Starting tomorrow, Sunway Malls will be activating Pokémon Go lure modules at certain hours and at certain Poké stops for Pokémon Go fans. The participating malls from the Klang Valley are Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Putra Mall and Sunway Giza Mall. Sunway Carnival Mall in Penang will participate in the campaign as well.
The campaign will last for 2 weeks, and might extend if the response is good.
“Since Pokémon Go was released on Saturday, some of our malls have seen some form of increase in footfall. Sunway Pyramid for example, have had an increase of 5% of shoppers as compared to the weekend before, Sunway Putra Mall has seen an increase of 12% whilst Sunway Giza Mall has seen an increase as well,” says Kevin Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Sunway Malls.
All Sunway Malls will activate their lure modules campaign, with Sunway Pyramid taking the lead today itself. The lure hours and location will be shared with the public in the mall itself and in their social media sites.
Sunway Pyramid will also run a Best Costume contest this coming Saturday, 8pm where the best dressed Pokémon Go costume can win surprise gifts from the mall. Retailers of the malls are spotted sporting their own rewards for Pokémon Go players.
Ever since the introduction of GST (Goods & Service Tax) April last year, Malaysians were subsequently hit by the removal of petrol subsidy, sugar, inflation and drop in currency value. The retail and mall industry has been hit with lower consumer confidence, lower consumer spend and certainly lower footfall for certain malls. Hence, various malls in Malaysia are stepping up their game in attracting shoppers’ footfall.
It is widely known that malls in general have high traffic during the festive period and school holidays, but the introduction of Pokémon Go has certainly spiked up the footfall for the non-peak season.
While it’s still too early to determine if sales have increased for Sunway Malls following the higher footfall, the malls under the brand are amongst the first in Malaysia to jump into the trend.
Sunway Pyramid’s Facebook fanpage was the first Malaysian mall facebook page to feature the various Pokémon shoppers and gamers can find in the mall and attracted high organic reach without advertisement spend. Sunway Carnival Mall followed suit with similar posts while Sunway Putra Mall and Sunway Giza featured guides in their fanpage.
“As Pokémon Go is taking the world by storm, we hope Pokémon Go gamers take necessary safety precaution and be constantly aware of their surroundings. We wish no untoward accidents befall on them,” Kevin cautions.
“We can’t control where the Pokémon would appear and if they would appear near railings, escalators, steps or at open air car park such as the roof top, we hope they would remain aware of their surroundings,” he said.