Finding The Right Niche

Specialty malls are born sometimes through design, sometimes through accident and mostly, out of necessity. This is the necessity to survive, and in the best scenario, such malls even thrive beyond expectations.

Better known as niche malls, they set themselves apart from traditional malls by customising their merchandise mix, marketing promotions and even the building design to appeal to a distinct segment of shoppers.

The most distinctive niche would be merchandise or tenant mix which may comprise a specific retail spectrum like fashion, information technology (IT) products or lifestyle concepts in food and beverage (F&B), art, entertainment and recreation.

The merchandise or tenant mix of a “typical” mall has a fairly equal percentage of mixed stores of fashion, F&B, services, entertainment and many others. But in a niche mall, the specialty trade on which it is focused would cover 60% to 80% of the mall’s total area.

In Malaysia, there are more than 550 malls, comprising suburban, regional, super-regional and city-centre malls. Of these, we take a quick look at several niche malls in Greater Kuala Lumpur worthy of mention, non-competing with each other and catering to their individual niche in society.

 

Plaza Low Yat

One of the most prominent and distinctly niche malls is Plaza Low Yat. In 2009, it was conferred the name “Malaysia’s Largest IT Lifestyle Mall” by the Malaysia Book of Records.

Located in the Bukit Bintang tourist belt, it would appear that Plaza Low Yat was first essentially conceived to tap and match with the previously successful IT mall of its time, Imbi Plaza.

Internally, each floor specialises in a particular group of IT products and there are almost 500 shops in the seven-storey building.

As IT sales grew significantly from the year 2000, the mall not only fulfilled market demand but has become the market leader and more importantly, it is etched in consumers’ mind as “the place” to go to for the latest IT merchandise, newest models, best value offerings (caused by intense competition in the mall) as well as the widest IT-service-related technical support available.

It is hard to match the depth and breadth of its merchandise, and it continues to grow and evolve from strength to strength in its appeal for all things IT.

 

IKEA

IKEA, at Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, offers one of the largest collections of an affordable range of furniture to select from a single store.

The store is so popular that it is practically filled to maximum capacity every weekend. In fact, the IKEA brand reputation and niche have enabled the company to become the most valuable furniture retailer brand in the world.

This niche is so successfully replicated all over the world that the owner of IKEA is one of the Top Ten richest persons in the world.

With the widest selection of furniture, attractively displayed in planned and designed show sections, as well as its constantly improved design and pricing, IKEA has carved a niche market for itself.

 

KWC Fashion Mall 

KWC, which opened in 2011, stands for Kenanga Wholesale City. As the name clearly states, this mall was planned specifically to specialise in the wholesaling of merchandise where shoppers can obtain fashion wear, accessories, shoes and gifts at wholesale prices. This can be done with only bulk purchases of multiple items, although most shops do sell single items at retail prices which are significantly higher.

KWC is Malaysia’s first fashion whole-sale mall, sited in the fashion wholesale area of Jalan Kenanga, Kuala Lumpur, which is a jumble of streets full of whole-sale shops where retailers go to stock up.

With over 800 stores spread across 500,000 sq ft, KWC is inspired by the successful wholesale centres in China, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea.

 

Central Market

To foreigners, the name of this mall would be intriguing and actually a misnomer as the building saw its birth in 1888 as the Central Market of Kuala Lumpur with all the traditional trappings of a wet market.

This was more than 100 years ago and with the relocation of the once noisy, busy wet market in the 1980s, the build-ing was saved from demolition and has been transformed into a niche shopping mall of the same name.

In 2004, Central Market opened with more than 100,000 sq ft of retail space, specialising as a one -stop art and craft centre with an annexe gallery that attracts both locals and tourists alike.

 The unique charm of the old market has been cleverly preserved and the zoned areas within the mall showcase our country’s rich heritage, winning several awards for being a top tourist attraction as well as championing culture, arts and heritage.

 

Publika

This mall has styled itself after things “artsy” and has a great public space/stage for the performing arts and music.

While offering shoppers standard mall shops, Publika is distinctly creative in its open-plan layout with lots of natural lighting and sculptures placed artfully in the common areas.

We believe it was not originally created as a mall, but when the owners redesigned it, out of necessity, the “Public Art Place” and its theme was conceived, to position itself differently.

There is an open- air square for the mall’s marketing and promotion activities. It has organised out-of-the ordinary events, which include jazz festivals, a regular drum circle, activities to create awareness on environmental issues, and art auctions and exhibitions.

The mall is designed for the young professional crowd and has numerous trendy food joints and rustic cafes together with a boutique supermarket offering selected imported food.

 

Starhill Gallery

Niche malls can also mean all things luxurious. One excellent example is Starhill Gallery which has been around since 1996, the country’s most luxurious shopping mall, catering to the well-heeled and with everything focused on luxury.

This mall offers a shopping experience with branded luxury and designer items. The luxury-themed open-dining floor, Shook, designer furniture and numerous luxury boutiques have enabled the mall to reinforce its position.

It also helps that it has complementary five-star hotels in the vicinity. By continuously organising successful niche international events like “The Journey Through Time”, or having world-famous opera singers performing, Starhill Gallery has managed to maintain its alluring niche.

We are in an age where consumers have so many options to buy from many retail formats. They encompass online shopping, various small retail formats at petrol stations, convenience stores, neighbourhood centres, hypermarkets, regional malls, mega malls, wet markets, night markets and others.

The questions we need to ask: Which catchment and segment are we trying to attract, is this segment a big enough market? Will the demand for this category of merchandise stand the test of time?

If the answers are all yes, then a well-planned shopping centre that targets the niche very well can enjoy the widest and largest customer reach.

Plaza Low Yat and IKEA can reach out to customers far away and in many cases have become the destination in shoppers’ minds whenever they want those particular products.

As market leaders for the various niche examples mentioned earlier, your customer reach may be the whole of Malaysia and that is really powerful.

Tan Joon Kai is the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (Persatuan Pengurusan Kompleks Malaysia)