the commercialisation and the consumption of malls as two separate social fields and we highlight the frictions between them. Since the early 2000’s, the rapid development of these commercial infrastructures addressed the perceived demand of the so-called “new middle class”. However, the predominantly utilitarian conception of malls has often clashed with the actual uses of the diverse Indian consumer, whose need for safe and comfortable public places has transformed malls into major places of sociability, where a large number of users seldom consume or consume little. We argue that from “creating” a demand, agents in the field of mall supply have shifted their strategy towards “meeting” the demand, i.e. the need for specific “experiences”.