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Tag: City Square Mall

  • City Square Mall the First Retail Mall in Singapore to Receive the BCA-MSF Platinum Award

    City Square Mall the First Retail Mall in Singapore to Receive the BCA-MSF Platinum Award

    Consistently award-winning since its inception in the areas of family, retail and green leadership, City Square Mall is now Singapore’s first and only retail mall to be presented with the BCA-MSF Universal Design Mark for Family-Friendly Business Platinum Award.

    The new Universal Design Mark for Family-Friendly Business is a collaboration between the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). This is a new Universal Design (UD) Mark category recognising businesses which incorporates both user-friendly infrastructure and family-friendly service and processes in facilities, both of which are indispensable in providing a family-friendly environment.

    This year, City Square Mall has been awarded in recognition for its efforts to incorporate both UD and family-friendly elements in their facilities, process and services and managed to maintain the highest UD Mark award this year for this new category.

    CDL’s Centre Director of City Square Mall, Mr. Lionel Chua, said, “Beyond a developer of quality spaces, CDL is also a builder of lives and communities. We believe in constructing spaces that are inclusive and accessible to all. When City Square Mall opened in 2009, we were one of the first malls to provide help call points at the mall’s entrances and an air-conditioned sheltered taxi stand cum drop-off point at the basement. Since receiving the BCA Universal Design Award (Gold) in 2010, we have continued to enhance the mall’s inclusive and family-friendly shopping experience with various amenities. For instance, we introduced an inclusive playground with a wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round and swing seats with safety harnesses. We also equipped our Customer Service Counter with a comprehensive range of family-friendly amenities from baby strollers, kiddy carts and wheelchairs to blood pressure monitor, first aid kit, magnifying glass reader and sewing kit. These features have brought great convenience to our shoppers and enhanced our branding as a family-friendly mall. With these constant updates to family-friendly features in and around the mall, City Square Mall has consistently seen a year-on-year increase in its annual footfall.”

    City Square Mall is an ideal venue for 3-Generation (3G) families to interact and bond through its diverse tenant mix to cater to the varied needs of families and is well integrated with amenities that provide greater comfort, safety and convenience for families, including the young, the old and persons with disabilities.

    Founder of Leap Schoolhouse, Ms Esther Lim mentioned, “We first opened our Enrichment Centre in 2009 at City Square Mall and we have been one of the pioneer tenants ever since. With a diverse tenant 2

    mix at the mall for 3-Generation (3G) families to interact and bond, such as enrichment classes for children, wellness services for the elderly, play-themed outlets for teenagers, and retail and entertainment outlets to spend more family time together in the mall, Leap Schoolhouse has seen year-on-year increment in the number of kids enrolled at our centre and this has enabled us to expand our services over the years.”

    Since receiving the BCA Universal Design Award (Gold) in 2010, City Square Mall has continued to enhance the mall’s inclusive and family-friendly shopping experience with various amenities.

    Key UD and Family-Friendly Features

    • • Since opening its doors in 2009, City Square Mall is one of the first malls to provide help call points at strategic entrances and an air-conditioned sheltered taxi stand cum drop-off point at Basement 1.
    • • Pledged its support for the Guide Dog Association of the Blind in 2012.
    • • Spacious family and nursing rooms with private cubicles complete with electric sockets, hot water dispensers, sinks and diaper-changing stations for mothers or parents to attend to the needs of their young children in comfort and privacy.
    • • Complimentary use of baby strollers, kiddy carts, magnifying glass reader, wheelchairs, sewing kit, thermometer, blood pressure monitor, drinking water, first aid kit, and mobile and tablet charging station. The mall constantly monitors equipment usage and shopper feedback and conducts competitor research so that the facilities and services provided remain relevant.
    • • The outdoor playground at Level 1 features a wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round and swing seats with safety harnesses which enable children with all abilities to play together.
    • • Diverse tenant mix that caters to 3G families, such as enrichment classes for children (e.g. Genius R Us), advice for the elderly (e.g. Agency for Integrated Care), play themed outlets for teenagers (e.g. TimeZone, PLAYe), and retail and entertainment outlets suitable for everyone such as Decathlon and Golden Village.
    • • Fun and engaging character shows, e.g. Anime Film Festival, Transformers, are organised during school holidays to allow families to spend time together at the mall.
    • • Events and activities are also organised to cater to different age groups such as Line Dance for the elderly and Zumba for working adults. Educational exhibitions advocating healthy living, heritage matters and water conservation, are held in partnerships with HPB, PUB and NHB.
    • • The Customer Service team receives regular training on the mall’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on service, first aid and other relevant areas to guide them in delivering optimal service to family shoppers. The team also walks around the mall to identify and offer help to shoppers in need.

     

  • Businesses latch on to Pokemon craze

    Businesses latch on to Pokemon craze

    IT has only been a week since the official release of Pokémon Go in Singapore, but amid the smokescreen of marketing puns and Poké-themed promotions, businesses across different sectors are already reporting an increase in business activity.

    Businesses are riding on the popularity of the augmented-reality game by dropping digital “lures” near their premises to attract Pokémon – and consequently, game fans (along with their smartphones and their wallets) to their locations, in search of digital critters to “catch”.

    It seems to be working, going by the experience of Ion Orchard, City Square Mall and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which have had more traffic of late; Wildlife Reserves Singapore, which runs Jurong Bird Park, River Safari, and the Singapore Zoo, joins the fray this weekend by scattering lures in the three parks.

    The key reason behind the success of Pokémon Go’s integration into businesses’ marketing models comes from the game’s augmented-reality aspect, through which the game’s software interacts with the elements of the real world; this is unlike most other games, in which the gaming activity is confined to the native gaming software.

    Businesses have been quick to bring customers into their stores in the real world by clever placement of “lure modules” – digital devices earned in the game app or bought through the game shop – near their establishments.

    Clement Goh, managing director of Equinix South Asia, said: “The game in itself has definitely blurred the lines between the virtual and physical world. Brick-and-mortar shops can leverage the game by using it as a marketing tool . . . to attract footfall.”

    Desmond Sim, head of CBRE Research for Singapore and South-east Asia, said using lures is a low-cost avenue for businesses to reach out to a targeted group of potential customers.

    “There are very low barriers to entry for this game. It does not cost players anything to start playing the game; for businesses, it doesn’t cost much to buy the lures to use at Pokéstops near their shops.

    It is basically cheap advertising for businesses.”

    Ion Orchard and City Square Mall, owned by CapitaLand Ltd and City Development Ltd respectively, have placed lures and launched promotions to attract Pokémon Go players to their premises.

    Ion Orchard’s marketing campaign, called Go@Ion Orchard, has been effective, said Chris Chong, chief executive of Orchard Turn Developments. “Based on the number of Go@Ion Orchard redemptions, we have witnessed healthy spending by shoppers who visited our mall to catch Pokémon.”

    CapitaLand launched an Instagram campaign called #PokemonSTAR, which combines the gaming phenomenon with its rewards programme, Capitastar. The campaign rewards players with points, which can be used to redeem CapitaLand vouchers.

    Teresa Teow, CapitaLand Mall Asia head of retail management in Singapore, said that even though it has been only a week since the game’s release, business activity has noticeably increased in its malls.

    “During #PokemonSTAR, the average daily signups for Capitastar increased 43 per cent compared to July. We have also seen a 33 per cent increase in followers for CapitaLand’s Instagram account, with about 2,000 posts garnered on #PokemonSTAR.”

    City Square Mall said it had a “healthy turn-out” of visitors to the mall when it released its lures on National Day.

    Aside from also planting lures, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) offered a 10 per cent discount for admission to its S.E.A. Aquarium and Universal Studios Singapore for every five Pokémon caught within an hour on its premises.

    An RWS spokesman said Pokémon Go has generated “significant footfall”. “The lures we are releasing across the resort every day this week, including Universal Studios Singapore and SEA. Aquarium, brought about increased visitorship into the attractions.

    “Pokémon Go enthusiasts also took advantage of the promotions running until this Sunday, with many prolonging their stay on the resort and patronising our retail outlets and restaurants.”

    Wildlife Reserves Singapore will release more than 500 lures at the nearly 70 Pokéstops in the BirdPark, River Safari and the zoo, and offering prizes such as free annual membership and plush toys to visitors who catch eight unique Pokémon in the parks.

    One of the more creative marketing strategies out there was launched by dating app LunchClick, which has run a Pokémon-themed dating event at which singles form teams to try outdoing each other in catching the Pokémon with the highest number of combat points.

    LunchClick chief executive Violet Lim said the response to the event was “overwhelming” – its 50 available spaces were gone in three days; it has since opened more spaces to meet the demand.

    Local telcos Singtel, StarHub, and M1 have also placed lures at many Pokéstops to encourage gameplay, although they say they have not noticed a spike in data-usage among their customers; this is because Pokémon Go’s gameplay is not data-intensive.

    So instead of offering data at discounted prices, the telcos have instead opted for more conventional marketing techniques such as putting lures out to help players catch Pokémon.

    In spite of this, industry watchers cited by OCBC Investment Research Pte Ltd expect data usage to go up by 500MB per month, up from the normal monthly average of 3.3GB.

    Separately, these industry watchers also expect the current Pokémon Go trend to boost F&B sales and retail footfall, since many Pokéstops are around shopping malls and landmarks.

    There were, however, mixed reviews about the game’s overall effect on businesses in the long run.

    CBRE Research’s Mr Sim was optimistic: “The main effect is that the presence and visibility of these shops would increase. While not all Pokémon Go players would buy from these shops, more people will now know about the shop’s existence – this can only help businesses in the long run.”

    Srinivas Reddy, SMU’s professor of marketing, took a more neutral stance: “Because of the geocoding, some businesses are benefiting from the game – in terms of attracting people to their location. It is still unclear if they are able to convert them into purchasers.”

    Arvind Sethumadhavan, chief innovation officer for the Asia-Pacific for Dentsu Aegis Network, said Pokémon Go will have only a marginal impact on business due to the marketing campaigns being unsustainable – because they hinge on the continued popularity of the game.

    He, like Mr Sim, thinks the craze will fade away, like fads.

    Mr Sim said: “The litmus test of seeing whether this will last is in looking at how the game reinvents itself. After two to four weeks, when Pokémon Go players have ‘caught ’em all’, what incentive is there left for them to keep playing?”