Indonesia malls face dual pressure from digital adoption and social demand

Operators face structural pressure to redesign physical spaces around digital behaviour shifts.

Indonesia’s shopping malls must integrate digital technology whilst maintaining their role as social spaces for all generations.

Alphonzus Widjaja, chairman of the Indonesia Shopping Mall Association, said at the Retail Asia Summit 2026 in Indonesia that malls should serve all generations, from Baby Boomers to Generation Alpha, and must account for different behaviours and lifestyles.

“Shopping malls as a public facility are influenced by many factors and issues. However, the two key issues that shopping malls must address are digital technology and social instinct,” Widjaja said, adding that digital adoption is unavoidable across the sector.

“It’s almost impossible for people to avoid digital technology in their daily life,” he said. “Shopping malls cannot avoid digital technology. If shopping malls avoid digital technology, employees will leave before their customers do.”

He outlined differences in digital engagement across generations, noting that younger cohorts show higher levels of integration.

“The influence of the digital technology is not the same from generation to generation. It starts with a low level of influence and, with certainty, becomes stronger as time goes on,” he said.

Widjaja also noted that social interaction remains constant across all generations, although it changes in form.

“By nature, humans are social creatures. No matter how large or small, humans certainly possess social instinct,” he said, adding that malls must serve social needs across age groups.

“Shopping malls should be able to provide and cater to a variety of preferences that are suitable for all generations,” he said. “Shopping malls should be a place for all generations.”

Widjaja said malls cannot treat digital systems and social interaction as separate priorities, emphasising that they must combine both functions.

“Shopping malls must become hubs of social connection in a digital technology environment,” he added.

Malls must also shift from reacting to change to shaping it. “Responding to change is only about surviving. Creating the change is about becoming a market leader,” Widjaja said.