Ikano Centres continues with growth plans to its meeting place offers in Malaysia and Thailand
Its shopping centres are spearheading futureproofing strategies driven by an omnichannel approach and strategic commercial developments
KUALA
LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media
OutReach - 17 December 2021 - Ikano Centres, part of Ikano
Retail, continues to accelerate its omnichannel approach to retail amid a year
marred by Covid-19 closures for its shopping centre business. As shoppers begin
to return to physical visits, a key priority remains enhancing its
IKEA-anchored destinations to adapt to evolving consumer expectations.
MyGround at MyTOWN Shopping Centre, Decathlon at MyTOWN Shopping Centre, Soulmates at Toppen Shopping Centre, Development of Shopping Centre Multi-Storey Carpark with the lifestyle RoofTopp and McDonalds at Ikano Centres Batu Kawan (Image credit- Penang Holiao)
With five meeting places under its portfolio –
IPC, MyTOWN, Toppen, and Batu Kawan in Malaysia, as well as Megabangna in
Thailand, Ikano Centres have maintained a healthy lease rate of 92% at its shopping
centres throughout the past 18 months. During this time, the group introduced
enhancements to address safety, improve customer experience, pilot digital
partnerships, and create innovative shopping platforms for customers to
connect, engage, and learn.
"We are optimistic about our recovery as we
see more visitors returning to our centres," said Adrian Mirea, Ikano Centres'
Shopping Centre and Mixed-Used Director. "To strengthen the shopping experience
across our centres, we continue to sustainably invest in both physical
developments to our assets and also digital platforms to elevate the experience
that shoppers have at our centres. All this while ensuring that our centres
continue to be safe meeting places for the many."
Ikano Centres introduced digital innovations
aimed to support its tenants throughout closures, while giving its visitors
multiple ways to engage with their favourite centres. Initiatives include personal
shopper services through GoGet, livestreams supported by social commerce, campaigns
powered by GrabFood and Foodpanda, and optimising its shopping centre apps to
facilitate convenience to shoppers through order and collect services.
As community-centric shopping destinations,
each meeting place is growing through sustainable means, with each development
plan designed to cater to the needs of its surrounding community:
IPC
Shopping Centre: Damansara's favourite neighbourhood shopping centre
strengthens its family-friendly offers
At the heart of Mutiara Damansara, IPC is finalising upgrades to its
facilities to increase convenience, accessibility, and family-friendly services
to its visitors. With a new escalator to improve traffic flow throughout the
centre, it is also improving its family amenities including its family rooms
and playgrounds. The Level 2 'Funland' will see more fun and exciting playsets
for kids, with a new 'Playland' on Level G. Families can also enjoy a safe and
great day out with new dining options.
MyTOWN Shopping
Centre: Introducing a new a new socialising and lifestyle hub in the heart of Kuala
Lumpur
Targeted to
launch in December 2021, MyTOWN is excited to introduce MyGround, a vibrant new
socialising hub for its city-centre based visitors to connect and co-create shared
experiences. More than 145,000 sq ft of its former department store location is
being redeveloped into unique retail spaces, with selected units created with a
flexible model for F&B tenants featuring built-in fit outs to offer low
start-up costs and easier entry into the shopping centre market. In addition to
welcoming BookXcess, SSFHOME+, and Panda Eyes earlier this year, sports
retailer Decathlon, Puma, and a new concept Adidas store will strengthen the
sports and athleisure offer. To cater to working professionals within its
location, Southern Malaysia's largest co-working space Infinity8 will be
opening their first location in the Klang Valley in 2022.
Toppen Shopping Centre: Championing social enterprise with Soulmates, a
flexible space-booking platform to support small businesses and entrepreneurs
To help small Johorean businesses recover from the impact of Covid-19,
Toppen introduced Soulmates, a platform that provides fully prepared, flexible
spaces that can be booked by the hour or day. Designed to be a one–stop
solution, Soulmates is ideal for beauty and wellness, fitness, and other skills-based
service providers to share their services to customers in a comfortable and
professional environment. The platform is targeted to be rolled out to other
centres within the Ikano Centres portfolio in the near future.
Developments are also underway for its new multi-storey car park,
targeted to launch in Q4 2022. The nine-storey structure will not only provide
convenience with more parking spaces, but also introduce new retail additions
ontop of its lifestyle RoofTopp. Toppen is also set to welcome Lulu
Hypermarket's first outlet in South Malaysia in 2022, providing an exciting
grocery offer relevant to those living within the catchment area.
Ikano Centres Batu Kawan: Introducing the next phase of its meeting
place in North Malaysia with the opening of an F&B drive-thru concept
In line with
expanding new retail experiences to the
growing township of Aspen Vision City, Ikano Centres recently launched phase two
of its shopping centre with the opening of a new McDonald's drive thru. In the
coming months, KFC, Tealive, and Coffee Bean will be new additions to create
many convenient food options across 200,744 sq ft gross leasable area
Megabangna
Shopping Centre: Welcoming new partners Central Pattana (CPN) Plc.
Hailed as one of the largest Southeast Asia malls, the Bangkok-based
shopping centre is now proud partners with Central Pattana (CPN) Plc, which
recently purchased 56 per cent of Siam Future Development Plc (SF), Ikano
Centres' joint venture partner in Bangkok over the past ten years. Together
with IKEA, the new partnership will continue to focus on securing Megabangna as
a safe and great day out for the many people. New tenant additions include
Topgolf, which will bring together exciting entertainment offers for visitors
in East Bangkok in Q2 2022.
The focus of all commercial developments and digital
innovation is part of Ikano Centre's philosophy of putting the customers first.
"We refer to our centres as 'meeting places' because customers today come for the
experiences that we offer rather than just traditional transactions. Post pandemic, shoppers are now more aware,
more savvy, and have plenty of options to get what they need," said Ikano
Centre's Commercial Director Arnoud Bakker. "This is why we have a heavy focus
on designing a dynamic tenant mix to cater to specific needs. We are also
constantly on the lookout for new partnerships with tenants, platforms, and
service providers that are able to create memorable experiences for our
visitors."
發行人全權負責本公告的內容
About Ikano Centres
Ikano Centres is part of Ikano Retail and we
create retail destinations together with our IKEA stores. We develop land and
invest in residential, office and other types of real estate to create vibrant
destinations where people can live, work and play. Our shopping centres
anchored by IKEA create meeting places that are the heart and hub of the
community. We are destinations in itself, which offer an all-inclusive
experience for every generation. To date, Ikano Centres operates five meeting
places under different brand names spread across Malaysia and Thailand. To
learn more, visit Ikano Centres.
About Ikano Retail
We are one of 12 IKEA
franchisees, creating a better everyday life for the many people in Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and Mexico – with plans to open more markets in the years
ahead. Our IKEA businesses offer well-designed, Swedish home furnishings
at affordable prices. Our Ikano Centres, anchored by IKEA, are meeting places
at the heart of our communities. With investments in other types of real
estate, we create destinations where people shop, work, live and play. We are
the only franchisee owned by the family of Ingvar Kamprad, who founded IKEA in
1943.