Hatten Land, which has thus far focused on property-related businesses, has completed what it called a “strategic review” of its business and will diversify its operations into the blockchain sector and the digital economy.
In a release on Dec 1, Hatten Land said it has substantial hospitality and commercial property businesses and assets in Melaka that are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with travel and movement restrictions affecting domestic and international tourism.
As such, the review was to prepare for the resumption of commercial activity with the relaxation of travel and movement restrictions as well as the progressive efforts to re-purpose its malls.
“These efforts aim to not only invigorate retail activities and enhance retail experiences in our malls by creating an omni-channel or “phygital” retail platform with e-commerce and our real estate assets, but also open up new opportunities such as digital assets and digital economy activities,” the company writes.
In addition, it aims to advance our sustainability efforts via new renewable energy initiatives, among others.
Hatten Land has outlined four strategic initiatives that it plans to take.
See also: Hatten Land enters solar panel JV with Nestcon; to harness solar power for blockchain activities
Firstly, the malls will be re-purposed to include ‘green’ cryptocurrency mining (“crypto mining”) activities, and they will set up specialised crypto exchanges to list and trade ‘green’ and clean tokens and other digital assets and to provide related custody services.
It also aims to create a ‘metaverse’ world, commencing with a digital twin of Melaka and building up an eco-system to create new digital assets including non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and tokens.
To power this effort, Hatten Land’s malls will also implement renewable initiatives commencing with solar panels to be installed on the roofs of the malls.
This will allow it to lower energy costs, enable ‘green’ crypto mining activities, and advance the company’s sustainability efforts
Finally, it aims to set up what it calls “phygital” malls to prepare for the post-pandemic economic activities resumption, and plans to improve the tenant mix and related activity of its malls in Melaka.
These physical-digital malls will combine omnichannel retail concepts with brick-and-mortar property assets.
These will be supported by “integrated supply chain solutions, customer service, training programs for retailers, live-streaming studios, among others.”
The Phygital mall, together with its e-commerce and payment platform, is expected to be launched in 2HFY2022 through a dedicated mobile ‘app’ that will be accessible 24/7 for e-commerce activities.
Hatten revealed it will be able to accommodate many more merchants compared to a traditional brick-and-mortar mall.
Customers can opt to visit the physical stores to participate in events and sales promotions, or physically inspect a product before making a purchase online, or to pick up the items instead of having them delivered.
With these four initiatives, “The directors and management [of Hatten Land] believe that these strategies will contribute to a broader recovery of Hatten Land starting in the financial year ending 30 June 2022 (“FY2022”) following losses in FY2020 and FY2021 which were attributed largely to the impact of the pandemic.”
Shares of Hatten Land closed at 5.3 cents on Dec 1, down 0.2 cent or 3.64% compared to its previous close.
