2021.05.20

The sixteenth annual China Commercial Real Estate Festival sponsored by winshang.com was held on May 20 at the Guangzhou Chimelong Hotel. As an eagerly awaited industry event, the festival’s latest edition was held under the theme, “Follow Innovation Rather than Convention: This Is Chinese Business”. Times Commercial was invited to attend for discussion of future innovation as part of a panel featuring respected leaders, elite scholars and brand experts in the commercial real-estate industry. During the conference, Times Commercial General Manager Wang Yuanyuan shared her views on the theme of “Exploring the Innovation Path of Shopping Centers Amid the New Consumption Pattern”.

The conference, by virtue of its contribution to the breakthrough and innovation of the shopping center model, honored Times Commercial with the “Golden Coordinate” award as the outstanding operator in commercial real estate for 2020-21. Thanks to its precise positioning in regard to social business, product design that integrates international vision and modern artistry along with unique innovation in business planning and brand combination, Times CR8 was awarded the “Golden Coordinate” for 2020-21 on the basis of its latest, most anticipated commercial real-estate project.

Explore innovation in shopping centers under the new consumption pattern

Mainland China has seen great development in its shopping centers during the past 20 years. In fact, almost 1,000 new shopping centers were to be opened in 2021, comprising almost 100 million square meters of floor area. Amid the saturation of the numbers of shopping centers in core cities, shopping centers have entered a stage where it becomes necessary to upgrade from zero or mere sufficiency.

Considering the development stimulus of shopping centers over the ensuing 20 years, General Manager Wang Yuanyuan stated that, with respect to the demand side, the constant iteration of consumer demand would encourage shopping centers toward thematic and refined development, as seen in the development experienced in Japan, Singapore and other developed Asian economies. Only when shopping centers drew attention to the segmented areas did it become possible to convey more sophisticated professional services. With respect to the supply side, given the rise of live-streaming e-commerce in recent years, the substitution effect of online on offline consumption became evident, and the logic of traditional business planning was challenged. As a result, the logic of commercial space use had to be restructured. In the future, offline scenarios will be complementary to online consumption.

Consequent upon such momentous change, Times Commercial has become a game player and made its own exploration in three scenarios: community life, offline social interaction and thematic experience. By emphasizing distinct segments of the consumer market, it has created three major shopping-center products: Times Fun-in, a living room at your doorstep; Times CR8, a stylish social setting for urban elites; and Times C-Town, a one-stop venue for auto culture.

· A living room at your doorstep - Times Fun-in

· A stylish social setting for urban elites - Times CR8

· A place for one-stop auto culture - Times C-Town

Advocating the concept of “meeting more than once,” Times CR8 took offline social demand as a market opportunity and initiated a new exploration. General Manager Wang Yuanyuan mentioned that, in consideration of the consumer’s experience, a good commercial product for social purposes must have three key features: complete social functionality, sufficient aesthetic value and rich sharing content.

As a venue at which to meet and relax with friends, Times CR8 is focused on consumers' social paths from morning to evening. Thus, it reconstructs the business layout based on creativity, art and literary creation as well as fun, stylish ideas. A colorful social setting, including gorgeous all-weather dining, boutique retail and entertainment attractions, awaits the urban elite.

The product designs of Times CR8 will depart from conventional thinking in order to offer a unique sensory experience. To create an original immersive social park with an international vision and a perfect combination of diverse art, spatial aesthetics and commercial architecture, globally renowned designers have been invited to work on the project. Among them are Jiang Ping, the founder of EID Architecture and leader in many influential architectural projects around the world, and Li Baozhang, master landscape creator and chairman of L&A Design.

Times CR8, in terms of content experience, will become a topic conversation in the city. To that end, another regional cultural landmark, Times Cloud Theater, has been established after Times Museum to explore the possibility of crossover social scenarios through humanistic plays and other activities. Additionally, Times CR8 has invited the domestically leading MOTSE team to offer a cutting-edge new-media art experience and flexible crossover content based on the curatorial space.

Times Commercial, in order to practice the corporate mission of “creating a more fascinating urban life”, endeavors to create new products and services that meet customer needs while developing the core competitiveness so as to create value for customers and lead the market. Accordingly, Times China will rely upon its extraordinary creativity and continual professionalism as it continues to offer excellence and lead the trend in China's commercial real-estate industry.