Are specialty malls the key to retail success?

Specialty malls for niche sectors such as jewelry are becoming the target of a lot of retailers and real estate developers. At present there are only a few of these malls, but several of them are in the planning and are likely to account for close to 10% of all malls in the country in a few years. Footfalls are much lower at specialty malls and conversion rates are higher. According to real estate and retail analyst Susil Dungarwal, "Conversion rate in a specialty mall is nearly 65 per cent while it is only 18-20 per cent in a general mall. The reason is that generic malls attract anybody and everybody but the specialty malls offer a focused merchandise to the consumers."