By The Manila Times
Despite the high growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce), a top official of SM Supermalls on Thursday, Aug. 12, said he believes that malls will continue to be relevant post-pandemic.
Speaking at the 27th National Retail Conference and Stores Asia Expo organized by the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), SM Vice President for Corporate Strategy Gino Borromeo said that contrary to the prevailing “malls are dying, e-commerce is taking over” narrative, malls will continue to be around.
“Malls will continue to be around, they will continue to be relevant venues and destinations for people to gather. What does the future of malls look like? Well, I can tell you this, it will not be exactly the same as its past and its present,” he said.
“So, what’s inside malls and what will make people visit malls, will certainly evolve,” he added.
Borromeo said societal and cultural forces that drove the evolution of malls include globalization and affordable air travel, combined power of the internet, mobile devices, and social, and lastly, the pandemic.
“With pandemic life disrupting our normal everyday routine and forcing the world to take a collective pause, people around the world, including the Philippines are going through a great reassessment of how they live, work, shop. And this of course will reshape people’s behavior as malls and retail customers,” he said.
Borromeo noted that several things will remain.
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