Taipei 101 Mall team introduced

Former employees of Taipei 101 Mall's leasing and marketing agency are taking greater responsibility, as they have been charged with making the 4-story shopping complex Asia's No. 1 mall within the next three years, company executives said yesterday.

The mall, which 161 stores will call home, is expected to open next week.

"We expect to make Taipei 101 Mall one of Asia's top three malls, along with Hong Kong's Pacific Place (太古廣場) and Kuala Lumpur's Suria KLCC Mall in the following year, and then the best shopping mall in Asia in the next three years," John Sironic, general manager of Taipei 101 Mall, said yesterday at a press conference.

At yesterday's ceremony to introduce the mall's management team -- the Sydney-based Citta Management Ltd -- Sironic said the team would apply their experience in successfully managing shopping malls to the operation of Taipei 101 Mall. He cited the team's experience at the Chadstone Mall in Australia, which achieved the nation's highest annual sales, totaling AU$800 million (around NT$17.6 billion).

Sironic was formerly employed by Lend Lease Pty Ltd Taiwan (聯盛國際), the leasing and marketing agency for the mall, prior to joining Citta Management in October.

Sironic said Citta's western-style management would help distinguish Taipei 101 Mall from existing Japanese-style department stores.

Citta Management's marketing director, Simon Van de Velde, elaborated on his company's strategy yesterday.

"Our approach is to develop a strong brand-image of Taipei 101 Mall through a series of major seasonal events to promote fashion, foods, etc. We won't heavily depend on discounts. We will do more brand-based image campaigns for promotion," he added.

Competition in Taipei's retail market will reach a new high in the fourth quarter, following the opening of Taipei 101 Mall on Nov. 14 and the proposed launching of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store's (新光三越) "A9" outlet by the end of the year, the international real estate consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (戴德梁行) said in its latest quarterly report, published last month.

"It has been an ongoing trend that the retail development of Taipei City will continue moving towards the Hsinyi district of East Taipei," said Wendy Hsueh (薛惠珍), the consultancy firm's research director.

Lin Hong-ming (林鴻明), president of Taipei Financial Centre Corp (台北金融大樓公司) which owns the 23,000-ping Taipei 101 Mall, said that they expected an annual turnover of NT$7.5 billion in the first year, which will account for 10-percent of the total NT$70 billion to NT$80 billion annual turnover of Taipei's department stores and malls.

Customer traffic at Taipei 101 Mall is expected to reach 15 million to 18 million people in the first year after opening, said Sironic.

But the development of Taipei 101 Mall is not expected to replace the current Sogo commercial area in the foreseeable future, as the area is fully-developed with easily accessible transportation. Also, the retail formats of the two areas are different from each other, industry experts said.

"The Sogo area is a street-front shop style, while the Xinyi District focuses on large department stores and malls," Hsueh explained.