Funan Set to Open Singapore’s First O&O Shopping Mall in mid-2019
Funan is racing ahead to open Singapore’s first online-and- offline (O&O) shopping mall integrating online, offline, data and logistics aimed at empowering retailers’ omnichannel strategy and transforming the customer experience. The retail as well as its office components are now slated to open in 2Q 2019, instead of the earlier announced 3Q 2019. The opening of lyf Funan Singapore, a coliving serviced residence component within Funan, managed by The Ascott Limited, has also been brought forward from 2020 to 4Q 2019.
Owned by CapitaLand Mall Trust and managed by CapitaLand Retail, Funan recently celebrated its structural completion ahead of schedule. The topping out ceremony held at Funan Showsuite was officiated by Guest of Honour Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Minister for Finance. From groundbreaking to structural completion, Funan took about 19 months. To date, 72 percent of the overall construction has already been completed.
At the topping out event in September 2018, Minister Heng Swee Keat was given a preview of a range of digital innovations coming up at Funan. These include a smart interactive directory that uses facial recognition to provide shoppers with customised recommendations, video analytics that studies shopper traffic and crowd density and an all-in-one app for Ascott’s lyf coliving serviced residence – the first app by a serviced residence company that will allow social networking and room booking; and will also serve as a mobile key.
CapitaLand also showcased its groupwide innovations as part of its digitalisation strategy, including a merchant dashboard that enables retailers to tap consumer insights generated by CapitaLand’s CapitaStar loyalty programme and eCapitaVoucher, the digital version of CapitaVoucher – Singapore’s most popular shopping mall voucher – launching this November.
Funan’s innovation journey has scored several “firsts” in Singapore. These include the first to deploy automated guided vehicles to provide shoppers with a hands-free shopping experience and the first to utilise a robotic arm for its twenty-four-hour drive-through click-and-collect service. As part of Funan’s tech-enabled user experience, building users can also expect conveniences such as app-based booking of facilities within the development, video-based smart carparking facilities and facial recognition turnstiles at its office towers.