SM Prime Holdings, Inc. will be launching its own online shopping platform within the year, in a bid to address the booming e-commerce industry while maintaining that it has yet to become an actual threat to its business.
The country’s largest mall operator said it is currently setting up a website to be used by its tenants through what it calls a “click and collect” strategy.
“We’re gonna formalize the setup of the platform within the year. We will come up with a legal entity for that,” SM Prime Chief Finance Officer John Nai Peng C. Ong told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Pasay City last week.
Mr. Ong explained that the website will allow customers to choose what items they want to buy from any of their tenants. They will then have to collect the purchased items from SM Prime’s shopping malls.
Asked whether the company will offer deliveries soon, Mr. Ong said they have yet to work toward this strategy.
“We have yet to work toward delivery. Potential din yun because we have affiliate companies that can deliver. But our work is toward click mo and collect sa malls. So we’re trying to set up specific areas in the malls,” the SM Prime executive said. — Arra B. Francia

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