#LEAwards 2021 highlight: The Mall Group successfully breathes new life into an old mall

The Mall Group, one of Thailand’s most successful retail operators, opened Mall Ngamwongwan in 1991 – the first mall in Nonthaburi Province, northeast of Bangkok.

At the time, it was modern and fashionable, attracting many customers. But over the years other malls opened in the area bringing in new brands and features. While Mall Ngamwongwan underwent cosmetic renovations, younger customers were gravitating to these newer malls.

The team at Mall Group decided it was time to resuscitate Mall Ngamwongwan, and for its efforts, it was one of the finalists for Best Customer Experience at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s The Loyalty & Engagement Awards 2021.

Challenge

To survive in this highly competitive retail market, The Mall Group had to appeal to a younger audience searching for new brands and unique new experiences. It was time to transform the iconic Mall Ngamwongwan into the stunning new Mall Lifestore.

The old Mall Ngamwongwan was divided into a department store and shopping complex, with the tenants in the shopping complex holding long leases. Consequently, The Mall Group could not control the quality of decoration, type of shop, zoning or category grouping in the general shopping area. The result was a poorer selection of brands, leisure activities and food outlets than could be found in the newer malls.

Once these contracts ended, The Mall Group was free to turn the physical store space into a captivating environment, making it more enjoyable and engaging for consumers.

There were five key objectives in the brand transformation strategy:

• • Enhance the quality of human life through the physical experience.
• • Provide innovative and creative solutions to customer needs.
• • Provide new customer experiences.
• • Harmonise technologies across the store.
• • Remain an organic component of, and contributor to, the community.

The key target audience was the local community living within a 10km radius of the new The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan in Nonthaburi Province, especially the younger demographic aged 18-35. It also wanted to retain the existing customer base so the store would appeal to all age groups and genders.

One of the problems it had was a limited selection of restaurants, and good cafés at the store; and several world-class cosmetic brands had left because of the declining image of the shopping centre.

The challenge was to redesign and repurpose this traditional mall in line with The Mall Group’s strategic shift from a shopping brand to a customer-centric Lifestore. Based on a core, customer-centric brand foundation, this 360-degree transformation went far beyond cosmetic changes of logos and uniforms.

The key innovative idea was to break down the traditional barriers between a department store and shopping mall to create a smooth and seamless shopping experience through seven levels of shopping, dining and entertainment.

Strategy

The design plan incorporated a number of innovative initiatives. The Mall focused on intergenerational families, and designed specific areas and attractions to engage each age group, whatever their tastes and age.

Throughout the Lifestore, it incorporated an abundance of natural greenery into every aspect of the store to create a sanctuary away from the busy city streets. To match the Thai’s love of eating out, it curated a vast mix of dining options from around the world. A kaleidoscope of colours, tastes and experiences were designed to appeal to all segments of the market, whatever budgets or tastes.

Common areas such as toilets and rest areas were designed to be unique and artistic. Customer benefits and experiences were also upgraded; along with valet parking, it introduced the first ever pre-booking car park app, allowing customers to guarantee their parking space before arrival.

It incorporated the most advanced technology throughout the building to ensure it minimised energy usage and recycled all waste water. This reduced CO 2 emissions from energy saving by 533 tons.

The result is an iconic and much-loved suburban mall transformed into the radically new Mall Lifestore. The renovation was done while the store was still in operation, and to meet the feasibility plan, the renovation had to be completed within two years. It was finished on November 2020 within the set time frame.

Execution

With competition from on-line shopping growing rapidly, leisure options increasing and traditional competitors expanding, The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan had to go beyond shopping if it was going to entice young and the not-so-young shoppers back into the mall.

So it put exceptional life experiences at the heart of the Lifestore. It introduced a profusion of leisure, entertainment and creative experiences designed to spark delight and engage customers at every level. It included Harborland, a huge children’s fun park, Thailand’s only rooftop water park, a digital games zone, cinema, and regular community arts and crafts projects.

In this way it offers a complete experience from dining to leisure to shopping to learning. Thus enticing customers to spend more time in the physical platform space of the mall.

During the renovations, The Mall Lifestore Ngamwongwan had to operate as normal. It undertook the work floor-by-floor starting at the top floor. Each floor was closed while undergoing renovation.

The communication activities were divided into pre-opening and post-opening under the central concept of The Mall Lifestore, “A Happy Place to Live Life”.

Pre-opening: It invited community participation in the store design. Store decorations by local children (including autistic children), as well as art and craft projects, were woven into the final designs adding a unique local flavour.

Post-opening: To launch the communications, it commissioned a three-minute film called CHANGE. This told the story of The Mall Lifestore: located in the same place, and yet completely transformed. A specially composed song was used to tell the story. This was followed by a second film called A Happy Place to Live Life featuring a famous Thai actor and his family who visit The Mall and who narrated their great day out.

Both films were released on social media platforms, outdoor LED billboards, in-store media and electronic direct mailers to loyalty card members.

Results

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. On all social media channels, positive comments, likes and shares increased dramatically after the films were released.

Apart from commissioned content, the mall also engaged influencers who are popular in Thailand in different categories of consumer interests and with different consumer segments. Scores of videos, blog posts and short messages were put out every week reviewing the new outlets in the Lifestore. This helped spread the message the new Mall Lifestore was radically different from its predecessor.

The priority was to create an exceptional physical experience in the Lifestore that would entice customers into the store and encourage them to spend more time enjoying this “real-world” experience. Every week, new activities and events targeted at different age groups are created to draw in traffic and showcase the new store.

To attract students, it teamed up with the neighbourhood university, Kasetsart (University of Agriculture), and invited it to create an extensive farmer’s market in the store. This event drew a lot of publicity and attention. More than 15,000 people attended during seven days, and the event garnered five million impressions on social media.

As Thai people will often shop together as a family, Lifestore created fun, child-friendly activities and areas, especially for kids. These included the Jungle Playland, Harborland and Fantasia Lagoon rooftop Waterpark. The Mall kids’ club was established, running family workshops every week. And in a special kids art area, children were invited to get creative and express themselves with paint. The resulting art is displayed in a special section of the store.

It also took care to appeal to its existing older customer base. Workshops for senior citizens to help them find friends and build their own community were continued and expanded with the help of its partner SCG Chivit-D (meaning good life in Thai).

One of its most important communication channels is its M Card loyalty programme. Currently it has 4.5 million members. The Mall Ngamwongwan has been considered a great success both in terms of design, functionality and customer traffic.

Despite a year of COVID-19 restrictions on retail businesses in Thailand, sales are up by 30% (data up to March 2021, before the third wave of pandemic in Thailand), the only store in the group to record a rise in traffic and sales during the COVID period. And tenants have also reported better than expected results for the year. Customer interviews have revealed customers like the look and feel of the new store, enjoy the variety of entertainment and dining options and seem to appreciate the new services provided.

Photo courtesy: 123RF