Innovation imperative: Adapting to the modern consumer

The future of business isn’t just about selling a product—it’s about selling an experience. This is the core belief of Steven Tan, president of SM Supermalls, and it’s a philosophy that has guided the company’s evolution.

- By CHINO S. LEYCO

During a recent media meeting, Steven argued that the most successful companies, even in the digital age, are those that listen to younger consumers and provide a fresh, exciting, and highly curated in-person environment.

For him, human connection is the key differentiator that will determine which businesses thrive and which become obsolete.

"The ones that will stay relevant are the ones that innovate,” Tan declared. “The ones that do not innovate will become obsolete. That‘s what I really believe in.”

This conviction is Steven’s direct response to a retail landscape reshaped by the pandemic and the subsequent acceleration of online shopping. While other businesses may have seen the rise of e-commerce as a death knell for brick-and-mortar stores, Tan saw an opportunity.

He argued that the decline of formerly successful retailers wasn’t caused by e-commerce, but by their complacency. They simply failed to adapt to younger market that wants more than just a place to buy goods—a trend he sees in fashion and electronics, as well as in hospitality and dining.

"You always have to innovate. You always have to bring in new, freshness, and something that is exciting to your consumer or to your audience,” he insisted.

Tan argued that the most potent weapon in the arsenal of physical retail is the “experiential” factor—a concept that goes far beyond entertainment and applies to everything within a mall’s walls.