Aeon Mall plans ASEAN expansion

Japan’s Aeon Mall plans more shopping centres in Indonesia and Vietnam, and is also looking at possibilities in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Under its 2020 strategy, it is planning five more outlets for Jakarta, after entering the 250-million-strong market with its first Aeon Mall in Indonesia last year, and will also add three more branches in Ho Chi Minh City and another in Hanoi.

Aeon Mall’s ASEAN division director and executive GM Mitsugu Tamai says the company is also studying the feasibility of business development in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

He says the aim is to have its first Aeon Mall in Thailand by 2020, probably on the outskirts of Bangkok. The project would be undertaken either through its own investment or via a joint venture.

As well as Aeon Mall BSD City in Indonesia, the group has 24 locations in Malaysia and another mall in Phnom Penh, with another on the books for the Cambodian capital. For this, the Japanese retailer will continue its collaboration with Bangkok-based Major Cineplex Group with a Major Cineplex at the mall.

Major Cineplex chairman Vicha Poolvaraluk says his company is investing about Bt200 million (US$6.5 million) on a 10-screen theatre, including an IMAX laser theatre, as well as 20 bowling lanes.

Other Thai companies, including Black Canyon Coffee, Fuji Restaurant, Jaspal and S&P, are also interested in opening branches at the mall, which will cover 100,000 sqm in Pong Peay district, and is scheduled to open in the first half of 2018.

Aeon Mall is also looking at China as a key destination for overseas expansion. It already has 11 malls there, and by 2020 hopes to have more than 10 per cent of its revenue contributed by overseas business, up from 2 to 3 per cent now.

“With aggressive outlet expansion, the company aims to see a 120 per cent year-on-year increase in terms of revenue from overseas markets,” says Tamai.