Shoppers make a surprising comeback to Singapore malls

new active wear to enjoy those brief moments of solitary recreation.

These (Home Furnishings and breaker restrictions were lifted.

Singaporean shoppers also appear to have been avoiding “window shopping”, also known as the art of aimlessly wandering around malls. Foot traffic to malls dropped down 40% year-on-year in Q3. But what’s interesting is those that

The same thing can be seen through retail sales data, which shows A stark preference for brick and mortar shopping (away from e-commerce) since the circuit breaker restrictions have been lifted. “Online sales as a proportion of total retail sales (in August) was almost unchanged from the previous month at 10.9%, which is significantly lower than the 24.4% seen during the circuit breaker month of May,” OCBC Research has advised, adding that this reflects the continued importance of brick and mortar retail, especially in suburban locations of Singapore. But that is not to say e-commerce has no upward room to move in Singapore. OCBC Research has urged retailers to maintain multiple sales channels for the new normal business environment. “The structural shift towards stronger e-commerce penetration rates as compared to pre-Covid-19 times (average of 5.5% from 2018-19) is here Properties in the CapitaMall Trust portfolio (including Funan) have maintained a 98% occupancy rate through 2020. to stay and retailers and landlords will Shoppers make a surprising comeback strategies to stay relevant.” Some mall tenants have also expressed to Singapore malls interest to expand, although this would likely happen only in late 2021 or 2022. The circuit-breaker lockdown has shown up a few interesting things about the psyche of the average good news for the mall operator over the long term, since it had given large rent cuts to tenants, and also agreements to “We expect rental waivers to moderate ahead, as these would be granted on a more targeted basis,” OCBC Research has advised. Singaporean shopper, as evidenced take a smaller percentage of sales just to This all shows that Singapore’s retail scene by the results from CapitaMall Trust keep them in the malls. has made a strong comeback. In fact the (CMT), the largest operator of malls in For example, in the same quarter mall operator went into the circuit breaker the country. that tenants’ sales declined by just 11%, offering more flexible lease structures such

Sure, everyone has been staying in CMT’s gross revenue dipped 25.3%, as accepting a lower first-year base rents and ordering food online, but when it according to OCBC Research. This with step-ups in subsequent years. comes to actual shopping we now know was driven largely by rental waivers of As a result, they now have 98% that everyone has been most busy either S$29.5m granted to tenants, coupled occupancy, and would be the envy of any decorating their home, or buying some with lower gross turnover rental. hotelier in this environment.

Sporting Goods) were the two broad CapitaMall Trust: categories that saw the biggest rises Portfolio Occupancy in consumer activity after the circuit- Trend

have to continue their omni-channel went to malls were actually purchasing much more, as evidenced by sales declining far less than the number of “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut visitors at just 11%. Which is likely to be laoreet dolore magna aliquam.” Source: REIT Manager; OCBC Research