Malls, online shops seen to further boost real estate

MANILA, Philippines — The continued expansion of both physical malls and the e-commerce market is seen to contribute to the further growth of the Philippine real estate market, a property consultancy firm said.

“Here in the Philippines, malls and online are not seen as rivals but they should complement each other,” Lobien Realty Group (LRG) said.

LRG sees more than one million square meters of gross floor area for shopping malls to be added from 2020 to 2022, driven by optimism from mall developers.

The new inventory will come from the 120,000 sqm Gateway Mall 2 in Quezon City, the 16,000 sqm SM Mall of Asia Phase 4, 100,000 sqm Greenhills Shopping Center expansion in San Juan, the 20,000 sqm Big Apple Mall in Taguig City, and the 54,700 sqm One Ayala, among others.

While the physical malls are seen to stay, LRG emphasized the need for these developments to evolve by giving more entertainment and other experience options to mall goers.

“Another option is to build community malls, “bringing the mall” to the people since less people want to travel due to traffic,” LRG said.

LRG also sees the continued growth of the e-commerce market.

“The rapid and ongoing growth of e-commerce in the country will lead to a fusion of e-commerce and physical malls as both these realities are here to stay,” LRG said. 

LRG said SM’s partnership with Lazada serves as an example of this fusion  wherein physical malls are used for pick-up and exchange places for online purchases.
The fusion of e-commerce and physical malls is expected in the next several years, but will not be as pronounced as in the experience in the US and Europe.
LRG likewise cited the need for the logistics sector to step up as growth from the e-commerce business continues to expand to provide a seamless shopping experience.