Pantip Plaza, the mother of all IT shops in Thailand, has embarked on a major bid to transform itself into a premium technology-driven lifestyle mall.
The popular electronics mall in Bangkok's Pratunam area officially opened its doors Monday after a two-year, 300-million-baht renovation.
Asset World Estate, the operator of Pantip Plaza, aims for Pantip Pratunam to be a place for customers seeking IT products and premium new technology IT gadgets including Internet of Things devices, smarthome equipment and virtual reality devices.
The firm plans to introduce its virtual Pantip Plaza Mall by 2017 to help tenants boost sales, said Sansern Na Patthalung, managing director of Asset World Estate.
- See also: TCC plans more real estate investment
It also plans to expand Pantip Tech-Life concept malls in at least six second-tier cities within the next two years, he said.
Mr Sansern said the company has slated an additional 150 million baht to further renovate its three existing IT malls, two in Bangkok located in Ngam Wong Wan and Bang Kapi districts and one in Chiang Mai.
"We will build a 212-room hotel, Pantip Hotel, at our mall in Bang Kapi to attract tourists," he said.
Mr Sansern said the company expects the sales revenue of its four Pantip Plazas to grow 10% to 900 million baht this year. Of the total, 660 million will come from Pantip Pratunam.
Veerarit Somboonsub, general manager of Asset World Estate, said Pantip Pratunam's sales revenue dropped by 20% during the renovation as its IT retail shops closed down their businesses by 80% -- mainly due to weak demand from the stagnant computer market.
The number of daily visitors to Pantip Pratunam saw a sharp fall from an average of 35,000 per day to 20,000.
"We expect visitor traffic to return to normal after the relaunch of Pantip Pratunam," he said.
Unsaid by management during Monday's celebrations, but on the minds of most old customers is the role of the new Pantip Plaza Pratunam as a source of pirated software and entertainment DVDs as in the past, above. (Bangkok Post file photo)
Mr Veerarit said the 67,000-square-metre mall has three new display spaces: an e-sport gaming zone; a co-working space designed for IT hardware makers such as Internet of Things developers; and an experience-enhanced solution zone for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Up to 70% of Pantip Pratunam's display spaces are occupied, he said.
Mr Veerarit said a large number of IT retailers closed in the past two years, due largely to the continued weakness of the computer market and changes in consumer behaviour.
"Build-it-yourself computers and high-end gaming PCs will be the next wave in the computer market," he said, adding that IT dealers need to catch up with these trends in order to reduce inventory costs.