By Sharmilah Deviy
Shopping at malls over weekends have become an increasingly trendy.
The aforementioned statement is confirmed by a local research, revealing that one of five Malaysians tend to spend their leisure time by visiting malls.
Inline with the needs of the public, as well as their eagerness for a seamless shopping experience, Sunway Group (Sunway) has emerged with a strong portfolio of integrated malls across Malaysia.
Following the success of Sunway Pyramid, Sunway had invested, built and operated more malls at various areas around Malaysia, overseen by the management of Sunway Malls.
These include Sunway Carnival, Sunway Giza, Sunway Putra Mall and a latest installment to the retail family, Sunway Velocity Mall.
There are more malls in the pipeline soon to develop in Paya Terubong, Penang and Iskandar, Johor.
Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan
Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said, “We aim to be amongst Malaysia’s largest mall owner-operator in time to come, to solidify our brand in the country.
Our advantage is that we are part of a bigger entity, the Sunway Group. As a group, we enjoy tremendous leverage, whereby we tap across 12 business divisions under Sunway, enabling us to grow fast enough yet maintain effective with costs.”
The uniqueness of Sunway Group is that they proceed with a careful evaluation, and research as a whole to study an area before pursuing a retail mall business.
Another aspect that portrays Sunway Malls as distinguished, is the fact that this entity emphasises on shopping experiences, lifestyle experiences and customer care experiences to attract and retain retailers and shoppers.
“Online shopping is in trend now and we foresee that it will continue to develop.
To work with these technological advancements, the Sunway Group has established Sunway i-labs so together, we can seek market driven innovation that will lead us to continuously grow with time and face new challenges,” Chan explained.
“Never had there been a time in the Malaysian mall industry that we have seen such intense competition.
Not only from online shopping but from physical brick-and-mortars establishments as well.
Although the oversupply of malls is mainly concentrated in the Klang Valley region, it is very clear to me that our mall industry today is a zero to hero story,” Chan said.
Apart from that, Chan also explained that the company’s growth is based on a sustainable model.
Sunway Malls will continue to identify potential markets that are underserved, and unlock these values to reach out to more locals so that they can experience the Sunway brand.
Chan explained, “To me, this four decade old industry is still in its infancy stage.
We still have more pathways to pave and more opportunity to evolve to ultimately serve the needs and wants of future shoppers.”
With the experience Sunway Malls holds, it is inevitable that the mall group is looking ahead to make changes to the retail arena, and be amongst the top drivers of the mall industry in Malaysia.
Chan also added that the mall industry is still standing strong even after 20 years.
While it may seem that times are challenging for the retail industry, Sunway Malls has every intention to still expand and grow its footprint.
