Paper on changes to shopping centres in Singapore presented to the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference, San Francisco, March 2016
The 15 Minute Breakdown: 2024 Beauty Marketing Study
The Changing Composition of Singaporean Shopping Centres, 2009-2014: a preliminary analysis
1. The Changing Composition of
Singaporean Shopping Centres, 2009-2014:
a preliminary analysis
Dr Keri Davies
Presentation at AAG Annual Conference,
San Francisco, March 2016
2. • Small island with significant economic and
population growth
• Climate favours enclosed shopping centres
• nearly all developed over last 30 years
• Retained elements of British/ colonial regulatory
practices
• so the move from independents/ mom and
pop stores has been controlled to a degree
Singapore’s Retail Sector
8. Three main forms of shopping centre:
• early examples established in the Central Area
e.g. Lucky Plaza, Peninsula Plaza
– primarily strata malls
– common to have 5+ floors
– in recent years several have been ‘colonised’
by various guest worker communities
The Market in Singapore
12. Three main forms of shopping centre:
• ‘managed’ centres
– your basic, average type of shopping centre
– but many are still likely to have several floors
– many of these on Orchard Road but found in
other areas around Central Area and elsewhere
– and a higher percentage of service uses than
most European and US centres
The Market in Singapore
18. Three main forms of shopping centre:
• ‘MRT’ centres
– often smaller centres
– much more about convenience or day-to-day
shopping
– have a core or common set of retail and service
use
The Market in Singapore
21. MRT Growth – Chicken or Egg?
2012Malls over or near MRT stations, 2014
22. Since mid-2000s the sector has also felt the
influence of REITs
• welcomed because they have been trying to deal
with a perception of ‘clone malls’ (Competition
Commission, 2008; UBS, 2014)
• reworked/ revived fabric to differentiate centres
• some worries about shorter time horizons
– but has to deal with the influence of CapitaMall,
the retail REIT arm of state-linked CapitaLand
The Market in Singapore
23. • They have also been reaching out actively to
attract new retailers to the market
– US, European, Australian, Korean, Chinese and
Japanese
– local niche retailers have less experience and may have
less influence but can be helped by REITs and their
contacts e.g. BreadTalk
– some internet retailers are opening physical stores e.g.
kissjane, Zalora but a small part of business
• REITs have brought in more new retailers but there is also
a higher rate of ‘churn’ e.g. Lowrys Farm, Vince Camuto
Influence of REITs
24. In 2009, a survey of 103 malls (Davies, 2012) found:
• 12,985 units, of which 424 were empty and 3,054 were in
non-retail uses
• 2012 paper based on this data found that there was:
– a high level of similarity between malls located at MRT
sites regardless of management type
• convenience shopping, duplication of common stores
– a lack of similarity amongst malls in other locations
• partly due to importance of strata malls
• ‘clone’ effect often limited to just one or two floors; even
managed malls had a high proportion of other uses
Ownership & retail
differentiation
25. Resurvey in late 2014 to look at longer-term impact
By October 2014 several malls were being redeveloped (e.g
Eastpoint, Suntec) or had been taken out of general use (e.g.
The Heeren), eventually 65 malls in sample:
2009 2014
Number of units 8,729 8,947
Increase is part redevelopment, part measurement ‘error’ due
to size and complexity of some malls
Sample sizes: 2009-14
27. • Despite the construction of a relatively large
number of shopping centres since 2009, occupancy
rates remain high
– some of this is due to the use of pop-up shops
– some of it is due to the conversion of retail to
other uses
• changing shopping habits, including increased
internet usage, have had an effect
• REITs and centre management practices are also
having an effect
Some significant
changes in just 5 years
28. Over the 5 years the mix of retailers has been
changed overall
International Retailers +127 units
Regional Retailers + 96 units
Singaporean Chains +289 units
Independent Retailers -592 units
Other Uses -106 units
Empty Units 69 units
Mix of retailers
30. Change by Format and Location, 2009-2014 (Percent)
Orchard
Downtown Core
Rest of Central
Fringe
OCR
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
Int Reg Sing Indep Other Empty
Orchard Downtown Core Rest of Central Fringe OCR
32. In just 5 years there have been significant changes
in many of the shopping centres being studied
Next stage is to try to establish if this is down more
to external forces or to the influence of the different
management styles, particularly the effect of REITs
on the centres that they control
Conclusions
33. Competition Commission of Singapore (2008) Market Study on Retail Mall Rental Space in Singapore.
Summary Study and CCS’ Views. Competition Commission of Singapore: Singapore, October.
Credit Suisse (2011) Singapore Retail REITs. Asia Pacific/ Singapore Equity Research, 14th March.
Hong Kong: Credit Suisse.
Davies, K. (2012) ‘The Composition of Singaporean Shopping Centres’, International Review of Retail,
Distribution and Consumer Research, 22 (3), pp. 261-275
Fatt, J.P.T. (2001) ‘Retailing in MRT malls in Singapore: Implications for entrepreneurs,’ Asia Pacific
Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 13(4), 19-42.
Henderson, J.C., Chee, L., Mun, C.N. and Lee, C. (2011) ‘Shopping, tourism and retailing in Singapore,’
Managing Leisure, 16 (1), 36-48.
Ibrahim, M.F. and Peng, L.F. (2005) ‘The development of Neighbourhood centres in Singapore: From
Traditional to Cluster Shopping,’ Pacific Rim Property Research Journal, 11 (4), 373-392.
Sim, L-L., Yu, S-M. And Malone-Lee, L-C. (2002) ‘Re-examining the retail hierarchy in Singapore. Are
the town centres and neighbourhood centres sustainable?’ Town Planning Review, 73 (1), 63-81.
References
