WHY A LITTLE LAS VEGAS COULD CONQUER RETAIL IN CONTINENTAL AFRICA

If you have followed my blog you will know  by now that one of my focuses has been on the lack of international standard shopping malls on the continent resulting in the lack of potential growth for international retail brands being able to invest in the continent which has a lot of knock on effects for other gripes i have. Returning from a recent trip to Las Vegas, it was amazing/fascinating/incredible to see that hotels along the "strip" have international standard shopping malls within their resorts! And they are fabulously designed! (see picture above).

 So why is it that the continent of Africa is getting it so wrong?

Stumbling upon the Sagachireserach.com website (they focus on Market intelligence across the African continent) via the website HowwemadeitinAfrica.com (as the website title suggests), Sagaci researchers have put together a categorisation and ranking of malls in Africa according to their overall attractiveness to leading "international tenants". At the top, "AAA" ranking relate to malls among the worlds best properties. At the bottom, a 'D'  ranking means it is among the least attractive properties.

Upon reading the rankings i could do nothing other than sigh, roll my eyes and shake my head. I should not really be shocked... but i am, because a continent as rich as Africa should really be able to rival a city such as Las Vegas.

Ok, so here are the rankings;

AAA:4 malls
AA:8 malls
A:13 malls
B:16 malls
C:44 malls
D:126 malls

Now you see why i was shaking my head...

So what does this mean? It means that D's figures need to become AAA figures asap!
Developers who have mentioned or who are planning to build malls need to take the breaks off, stop discussing and start doing! Those with the type of wealth i am striving to accumulate (*cough,cough*) should form consortium's to build or invest in the development of shopping malls or better still, while building hotels build them with shopping complexes like Las Vegas!

Not to sound completely negative... there is also a ranking, provided by Sagaci, of the top 5 shopping centres in Sub-Saharan Africa, albeit that South Africa is not included in the ranking because undoubtedly they are the market leaders on the continent in international standard built malls. Nigeria rank twice among the 5(!) along with Ivory Coast, Kenya and Senegal;

Name of mall	Country	City	Gross leasable area (sqm)	Ranking
Sea Plaza	Senegal	Dakar	14,000	AA
Cap Sud	Ivory Coast	Abidjan	6,500	A
Ikeja City Mall	Nigeria	Lagos	22,650	A
Polo Park Mall	Nigeria	Enugu	20,000	A
The Junction	Kenya	Nairobi	26,000	A

Sagaci's research outlines that there are plans for mall expansion pan-continent, with the aim to try and lure new brands to co-exist with the pioneers who have already made the brave move to invest in the continent (KFC, Mango, Etam,Shoprite),

“In the coming years, boosted by the emergence of a middle class and by the expansion of international brands, the total shopping centre surface should double… with 129 new shopping centres in project across the continent (including 17 in Egypt, 15 in Ghana, 14 in Zambia, 12 in Angola, 12 in Nigeria, 12 in Morocco). Beyond these projects, some countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Tanzania and Ethiopia remain very attractive for developers with an unmet demand of five to 20 shopping centres in each country between now and 2017,” Sagaci noted.

Hmmm...let's see what happens shall we...