Central Pattana Plc (CPN), the country's largest shopping project developer, will delay the opening of its first mall in Malaysia to 2017 from 2016, as it needs more time to study the market.
Apart from the Malaysian mall, the company also cancelled a plan to open a mall in China after a study showed returns may be below target, said Naparat Sriwanvit, executive vice-president for finance.
The Malaysian mall will be the first shopping centre CPN plans to open abroad over the next five years as part of its drive to tap strong growth in Southeast Asia.
"We want to take more time to study the market and select merchants and brands for the Malaysian mall, as it will be our first foreign shopping project," Ms Naparat said.
CPN plans to spend a combined 48 billion baht from 2014-16 to open more stores in Thailand and abroad, Ms Naparat said.
The company earlier said it would start construction on a CentralPlaza complex in Malaysia this year for a 2016 opening.
The mall will be part of the i-City cyber centre project in Shah Alam.
CPN executive Wallaya Chirathivat said the company selected Malaysia for its first regional mall because it believed the retail market in that country had plenty of room for growth.
The country's economy is also growing, with greater investment particularly in the retail industry.
"GDP and per capita income are also rising significantly," Ms Wallaya said.
"Malaysian consumers have a higher purchasing power than Thailand, with a per capita income that is almost twice as high."
She said Malaysia is on track to achieve developed-country status by 2020.
Malaysia's population was only 29 million last year, but Malaysians' per capita income stands at 332,800 baht compared with 176,000 baht in Thailand.
Moreover, Malaysia has only one international retail chain, Aeon.
However, Aeon has a different retail format and targets mainly middle- and low-income earners.
CPN is eyeing middle- and upper-class customers.
CPN said the retail market in Malaysia is about four times larger than Thailand's, though the modern trade segment is smaller.
For the shopping project in China, CPN decided to cancel its plan to rent space from an investor in the mainland to develop a shopping mall.
The decision came after it has realised that the Chinese retail industry is intensely competitive with many leading property firms developing retail projects there.
"The market is oversupplied and there are high risks if we develop a project on our own in China," Ms Naparat said.
However, CPN insisted that it would have at least one Central shopping complex opened in Asean in 2015.
The company is working on plans to develop a shopping mall in Vietnam.
It posted a net profit of 3.55 billion baht on total revenue of 11.6 billion during the first half of this year.
CPN shares closed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 46.25 baht, down 25 satang, in trade worth 302 million baht.