IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SHOPPING MALLS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The COVID-19 has posed threats to different aspects of the shopping mall as retailers and mall managers adapt to the changing public health measure. Consumers are forced to change their shopping behaviors with new rules that restrict personal mobility, affecting the patronage of shopping malls. To mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on shopping malls, the government has intervened by introducing its first-ever property rental relief and rebates for eligible tenants to ease their cashflow issues amidst challenging times. On a corporate level, mall owners have also offered to provide additional financial and marketing support to its tenants, retailers also sought to creative marketing strategies to keep its customers engaged especially during the periods under lockdown. This study aims to examine what are behavioral changes are pre and during COVID-19 amongst shoppers, and the strategies that retailers used to mitigate impacts arising from this change. In additional, it also seeks to investigate consumers’ mall preferences and the factors they deem more important when visiting a mall since the pandemic struck. A survey on 300 shoppers in a mix of central and suburban shopping malls was conducted. The results indicated that shoppers spend more time in suburban malls as opposed to central region malls. It also reveals that shoppers are generally selective in what, where and how they shop. Responses from retailers also provide insights as to what kinds of marketing channels attract the most attention from its customers and which platforms are the most effective. The findings collected from were used to provide greater insights to the how consumers interact with shopping malls and how mall managers can better plan for the evolving future ahead.