Resilience in Retail: How WCT Malls' Voucher Bonanza Sale helped to sustain tenants and shoppers

The WCT Malls Management receives the Marketing Initiative of the Year - Malaysia award for launching a groundbreaking initiative that not only sustained its tenants but also provided shoppers with substantial savings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for retailers worldwide, with many facing closures and low foot traffic. WCT Malls Management, a company that manages and operates shopping malls in Malaysia, namely Paradigm Mall Petaling Jaya, Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru, gateway@klia2 and SkyPark Terminal was no exception. It faced unprecedented challenges, including the closure of non-essential businesses, resulting in tenants requiring assistance to sustain themselves during the lockdown.  

To solve these issues head-on, the mall's management launched the Voucher Bonanza Sale (VBS) promotion, which offered shoppers a 20% discount on WCT Mall shopping e-vouchers if they became WCT Buddy members.

The Voucher Bonanza Sale promotion was designed for tenants to benefit from increased sales and cash flow in order to sustain their businesses. Not only that, it also provides shoppers with substantial savings whilst delivering a memorable shopping experience. Shoppers who signed up as WCT Buddy members and purchased WCT Malls shopping e-vouchers received a 20% discount. These vouchers could be purchased through various payment methods, including the WCT online store, DuitNow transfers, online bank transfers, Touch ’n GO, and e-wallets.

The purchased amount was credited to the member's Buddy app and could be used towards discounted purchases at participating tenant outlets. The promotion was fully funded by WCT Malls, to benefit both shoppers and tenants.

The success of the Voucher Bonanza Sale promotion is also evident in the many positive outcomes it achieved, including:

1. The total transactions from VBS1.0 to VBS9.0 amounted to more than RM38,300,000. These figures indicate that the promotion was successful in attracting shoppers and boosting sales for participating tenant outlets as the sales in 2022 and 2023 also show that it is doing better compared to pre-COVID time. 
2. User sign-up rates increased by 544%, from an average of 233 per month before the promotion to over 1,500 per month during the promotion.
3. The Voucher Bonanza Sale also helped in retaining the malls' occupancy rate at above 90%. 
4. With good sales and cash flow, tenants no longer require rental reduction assistance from us.
5. Merchant sign-up rates increased from 83 out of 722 to 535 out of 722, indicating a higher acceptance rate by tenants toward the promotion.
6. A total of 9 series of the Voucher Bonanza Sale (VBS1.0 to VBS9.0) promotion was launched in 2023, indicating a sustainable and long-term initiative that is well received by its shoppers.
7. Partnerships and collaborations were formed with e-wallet providers like GrabPay and leading payment cards like Visa to optimise the promotion's database and reach. This helped to reach more customers by providing convenience, and increasing user sign-up, and active rates for both WCT and partners.

The Voucher Bonanza Sale promotion proved to be a successful marketing strategy launched by WCT Malls to overcome the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic as it successfully increased user and merchant sign-up rates, formed partnerships and collaborations, and generated substantial revenue for WCT Malls and participating tenant outlets. Throughout the pandemic, the initiative also contributed to a high occupancy rate of 96.3%, assisting struggling tenants.

As a forward-thinking company, WCT Malls Management is continuously exploring innovative marketing and promotional strategies to attract shoppers and increase tenant sales. The mall management also invests in technology to enhance the overall shopping experience, such as adding in Buddy Kids with dependent management to offer exclusive Buddy Kids activities, events and workshops for members; shopping cart features to allow a seamless purchasing user journey on WCT Malls’ e-voucher or products and services offered from tenants, for making it more convenient and memorable ones for our WCT Buddy use.