The Mall Group Co, the operator of The Mall and Paragon Department Stores and The Emporium and EmQuartier malls, is set to allocate 300-500 million baht for a marketing and promotional budget to stimulate shopping in the first quarter this year.
According to Voralak Tulaphorn, the company's chief marketing officer, 150 million baht is slated for its Chinese New Year campaign called "The Mall Group Happy New Year 2022: Joy Luck Love", scheduled from Jan 20-Feb 20.
The remaining funds are allocated for other seasonal campaigns such as Valentine's Day, a summer campaign and other events.
"Despite the daily reports on Omicron infections, spending at all our branches has grown by 30% year-on-year in the first two weeks this year," said Ms Voralak.
"This is a good sign and we believe the increasing momentum will continue throughout the first quarter of this year."
Propelled by improving sentiment, the company plans to continue launching seasonal marketing campaigns this year, adapting them to meet new customer lifestyles while raising consumer confidence about visiting stores.
"For our Chinese New Year campaign this year, we are approaching our customers through the metaverse for the first time, combining the Chinese customs of the real world with the virtual reality of the metaverse," she said.
The metaverse generally refers to a digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually. AR overlays visual elements, sound and other sensory input onto real-world settings to enhance the user experience.
Ms Voralak said the Chinese New Year campaign includes an imitation Chao Pho Suea Shrine (Tiger Shrine) at The Mall Ngamwongwan, a virtual Tiger Shrine in the metaverse, Thailand's first non-fungible token talisman from a Tiger Shrine, a blessing dragon performance through a 3D AR system, Tiger Ang Pao envelopes in 3D cards, cuisine from leading Chinese restaurants across Thailand as well and discounts and gifts.
She said retail business for the first three months this year is expected to improve based on many positive factors, including the government's "Shop Dee Mee Khuen" (shop and payback) scheme, which runs until Feb 15.
The scheme offers a tax deduction for individuals of up to 30,000 baht when purchasing goods or services.
This supports the shopping outlook becoming livelier, resulting in more cash flow dispersing into the economy, said Ms Voralak.
"We believe this Chinese New Year will see more activities than last year," she said.
"We would like the government to launch 2-3 new stimulus campaigns because each will help to increase shopping spending by 30% extra compared with the regular period."
With its various activities, the company expects sales of 3 billion baht from its Chinese New Year campaign.
The Mall projects sales in the first quarter this year to slightly increase to 12-14 billion baht, with total sales aimed at 50 billion baht this year, up from 45 billion last year, said Ms Voralak.