PETALING JAYA: The call for rent rebate by retailers in Hong Kong and Singapore is not comparable to the Malaysian mall industry since the rent in Hong Kong and Singapore is five to 10 times higher than Malaysia, said Sunway Malls & Theme Parks.
The mall operator was responding to appeals by Malaysian retailer associations to all shopping malls and shophouses’ landlords and owners to give rental rebates by 30% to 50% from February 2020 for the next six months to help tenants ride out the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Sunway Malls president HC Chan (pix) is supportive of the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association’s position towards the need for an extended period of observation to monitor the situation more closely and conclusively before any rent rebate is considered.
“Since Sunway Malls, like most Malaysian malls, are largely local consumption-driven (over 90%) and not significantly tourist-driven, we have not experienced significant fallout. While there is impact towards the industry, further examination at mall level needs to be studied as the degree of impact varies from mall to mall,“ Chan said in a statement.
Sunway Malls, which owns and operates seven malls in Malaysia, saw its footfall trend consistent with the previous year’s post festive season. There is no significant decrease in footfall when comparing 2019 post-festive footfall with 2020 post-festive footfall.
Sunway Malls’ statistics show that the virus outbreak had caused a slight decrease in footfall during initial weeks, but it has since normalised and its footfall has remained stable and resilient.
Sunway Malls 2020 year-to-date footfall, on the contrary, has registered an increase.
“Ironically, we noticed this similar trend during Q4 2019; when the nation’s GDP growth slowed to 3.6%, a 10-year-historical low, Sunway Malls registered a historical high in sales per square feet for Q4 2019.”
Chan added that the mall and retail industry is cyclical in nature whereby post-festive is a known low season where sales performance will take a dip. Industry players are cognizance of this business cycle and will factor it in their annual business plan and implement strategies to stimulate consumer spending until the next festive period.
While the virus outbreak has caused certain level of uneasiness in sentiments, the situation remains one of cautious rather than regressive. By far, the situation in Malaysia is largely controlled, contained and relatively low in relation to other affected countries.
“Sunway Malls is of the view that a cohesive two-prong strategy covering cost management and demand management with a long term perspective is a more effective solution in addressing the current challenges. As part of retailer’s cost management, we are open and supportive of shorter operating hours based on their specific needs and trades.”
In response to demand management, stimulus programmes designed to drive retailer sales turnover is strongly encouraged. Sunway Malls is deploying a marketing stimulus programme across its malls. The programme will involve tactical sales campaigns, spend & redeem tacticals, tenants voucher adoption and other measures, aimed to stimulate retail spending over the next few months.
“With the impending Raya festive period starting early this year in May, which is known as a peak sales generator and a high consumer spending season, the implementation of this stimulus programme aims to bridge the gap. We expect to see pent-up retail demand to grow in traction especially towards Hari Raya,“ said Chan.
Sunway Malls remain confident of its resilient outlook despite Covid-19.
source https://www.thesundaily.my/business/hk-s-pore-rent-rebate-calls-not-comparable-to-malaysia-sunway-malls-BB2030407
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