Quill City Mall recently hosted an expert forum at Quill City Convention Center whereby they got together five retail industry players to explore the future of retail impacted by the "phygital" era.

If you have not come across the word  "phygital" it basically means the combination of digital and real-life experiences, brought together to benefit the consumer.


Observing the changes in practices Quil City Mall is taking a new turn in 2020 with a brand new retail strategy: a “phygital” ecosystem that is focused on maximising shoppers’ experience and providing a platform for retailers to engage with consumers in meaningful ways.

In recent years, there has been an interesting development in retail with the e-commerce boom, the joy of being able to see, touch and feel the product before making a purchase remains. The platform of the purchase itself is secondary to consumers and the fun of shopping didn't change, the way we shop did. The ever-evolving consumers' expectations require retailers to constantly adapt to meet their needs for comfort convenience and entertainment.


According to Koong, it is time we welcome the “phygital” era.

A “phygital” mall is a combination of the physical and digital functionality, and excitement to create the best version of a balanced retail ecosystem.

“Here at Quill City Mall, we’re envisioning a retail model centered around exciting digital interactions, social intimacy and a borderless O2O e-commerce platform within a physical space – a “phygital” mall. It is about designing a shopping platform, a journey within a physical space, with consumer-centric tech infrastructure that facilitates the interactions between consumers and brands throughout the shopping experience,” Koong added.

A sneak peek into their “phygital” features include e-wallet function, borderless payment, smart logistics and digital content marketing such as live streaming by influencers.

Koong said that Quill City’s “phygital” mall has a vision and purpose to become a platform for local entrepreneurs to showcase their products and reach a wider audience.

“The decision to build a “phygital” mall] stems from our earnest preposition as an industry leader to provide tools and platforms to empower SME’s and retail entrepreneurs,” said Koong.





During the event, Quill City also announced their new tenant lineup that each has their unique definition of what a “phygital” concept store means to their brand and customers.

For instance, JD.com, China’s leading one-stop e-commerce platform – has teamed up with Presto, a local social marketing application to form an exhilarating partnership – JDX Presto Concept Store. The store is not only cashless but it is also staffless and borderless. That makes the largest online-to-offline experience store in Malaysia.

Furthermore, E-Sport Center is also settling in with a “phygital” gaming store while UniKL introduces industry exposure projects dedicated to business students.


The expert forum “Future Proof Your Business - New Retail Innovations and Interventions” was led by five retail guru including Anwar Jumabhoy (Industry Expert), Kent Lee (Founder of Smuzcity), Redza Shahid (Founder of Grubcycle) and Cheong Chia Chou (CEO of PUC Berhad), moderated by Jonathan Case were held after Koong’s action-packed keynote speech.

CEO of PUC Berhad Cheong Chia Chou presented a staggering statistics that showed a 250% higher purchase rate when retailers engage customers with at least three or more channels; it reaffirms the importance of consistent customer experience and marketing across multiple touchpoints in guaranteeing a higher revenue.

They further confirmed that the future of retail needs to promote intimate social relationships between brands, both international and local, with consumers by building a physical space that is customer experience-centric.

Quill City will soon be creating unforgettable shopping experienceffor their consumers by becoming a borderless retail, edutainment, and experiential learning center with more international and local tenants to come.