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An instructor in the center speaks during a cooking class at an Abc kitchen studio in Singapore's Westgate Mall in CapitaLand. (Bloomberg photo)
SINGAPORE: Online shopping in Singapore is mediocre, even after Amazon.com Inc. launches its premium service in mid-2017. The island's shopping malls are striving to keep it that way.
With some of the country's largest shopping center operators reporting declining rents and rising job offers, homeowners, such as those in Asia and the United States, are being forced to reposition themselves.
They make room for yoga studios, boxing gyms and climbing walls, in addition to expanding their options in catering and drinks, to ensure that the people come to eat and have fun and, hopefully, stay for shopping.
Centers around the world have tried similar stunts in recent years – often to no avail – but in small Singapore, where it's often joking that shopping is the national sport, they have an advantage.
The penetration of online shopping is behind Slovakia and Greece in the city, which puts it relatively low for developed economies, and the government imposes a tax on e-commerce imports from 2020.
There are early warning signs of success of the campaign – at least in terms of increased traffic.
At VivoCity, the largest shopping mall on the island, the number of visitors increased by 3.1% in the six months prior to September 30 over the previous fiscal year, the owner Mapletree Commercial Trust having added a complete gallery with a large bumper car ring. Yet, real purchases have declined slightly.
In other shopping centers, visitors can spend a day taking a cooking class or participating in a free yoga session.
At CapitaLand & # 39; s Clarke Quay, you can sip margaritas while playing mini indoor golf.
CapitaLand's Westgate Shopping Center and its soon-to-be-opened refurbished Funan Shopping Center will feature an ABC Baking Studio, where people can sign up for breadmaking classes or courses on how to make traditional Japanese sweets. wagashi.
CapitaLand Mall Trust's customer traffic, which has a portfolio of 15 centers, decreased 1.8% in the nine months to September compared to the previous year, while Tenant business per square foot increased by 0.5% over the same period.
"Although the current market share of online sales is low, its pace of growth will only accelerate as tomorrow's consumers enter the market," said CapitaLand CEO Lee Chee. Koon, in September at the ceremony of the new Funan Center.
"Physical companies must go beyond the passive selling of products and services to generate quality retail experiences and emotional connections."
Amazon was launched last July and almost immediately suffered delivery delays – an expensive snafu in a market where the nearest store or mall is just minutes away from most locals. Singapore rivals Hong Kong for the largest per capita retail space in Asia.
In the third quarter, Amazon was the second online shopping application on the Apple Store by active users, behind local competitors such as Qoo10, the data compiled by the iPrice Group show.
Shopping centers that can not effectively integrate the activity-based tenants are likely to fall behind, both in terms of patronage and retail rents, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. The Millennials, in particular, are a target of non-commercial companies.
But while the plethora of new activities has helped drive traffic, the rise has not been translated into real money. Mall rents fell 18% over the past year and job offers rose 7.6% in the quarter to September, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Authority for urban redevelopment.
And with approximately 803,000 square feet of commercial space coming online over the next 15 months, rents will remain under pressure, according to Huey Ying Tay, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle.
"Until physical stores have managed to convert pedestrian traffic into store purchases, rentals should remain moderate," she said.Bloomberg
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