Malls to consider new roles to support e-commerce

PETALING JAYA (Oct 13): A change of mindset by shopping mall operators is crucial to ensure the shopping malls remain relevant in the new normal, this includes offering of new services that support e-commerce activities, said Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (REHDA) Institute chairman Datuk Jeffrey Ng Tiong Lip (pictured).

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“It is a potential trend in the future in which mall landlords would move from only providing premises for rental, to also providing e-commerce supporting services such as warehousing, delivery, handling of goods,” he adds.

Ng is also the Malaysian REIT Managers Association (MRMA) chairman. He was talking to the participants of the 13th Malaysian Property Summit (13MPS), which is conducted physically and virtually today.

While sharing his thoughts on the Malaysia retail property market, he advised landlords to tap the current unstoppable e-commerce to open up a new income stream.

While landlords can earn extra income from the charges for the supporting services, the tenants could focus on driving sales and looking out for customers, he said.

“Taking a deeper look into the ecosystem, mall operators can then get hold on not only in-store sales, but also online sales that were previously hard to track. This would provide better clarity on analysing tenant performance as well as customer preferences,” he added.

Moreover, Ng noted that mall operators could offer a centralised logistics solution that could enhance the transaction speed and further boost the sales in the malls, making it a win-win situation for e-commerce and retail mall operators.

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