Chiang Mai residents 'get sophisticated'

The study was commissioned by Dutch resort-mall developer ECC International Real Estate in a bid to understand the behaviour of target consumers in Chiang Mai, as well as their shopping opinions and preferences.

ECC will open its first Thai resort mall, the Promenada, in the northern capital by the end of this year. 

Face-to-face interviews were conducted in August to September last year with 580 people, 86 per cent of whom were Thais. The foreigners interviewed were taken from those who had been living in Chiang Mai for more than one year. 

Tjeert Kwant, president and CEO of ECC Real Estate, said shoppers in Chiang Mai now required more lifestyle experiences with greater demand for such offerings provided by local shopping malls.

“The key factor for them in visiting a shopping mall is its location. They prefer a location that is easy for them to reach. Accessibility and large space are among the key consideration factors for local shoppers in Chiang Mai in making a final decision to go to a particular mall,” he said.

 

Underserved 

Chiang Mai residents are also proud of their own people, city and retailers. They prefer mall operators to have a good mix between local and international retailers in their complexes.

The city is experiencing rising consumer demand, greater levels of disposable income, accelerated home-building and a burgeoning workforce, Kwant said. This rate of growth means the city is currently significantly underserved by the retail development sector. 

The retail sales index in Chiang Mai expanded by 250 per cent between 2002 and 2010. With a rapidly expanding economy comes a need for a retail sector, which is reactive to these swells in spending power. Surprisingly, the total space offered by the shopping-mall segment has not increased significantly in the last decade, he said.

According to the TNS survey, the top three out-of-home leisure activities for Chiang Mai residents are eating out and grocery shopping, and followed closely by fashion shopping. Other leading leisure activities include hanging out at shopping malls, travel to other provinces and going to the cinema.

The study revealed that 88 per cent of respondents opt to eat out at restaurants, 87 per cent like grocery shopping, 73 per cent are into fashion shopping, 31 per cent hang out at shopping malls, 31 per cent travel to other provinces and 30 per cent go to the cinema.

Others want to spend their leisure time at beauty salons/spas (24 per cent), exercise/fitness centres (22 per cent), going to the park (20 per cent), playing sports (19 per cent), at karaoke with friends and family (18 per cent), going to pubs and bars (14 per cent), luxury shopping (13 per cent) and going to concerts (7 per cent).

According to the survey, the key factors considered by shoppers in Chiang Mai when choosing a mall are convenient location/easy to reach (54 per cent) and large space (37 per cent), followed by variety of activities (32 per cent), utility services (28 per cent), variety of restaurants (24 per cent) and a lot of entertainment (20 per cent).