SUNWAY MALLS REVEALS INCREASE IN YEAR-END FOOTFALL FOR FLAGSHIP MALL

The increase of unique visitors to Sunway Pyramid was due to the opening of several flagship shops and new brands, plus the co-hosting of Artbox Malaysia 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 (Bernama) -- Amidst a more cautious economy and GDP growth, Sunway Malls reveals that the brand’s flagship mall, Sunway Pyramid, has been enjoying higher footfall since Q42018.
 
In general, malls in Malaysia has at least 4 peak cycles; the Lunar New Year, Hari Raya, Christmas and May-June school holiday weekends. To remain relevant yet sustainable, Sunway Malls executed the strategy to create another peak cycle for footfall through international collaborations.
 
“2018 was indeed an interesting year for us. Cautious consumer sentiments encouraged us to think out of the box on creating more purposeful visits to our malls. As a mall owner-operator for over 20 years, we knew there is an upside to capitalise on the non-peak periods for traffic arrivals for sustainability of the business. So for 2018, we co-hosted Artbox Malaysia, the first in the country, to attract new shoppers and fulfil the potential of Sunway City simultaneously,” says HC Chan, CEO of Sunway Malls & Theme Parks.
 
In comparison to the festive seasons of Lunar New Year and Hari Raya in 2018, Sunway Pyramid saw a 30% increase in footfall during the Artbox Malaysia weekends in November. The mall also registered a general 20% growth in sales during that weekend.
 
“International attractions like Artbox has proved to be able to draw good footfall, and there was tremendous spill-over effect to Sunway Pyramid. Our observations showed good patronage pre and post ArtBox visits where there was higher frequency of dining activity,” Chan adds. The mall also picked up greater spending which saw a 20% sales growth throughout fashion, beauty and F&B trade categories.
 
Since then, Sunway Pyramid has seen an increase of 12% growth for January 2019 as compared to January 2018. Chan believes there are several factors that contributed to this growth.
 
“The trigger is Artbox Malaysia. It brought us new visitors or shoppers who have not visited us for the past 1 year. Following weeks after, we have been opening flagship stores and F&B outlets such as Pull & Bear, Ippudo, Din Tai Fung and Family Mart. We also brought in Tiger Sugar and Moomin Bubbles, their first stores in Malaysia. We will also be seeing the opening of the first in Malaysia, Hai Di Lao which has a strong following in Q22019. It was a holistic strategy to re-introduce Sunway Pyramid to new potential shoppers,” says Chan.
 
Sunway Pyramid recently completed a refurbishment exercise that spanned 500,000 square feet including the revamping by its 3 main anchor tenants – Aeon, Parkson and Pyramid Ice Rink. The refurbishment equivalent to 25% of its total net lettable area was one of the mall’s largest exercise to date with the intended strategy to keep its retail offering abreast in the face of intense industry competition.

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