06
CapitaLand Mall Trust
Annual Report 2015
Solid Operational Performance
In 2015, our malls attracted shopper traffic of about
348.0 million. The consistently high shopper traffic
over the years is due to the strategic locations of our
malls, which are connected to or near transportation
hubs in large population catchment areas, as well as
our proactive asset management. In 2015, tenants’
sales per square foot and shopper traffic increased
5.3% and 4.9% respectively year-on-year. As at
31 December 2015, our portfolio comprised a healthy
and diversified trade mix of retailers and achieved a
high occupancy rate of 97.6%.
Our tenants are integral to the success of our malls,
and we continue to enhance our tenant engagement
programme and find ways to add value to them.
A key thrust of this strategy is our well-received Biz+
Series of seminars and workshops, led by industry
experts who impart knowledge and tips to help our
tenants do better business. Biz+ Series 2015 revolved
around the theme ‘Rethinking the Customer through
Experience, Innovation and Digital’, and was headlined
by a large-scale forum titled ‘Retail Future’ featuring
leaders from different industries who shared insights
on big data, technology, innovation and productivity.
These events helped our tenants stay on top of the
latest trends and identify new opportunities in the
evolving retail landscape, serving as an excellent
platform for networking and exchange of ideas.
We continued to engage our shoppers, building loyalty
through innovative marketing activities and attractive
rewards programmes. We leveraged on technology to
bring greater convenience and delight to shoppers,
many of whom are digitally savvy. Our trio of loyalty
programmes – CAPITASTAR, CapitaVoucher and
CapitaCard – form Singapore’s largest multi-store,
multi-mall integrated rewards platform, meeting
shoppers’ desire for scale and choice in a loyalty
programme.
In line with the government’s efforts to restructure
Si ngapore’s economy and enhance nati ona l
productivity, we actively explored ways to leverage on
technology for productivity gains, as well as to deliver
a new customer experience for retailers to conduct
business, and shoppers to enjoy retail in a technology-
enabled environment. An example is Singapore’s
first on-site centralised dishwashing facility at IMM
Building. Operated by GreatSolutions, this on-site
facility helps our food and beverage (F&B) tenants
who are facing a tight labour situation. It allows F&B
operators to improve productivity by redeploying
labour and freeing up dishwashing areas for retail
space. Compared with offsite dishwashing facilities,
this on-site solution reduces crockery breakage during
transportation, and enables more frequent deliveries
to F&B outlets.
As par t of the omni-channel strategy, we have
enhanced our online platforms to provide greater
convenience to our shoppers. An example is the
e-commerce pilot initiative called ‘Food To Go’ in
Raffles City Singapore. This initiative enables working
professionals to order take-away food from the F&B
outlets in Raffles City Singapore in advance via a
dedicated website. It serves to reduce waiting time for
takeaways and overcome the limited seating capacity
during the peak lunch period, thus benefitting tenants
in both the office and shopping mall components
of this iconic integrated development. In addition,
this provides our tenants with another opportunity for
additional revenue.
Enhancing Shopping Experience through Asset
Enhancements
To ensure the success of our malls, it is important
that they continue to meet the needs and aspirations
of the communities they operate in. To this end,
we continually reinvent and drive our malls to ensure
that they stay relevant and attractive to shoppers.
This includes AEI to optimise the retail offerings and
refresh the tenancy mix.
At Tampines Mall, we converted the mall’s Level 5
open roof to a new education hub with well-known
educational tenants. Coupled with a new facade
and covered linkway to the mass rapid transit (MRT)
station, Tampines Mall now has a refreshed look and
provides greater convenience to shoppers. There will
also be additional works to rejuvenate the mall and
the works are expected to be completed in the first
quarter of 2017.
We completed the second phase of AEI at IMM
Building to increase the number of outlet stores to
85 with new designer brands, further strengthening
its position as Singapore’s largest outlet mall.
The mall also boosted its F&B offerings and enhanced
the shopping environment. In addition, we built a new
elevated walkway linking IMM Building to Devan Nair
Institute, which connects to Westgate and Jurong
East MRT interchange station, and this has improved
connectivity and brought greater convenience to our
shoppers.
Message to Unitholders
