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In 2011, Johor Premium Outlets (JPO), which is a joint venture effort between the Genting Group and Simon Property Group, was launched in Kulai, Johor. Following its success, four other outlet malls were launched between 2011 and 2016 -- namely Mitsu Outlet Park KLIA in Sepang, Freeport A’Famosa Outlet in Malacca, Genting Premium Outlet and Design Village in Penang, thanks to data from Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank Research). BizHive Weekly takes an overview of this retail trend and what the future holds for it: “The outlet mall concept is growing popular in Malaysia due to the increasing demand for retailers to put offseason merchandise in a separate channel. The outlet mall provides a secondary platform for retailers to have better inventory management by rechannelling products and lower operating costs as well as to create brand awareness.” “The fashion and fashion accessories segment growth in Malaysia is quite healthy with 3.9% year-on-year growth recorded in 2017 in comparison to the subdued overall Malaysia’s retail sales growth of 2.0%. This is partly attributed to the luxury apparels and accessories segment which has experience double digit sales growth year-onyear where 85.0% of the luxury retail sales growth was fuelled by Gen Y and Z. In addition, the stronger ringgit also contributed to better affordability of luxury brand.” “Globally, consumer confidence is improving particularly in major economies such as China, US and Europe underpinned by stable job market. This favourable atmosphere augurs well with the tourism industry as Chinese tourist represented a notable percentage of international tourists in Malaysia. We believe that the increase in Chinese tourists have a spilled over effect to outlet malls given the fact that they are located in major tourist attraction and tourists normally spent a third of their budget on shopping.”