Although my main blogging focus is Coca-Cola, I can’t keep my love of Shopper Marketing quiet for a whole 6 months, especially amidst such a vibrant shopping culture as in SE Asia. I am struck by the number and variety of shopping outlets, especially in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The former has a population of 1.6 million and has 33 shopping malls (!) in its city centre, mostly located within touching distance of each other (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shopping_malls_in_Malaysia). Singapore’s population of 5.47 million can take their pick from at least 32 shopping malls in central Singapore alone (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shopping_malls_in_Singapore ). Although there are subtle differences between them, to the untrained eye most of these malls seem exactly the same. So the challenge here for the retailers is how to stand out from the crowd?
Kevin Roberts in his Lovemarks series talks about the Theatre of Dreams, creating a sensory smorgasbord to entice people with a unique shopping experience, that establishes the brand and entertains the shopper. When done well this sensory experience can immerse the shopper in the brand’s world, but not every engagement will necessarily convert to sales.
Berjaya Time Square Shopping mall themepark
In KL we chose to visit Berjaya Time Square Shopping over dozens of rival shopping centres, lured by the promise of a roller coaster in its rafters. The novelty of the hybrid theme park-shopping extravaganza intrigued us, but the reality was underwhelming: a faded, rundown theme park squashed into the back of the mall. Yes, there was a roller coaster and yes, you could hear the screams as you browsed the 10 floors of knock-off purse shops, phone case shops and the like, but my vison of a loop-the-looping above shiny marble-clad designer stores was not met. Attracted primarily by the idea of the theme park, we were quick to leave again in search of more upmarket brands, and in hindsight the funfair associations of cheap plastic toys and fast food should have given us a clue as to the quality of the retail experience within. This also highlights another barrier shopping malls face, i.e. attracting the right retailers as well also the right shoppers.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Signapore
On the flip side, The Shoppes at the base of the Singapore’s extraordinary Marina Bay Sands Hotel managed to exude a grandeur and exclusivity perfectly befitting the designer brands on display. A Venetian style canal runs along the lower floor of the 3 storey mall, complete with miniature arched bridges and gondolas for hire – all completely out of place in the middle of SE Asia, but nonetheless providing a worthy backdrop for the snooty European brands lining the banks of the canal. I would have loved for them to take the experience a step further and make the most expensive and exclusive brands only accessible from the water!
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Hotel
On the whole, Singapore seemed to blend theatricality and retail experience far more successfully than its KL counterparts. For example, The Raffles Hotel (birthplace of the Singapore Sling) still has old fashioned ceiling fans and allows visitors to break monkey nuts on the floor until the tiles are all but hidden by shells. Very much geared at tourists, the bar feels frozen in time in the era of 1900s Colonial Singapore, which made paying 28 Singapore dollars (approx £14) per cocktail a little easier to bear.
The Raffles Hotel Singapore Sling and Monkey Nuts
Ultimately this is what retail theatre is designed to do – make you fall in love with the brand through the value of the experience; enough to prompt desire, action and in my case splash out on a pricey cocktail. It is unsurprising that the more expensive brands achieve this in an all-encompassing way, unlike the imitators and cheap knock-off shops that are found in SE Asia’s cheaper malls. Yes, the big brands have larger budgets, but their stronger sense of self and strength of purpose (and perhaps their familiarity) has a stronger appeal to the western tourist. Or at least this western tourist.
Coca-Cola & Travelling Brands 