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Taipei 101 aims to skim the cream

Banking on the prosperity of Taipei's Hsinyi district, a new shopping center dubbed Taipei 101 Mall, scheduled to open in October 2003, aims to make a buck from well-off professionals and foreigners by offering international brand names.

"Location is one of the key driver of shopping mall success... Taipei 101 Mall is located in Hsinyi district which demonstrates vast potential," said Simon Van de Velde, senior development, leasing and marketing manager at Lend Lease Pty Ltd Taiwan.

The Australia-based Lend Lease -- which manages 80 shopping centers globally including the Petronas Twin Towers Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Fashion Valley in San Diego, California -- is responsible for the retail planning, leasing and marketing of Taipei 101 Mall.

Located between level B1 to level 5 of the Taipei Financial Center, which is currently under construction, the 200 stores and 23,000-ping Taipei 101 Mall targets high-income consumers.

"Our target customers will be predominantly females, aged between 21 and 35, white-collar professionals who spend about NT$40,000 on fashion and food per month," Van de Velde said.

Since high-income customers are brand loyal and less affected by the economic slump, Van de Velde estimates more than 50 percent of the mall's annual sales will come from these target customers, with an average monthly income of about NT$51,000.

Other priority customers are the around 10,000 office employees working in the Hsinyi district and international business travelers visiting the Taipei World Trade Center, he added.

So far, 143 brands including Gucci, YSL, Christian Dior, Sergio Rossi, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole and Sisley, have signed up with the proposed mall. "More than 95 percent of our tenants are international brand companies," Van de Velde said.

The planned mall is expected to face strong competition in an area where a mix of business venues such as Grand Hyatt Hotel, Taipei World Trade Center and entertainment hot spots such as the Warner Village movie complex and several department stores already exist. But a local department store veteran said Lend Lease is on the right track.

"Although the retail war in Hsinyi district has already been tough, currently no shopping center there specifically features brand-name collections," said Pu Mei-yu (普美玉), deputy manager of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store's (新光三越百貨) Hsinyi branch.

However, in the slumping economy and amid increased competition, "it's very difficult for retailers to generate sales growth," Pu said.
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