PETALING JAYA: Sunway Bhd, one of the country’s top five mall operators, will be opening three new shopping malls within the next four years, with an allocation of between RM500 million and RM1 billion for each mall.
Sunway Mall and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said the new malls would be located in Johor, Penang and Perak.
“Our seventh mall, Sunway Big Box Village in Johor Bahru will be opening in the fourth quarter of this year, while that of Paya Terubong in Penang and Tambun in Ipoh will be ready by 2023.
“We are also allocating RM500 million for the expansion of the Sunway Carnival Mall in Seberang Prai, Penang, which will be completed in the fourth quarter next year,” he told reporters after launching the Sunway Mall Cashless Revolution here yesterday.
Chan said the company recorded a strong growth in 2018 compared with 2017, mainly due to the spending during the festive season.
“We noticed that more customers are using online payment as it is convenient for them since they don’t have to carry so much cash. They normally pay cash for things below RM50 and use debit or credit card to pay for things above that amount.
“And now, more retailers are venturing into e-commerce to establish an online presence to complement their offline presence, targeting the younger consumers who will be the first adopters and drivers of e-wallet use,” he said.
In line with Bank Negara Malaysia’s 10-year roadmap towards a cashless society, Sunway Mall organised a closed door conference, involving leading e-wallet companies such as Boost, FavePay, GrabPay, Maybank QRPay, Touch ‘n Go Pay and WeChat Pay and retailers yesterday.
To date, close to 35 per cent of retailers in Sunway’s malls are using the e-wallet payment system at their outlets, and more retailers are expected to adopt the system to cater to the growing trend in cashless payments.
Chan said the e-wallet sub-sector filled the gap in the payment ecosystem as it is mobile based and it fits into the Malaysian smartphone penetration rate, which is currently at 75.9 per cent as reported by the World Bank.
“For Sunway Pyramid alone, online payments totalled RM2.5 billion last year, and 60 per cent of customers are paying for their parking using the system (Touch n Go).
“As for the retailers, the cashless payment system provides an efficient platform for greater cost savings by minimising the cost of handling cash and good accounting and also provides a secure environment that minimises leakages and crime concerns,” he added. – Bernama
