The country’s premier shopping destination Ayala Malls recently honored its partner merchants for the latter’s efforts and contributions to the retail industry through the 12th Ayala Malls Merchant Forum, and capped off the celebrations with the Ayala Malls Merchant Rewards awards night.
Held at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati recently with the theme “Designing for Retail Tomorrow, Today,” Ayala Malls brought together respected speakers and experts in the fields of strategy planning, marketing, digital strategy and architecture to talk about the future of retail and to encourage the merchant partners to think out of the box and create ideas that would make a positive impact on their businesses while engaging consumers.
CBRE Global Investors’ head of strategy and research for Asia Pacific Shane Taylor presented important retail market and customer trends across Southeast Asian economies. These trends are something that the Philippine market could take advantage of. President and principal for Ecotektonical, Architect Rowena Ramos focused on the environment and how sustainability practices can improve the staff performance and encourage more buyer spending.
Renowned best-selling author and speaker Josiah Go meantime tackled “Marketing to the Consumers Today.” He offered great insights in the area of market-driving strategy, business model innovation, profit strategy and entrepreneurship.
Executive strategic planning director of JWalter Thompson Philippines Pamela Pacete Garcia discussed how today’s merchants can innovate and create powerful campaigns that would better resonate with their customers. Closing the forum was Dr. Tim Denison, the director of Retail Intelligence for Ipsos Retail Performance in the UK and co-founder of the UK Retail Think Tank, with talks about the future of retail in the digital age.
Ayala Malls recognized all their merchants who have done an exemplary job in raising new levels of retail excellence during the awards night, with trophies designed by Ayala Corp. chairman emeritus Jaime Zobel de Ayala.
This year’s Visual Merchandising Hall of Fame Award went to General for Ayala Center Cebu and Team Manila for Market! Market!, while the Overall Marketing Excellence award went to R.O.X. for its creative strategies to drive sales and awareness for the brand.
Recognized for Store Operations Excellence were Fitflop, Spruce, and ResToeRun (Centrio Mall); Nike Athletic Club, Mango, and Sneaker Club (Abreeza Mall); Nike Park, Watson’s, and Bo’s Coffee (Ayala Center Cebu); Krispy Kreme, 158 Designers Boulevard, and TGIFriday’s (Harbor Point); An Original Penguin, Lacoste Footwear, and Fitflop (Marquee Mall); Mama Lou’s, Casa Verde and Shrimp Bucket (UP Town Center); Genki Sushi, Abe, and La Lola (Bonifacio High Street/Serendra); Ineng’s Barbeque, J.Co Donuts & Coffee, and Birkenstock (Market! Market!); Starbucks, Max’s, and Nike Park (Fairview Terraces); Sole Academy, G Stuff, and Healthy Options (Alabang Town Center); Lacoste, Healthy Options, and Shoe Salon (TriNoma); Rimowa, Chili’s, and Ramen Nagi (Greenbelt); and Birkenstock, Filbar’s and Shoe Salon (Glorietta).
This year’s Most Promising Retailers were Mango Mania (Centrio Mall); Furn One (Abreeza Mall); The Social (Ayala Center Cebu); Sakura (Harbor Point); Chemworld Fragrance Factory (Marquee Mall); Silantro (UP Town Center); Single Origin (Bonifacio High Street/Serendra); N.Cat! (Market! Market!); Nike Young Athletes (Fairview Terraces); Milkbox (Alabang Town Center); Sole Academy (TriNoma); Jo Malone (Greenbelt); and Happy Skin (Glorietta).
The prestigious Store of the Year awards were given to merchants that produced outstanding work and upheld the highest standards of business management and operations. This year’s awardees were ResToeRun (Centrio Mall); J.Co Donuts & Coffee (Abreeza Mall); Bo’s Coffee (Ayala Center Cebu); Bench (Harbor Point); Marks & Spencer (Marquee Mall); Mama Lou’s (UP Town Center); Sole Academy (Bonifacio High Street/Serendra); Olympic Village (Market! Market!); Nike Park (Fairview Terraces); Healthy Options (Alabang Town Center); Lacoste (TriNoma); Rimowa (Greenbelt); and Sunnies Studio (Glorietta).
Abe copped the Special Award for Promoting Philippine Arts and Culture for reinforcing Filipino values and promoting awareness for Philippine ingenuity through food. The store also nabbed the Ayala Malls Grand Store of the Year award. Ayala Malls also acknowledged the exemplary performance of top retailers in Ayala Malls across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.