SHKP Quarterly

Debut of reciprocal spending privileges between Guangzhou and Hong Kong to leverage the synergy To capitalize on the first phase of the border reopening, coupled with the long Chinese New Year holiday, the Group’s shopping mall teams quickly organized diversified festive campaigns and launched a series of tourist consumption privileges to attract local and mainland consumers. The Group debuted a cross-boundary spending reward scheme in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, leveraging the synergistic effect of its retail portfolios in the two cities. The Group’s six shopping malls in Hong Kong, including New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, YOHO Mall in Yuen Long, and MOKO in Mong Kok, collaborated with Parc Central in Guangzhou to launch Fabulous Tourist Privilege, with a total of HK$10 million in spending rewards offered to mainland visitors for spending in Hong Kong and vice versa. The spending rewards consisted of consumption vouchers, welcome packs and shopping privileges at premium brands, providing a range of dining, shopping and entertainment experiences for customers. Meanwhile, V City The Group’s shopping malls are well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities from the Hong Kong–mainland border reopening in Tuen Mun and V Walk in West Kowloon, joined hands with IGC in Guangzhou to launch mutual spending privileges on the mainland and in Hong Kong and to invite retail brands in their malls that are popular among mainland consumers to offer exclusive privileges, allowing mainland visitors and local consumers to enjoy the unique consumption experience between two cities, thus promoting cross-border spending. Optimizing the product mix and launching a series of privileges to drive footfall and tenant sales in the Group’s shopping malls Foreseeing opportunities arising from the spending power of mainland visitors in the first phase of the Hong Kong–mainland border reopening, the Group’s key shopping malls took the initiative to maintain close communication and cooperation with their tenants. Stores that are especially popular with tourists, such as pharmacies, healthcare, sportswear, watch and jewellery stores, stocked up in advance for anticipated strong sales. Various shopping malls also refined their trade-and-tenant mix to cater for border reopening. For instance, APM , The Group has a retail portfolio with an attributable gross floor area of some 12 million square feet in Hong Kong. The gradual lifting of Hong Kong’s anti-pandemic measures and the Hong Kong–mainland border reopening in early January this year, coupled with Chinese New Year being the traditional peak season for consumption, created blossoming opportunities for the Hong Kong retail market. The Group’s key shopping malls were well-equipped to capture these business opportunities. The Group’s initiatives included the launch of targeted and timely promotion campaigns, such as a debut cross-boundary spending reward scheme, and the distribution of welcome packs, electronic coupons and cross-border bus tickets, to attract mainland tourists to shop in the Group’s shopping malls, thus boosting footfall in the malls. As a result, the Group’s retail portfolio in Hong Kong recorded double-digit growth in both footfall and tenant sales for the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year. New Town Plaza, Sha Tin 沙田新城市廣場 Feature Story Vol 107 • Q1 2023 • SHKP Quarterly 4