The city of Shanghai in East China is projected to have more than 400 shopping malls with an area of over 30,000 square meters each by the end of 2023, according to a report released by the Shanghai Council of Shopping Centers.

The report predicts development trends for the shopping mall sector in the post-pandemic era and provides suggestions for the future transformation and upgrading of the industry.

It says that Shanghai plans to open 45 new shopping malls with an area of over 30,000 sq m each in 2023, covering a total area of more than 3 million sq m. This will be the highest number of openings recorded in the past three years.

The report attributes this to projects that were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to be completed this year.

In contrast, only 20 new shopping malls with an area of over 30,000 sq m each opened in Shanghai in 2022 and these opened mostly in the fourth quarter.

The implementation of Shanghai's plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) has accelerated the commercial layout of five new towns: Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and Nanhui. In 2023, new shopping mall projects will promote the construction of these new urban commercial ecosystems.

The report also says that "commerce + culture", "commerce + art" and "commerce + sports and fitness" and other cross-border composite experience brands will continue to appear before consumers in forms such as first stores and first launches.

In addition, developing and applying metaverse technology to integrate real scenes with virtual scenes is predicted to provide important content for shopping malls to attract customers.