Alibaba helps Asia’s malls go online on virus hit

Marina Square Shopping Mall – nestled among luxury hotels and popular tourist attractions in central Singapore – is taking more than 30 of its tenants online with Lazada, the South-East Asian unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. It’s the first shopping centre in the city-state to create a mini virtual replica of its physical mall

SINGAPORE: Clobbered by the crushing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of retailers from Bangkok to Singapore have rushed to set up online shops on big e-commerce platforms to stay afloat this year. Now entire shopping malls are going virtual for the first time.

Marina Square Shopping Mall – nestled among luxury hotels and popular tourist attractions in central Singapore – is taking more than 30 of its tenants online with Lazada, the South-East Asian unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. It’s the first shopping centre in the city-state to create a mini virtual replica of its physical mall.