CP Lotus Corporation plans to open a second Super Brand Mall in Shanghai, with a budget of at least 1 billion yuan (Bt4.6 billion), that would be almost twice as large as the first mall and become the biggest shopping complex in all of China.
The Super Brand Mall, in the Pudong special economic zone, with 250,000 square metres of space is the biggest shopping centre in the metropolis.
The new property would double floor space to 450,000 square metres.
CP Lotus is CP Group's retail investment arm for shopping centres, supercentres and hypermarkets in China. It manages the existing Super Brand Mall.
Narong Chearavanont, executive vice chairman, said yesterday that CT Land, the group's property developer in China, would manage the project's construction. It would spend 800 million yuan on the project.
The company is negotiating with the landowner in Shanghai to purchase the site and expects the deal to be finalised by the end of this year. This will facilitate construction, which will start at the beginning of next year and is expected to be completed in three to five years.
The Super Brand Mall prototype project will comprise a Lotus hypermarket, hotel and office buildings.
CP Lotus will also allocate 15 million yuan to add 10 Lotus hypermarkets next year to its chain of 73 branches.
CP Lotus expects revenue from Lotus hypermarkets to grow by 10-15 per cent next year from US$1.5 billion (Bt47 billion) last year.
CP Group is creating a platform for a communications network by using its artists to strengthen its products and services.
"China is the potential market of CP, using artists under True Fantasia Co, to join with CP's partners in China, which will help build brand awareness of CP as well as its 5,000 suppliers in China," he said.
The company has started the platform by coordinating with Hunan TV, the biggest satellite TV station in China, and Doremi Music in Korea to create a girl band. One of the singers comes from True Fantasia.
Creating brand awareness is essential for CP Group, he said, adding that CP in China would use the "CP" brand to replace "Chia Tai" in the near future. Chia Tai is a strong brand in China, so CP expects to take time to replace the brand. But the company wants to use CP as its corporate brand in the global market.