After the success of the much talked about #NowIsAGoodTime webinar series launched recently, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and INQUIRER.net once again collaborate to present the webinar’s second episode billed as “#NowIsAGoodTime To Shop for Yourself and Your Loved Ones”. Hosted by TV presenter, podcast host, and content creator, Joyce Pring, this sequel of the first #NowIsAGoodTime series is slated on October 23, 2020 at 3:00PM, live via Facebook of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and its major properties, simultaneously with Inquirer.net Facebook’s livestream.
Episode 2 will feature retail and fashion sector experts, and Businesses and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) who will try to help retail business proprietors in steering their enterprises through these challenging times. It will also aim to entice mall goers to go back and relive their unforgettable mall finds and experiences, while ensuring them of their health and safety when stepping foot in the malls again, for the first time.
It is said that only the Filipinos have this mall culture unique to the rest of the world. Pre-Covid, malls around the world have been closing at a breakneck pace while in the Philippines, they continuously flourish. Malls have become the heart of the country’s business and leisure, taking the highlight away from parks and plazas from of yore, as it evolved into a one-stop-shop for all daily activities. People flocked to the malls to shop primarily, but eventually, business meetings, family bonding and celebrations have been done there. Soon banks, drug stores and medical clinics, salons, gyms, cinema, chapels, and even government agencies have satellite offices open inside malls. Usually on occasions, shoppers get treated to free concerts and events at the malls, and with the free internet access, all these gives everyone more reasons to go.
With the pandemic crisis, the ECQ lockdown, and with most retail shops being closed for a long period of time, the mall culture was suddenly disrupted and threatened drastically. Given with no alternative, Filipinos learned to shop for clothes, food, and groceries online. During the announcement of a less strict GCQ, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has allowed the gradual reopening of retails shops in malls, easing the shopping restrictions to help reboot the economy.
While there are people who are anxious about visiting the malls again, there are quite a number of people who would rather recreate their best mall experiences like going through each dress, bag, and accessory, trying on the pair of shoes they’ve been eyeing on for months, and enjoying to see other items in the vicinity. Aside from online shopping having extra charges and a considerable number of days before delivery, most people still prefer going to the malls because they can touch, feel, and try on stuff which they can take home with them the exact same day. #NowIsAGoodTime To Shop for Yourself and Your Loved Ones will bring back the glory days of de-stressing through retail shopping, while buying special treats for yourself, your family, and loved ones, especially now that the Holiday Season is near—a good step in helping the Philippine economy get back on its feet again.
#NowIsAGoodTime To Shop for Yourself and Your Loved Ones is part of a series of webinars which will attempt to address all concerns about shopping for presents for the forthcoming Holidays. The series will take audiences deeper into how major retail brands are navigating recent challenges, getting the message across that now is a good time to visit the malls again, shop, and bring back the happy times while keeping everything 100% safe for everybody.
Guest speakers of #NowIsAGoodTime To Shop for Yourself and Your Loved Ones webinar include Mitch Suarez, Stores Specialists Inc.’s Marketing and Communications Head; Jude Ong, Suyen Corporation’s General Manager; and Camille Karaan, Head of Primer’s retail business in the Philippines. Being specialists and professionals of the country’s leading retail brands, the guest speakers’ will exhaustively discuss “The Retail Strategy: Innovating in anticipation for the Holiday shopping season”. The pandemic has rewritten the rules of the retail industry, so aside from the health and safety guidelines to be applied in these brick-and-mortar stores, guest speakers will also share insights on how their brands have adapted and pivoted their business to thrive during this global crisis. They will also discuss what other simple yet seamless alternatives for customers especially in the area of selecting, fitting, returning/exchanging to still give them consistent, reliable, and sub-par shopping experience.
Leading the panel is Megaworld Lifestyle Malls’ First Vice President and Head Graham Coates who will talk about strategic options which the company applied in all their malls on the onset of the extremely disruptive pandemic. In a recent interview, Coates mentioned how e-commerce has been a big factor of Megaworld’s new-normal initiatives. Megaworld Lifestyle Malls which include Uptown Bonifacio, Newport Mall, Venice Grand Canal Mall, among many others has installed sanitation chambers, thermal scanners at all entrances. They have consistently monitored shoppers employing physical distancing ambassadors. Going above and beyond the prescribed protocols, Megaworld continuously looks for ways to restructure and raise the standards of cleanliness in all their malls and have partnered with different industries to accomplish the goal.
The #NowIsAGoodTime webinar series underscores and acknowledges the threat of the virus but encourages everyone to continue adapting their lifestyle and businesses while they enjoy living their new-normal life.
#NowIsAGoodTime To Shop for Yourself and Your Loved Ones webinar (a partnership between Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and INQUIRER.net) encourages every shopper to be vigilant but optimistic, given the major changes in the shopping landscape and the Filipino mall culture during and after this global pandemic. The webinar will also assure customers how mall owners and retail brands are ceaselessly reevaluating alternative strategies while accentuating “safety first” measures. So that, with this new mall culture, the retail industry will continue to thrive, and the Philippine economy will unquestionably be revived.
ADVT