Luring the shoppers back

PETALING JAYA: With National Day nearing, malls are hoping to cash in on some real bargains to push for higher sales, says the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association.

Its president, Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok, hailed its joint promotion with Tourism Malaysia, Shop and Be Rewarded 2.0 (Aug 20 to Sept 4), as a potential move to increase sales and footfall.

“A total of RM2mil worth of ecash vouchers will be given away, with our members contributing half the amount and the balance sponsored by Tourism Malaysia.

“We are optimistic about getting a boost in sales and footfall with these ecash vouchers being given away for a minimum spend,” he said when contacted.

He noted that sales and footfall had picked up since April 1, with some malls achieving nearly 80% to 90% of their pre-pandemic strength.

“However, this depends on the location of the malls,” he said, citing as an example Johor malls, which saw a vast improvement after the reopening of Johor’s border with Singapore.

According to Teo, at least 75% of Malaysians prefer to shop offline in malls because of the full experience of shopping.

“Malls are here to stay because they offer so much more than online shopping, which may offer convenience but not any experiential mall shopping.

“Our malls of today offer leisure and entertainment, services, sports, co-working spaces and others,” he said.

Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said retailers were using the opportunity to conduct sales in conjunction with National Day and were forecasting a 107% sales recovery for this month.

He said they had noticed a similar trend with their ecommerce platform.

There has been a 20% month-on-month growth in sales because of the National Day campaign that is ongoing on their eMall.

With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and economic recovery, Chan said Sunway Malls had returned to 100% normality in sales and traffic since the fourth quarter of last year.

“We expect to end the full year of 2022 with 110%, better than the pre-pandemic result of 2019,” he said.

He foresees more focus on sustainable initiatives and a hybrid approach where ecommerce would complement and co-exist alongside bricks-and-mortar stores for a “more holistic offering”.

Malaysia Retail Chain Association president Sharan Valiram said its members had reported a better performance than pre-pandemic times in both online and offline sales.