Best in Class

How does The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands constantly remain a premier retail destination? Terence Lim finds out

In today’s retail landscape threatened by the convenience and wide variety offered by online stores, bricks-and-mortar shops and shopping malls are struggling to remain relevant and having to distinguish themselves from their digital competitors. Yet, a stroll around The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands implies otherwise. Indeed, the luxury shopping mall has defied all odds and recently delivered a strong performance in terms of revenue and footfall, while earning industry accolades along the way.

According to Global Blue, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands owns “the greatest share of inbound tourist spend in the luxury sector in 2017 and the first half of 2018”, outperforming other local luxury malls. Traffic at the mall has also been healthy with an average daily footfall of about 120,000 along its wide corridors.

To top it off, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands even snagged the honour of being a third-time recipient of the Best Shopping Experience award at the 2018 Singapore Tourism Awards.

To that end, John Postle, vice president of retail at Marina Bay Sands, said: “Since opening in 2010, we have been driven by the vision to create highly compelling retail experiences that continue to draw shoppers from all over the world to Singapore. In the midst of a rapidly changing retail landscape, our constant innovation through reinvestment and introducing unique retail concepts have paid off.”

We visit the luxury shopping mall to find out its winning formula.

SHOPPING HEAVEN Clockwise from top: Truefitt & Hill offers the men a quiet respite from the retail therapy; Breitling will soon open its doors at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands; Lisa Von Tang stocks both womenswear and menswear at its boutique; the Céline Big Bag bucket from its autumn/winter 2018 collection; The Shoppes Edit is an online treasure trove of what’s new, hot and exclusive to The Shoppes