Raking nearly half billion rupees per month, Dolmen Group’s “City Mall” at Clifton-Sea View has shattered retail records nationwide, both in footfall and conversions. That said, Zamzama still retains mind share as a fashion, textile and apparel hotbed in the psyche of the Karachiite. We caught up with the heir to a real estate empire to learn about his massive project in the fashion hub.
How did you market yourselves?
Our primary mode of marketing was a TVC featuring ‘Bulbulay’ star Ayesha Omar. The TVC showed her looking for a space in Zamzama for her a store, which she ultimately decides to open in Zamzama Mall. The ad played on a number of national channels, including GEO, Samaa, News One and got a great response.
I believe the second most effective form of marketing for us was word of mouth. After the initial marketing push, positive word of mouth spurred by our competitive rental rates have helped tremendously in getting people to move in.
What is your unique selling proposition?
Location. Zamzama is the high street of Karachi, which makes it a mandatory location for big, established brands and a very desirable one for upcoming names in the market that want to get their name out there. Unfortunately, before Zamzama Mall’s opened its doors , the only affordable spaces left in Zamzama were in the congested commercial lanes which suffer from serious parking problems. With the launch of Zamzama Mall, a staggering 25,000 square feet of centrally air-conditioned is now available on Zamzama Boulevard.
Our second USP is parking, which is at a very high premium in Zamzama. Zamzama Mall is a part of Mall Square, the only building in Zamzama with a standalone parking lot and the option of road-side parking on three sides. Additionally, a 400 car parking lot is coming up right behind Zamzama Mall which will make shopping at our mall even more convenient.
What was the marketing message and mediums used?
The initial tagline was “Aapka karobar sar aakhon par”. Our tagline will likely evolve with time. As mentioned, we used TVC’s on prime channels as our main medium in order to inform future shoppers and interested business parties.
What is the return on investment?
I can’t put a number to it at the moment, but we’re expecting it to be high within a year or two. Ghazala Humayun, Red Mango, Hina Khan, Barirah Tariq (Ivory Home) and Sumbul Ahmed are just some of the big retail names that have already signed up. We also have a number of big name retailers that are in the final stages of negotiation.
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