Retail space in Yangon is getting sparse as more stores, both local and foreign, establish themselves in the city to cater to the growing middle class’ retail shopping needs.
Shopping malls across the city have and continue to upgrade in anticipation of new projects as consumer spending in Myanmar continues to increase and caters to a population that is willing to fly to another country to make large luxury purchases.
Franchisers in Myanmar are starting to gain confidence in the salability of once unattainable foreign brands such as Nike, Adidas and Timberland, Colliers said in their H1 Yangon Retail Report.
Myanmar Plaza, Yangon’s newest shopping centre, is experiencing rapid expansion of casual clothing and footwear brands and is waiting on the opening of the country’s first Armani Exchange store.
With the expansion of shopping malls in the country as popular destinations for shopping, the food and beverage sector has also seen an uptick in customers and success with the expansion of eateries such as Swensen’s and KFC at malls and in the new airport terminal at Yangon International Airport where Burger King made its Myanmar debut.
Many of these expansions in Myanmar are driven by easing of financial regulations, but the choice of malls over online shopping stems from a lack of confidence in parcel delivery services and scepticism of card-based payment systems, but that sentiment has begun to change over the past few years.
The American real estate services agency expects to see cashless transactions to become more frequent in Myanmar in the future as more people gain confidence in the system.
1Myanmar Payment Union introduced the country’s first debit card system, which now accounts for 1.8 million users. The number of card users is expected to increase as local banks begin introducing their own debit cards.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
