The Silicon Review ^Asia

The coronavirus outbreak has made Filipinos fearful of going about their daily business, and they're seeking to avoid high-traffic spots. It has turned out to be the greatest disaster for retail landlords already weathering slump in demand and a recession. Property developers in the Philippines are all set to use e-commerce storage platform as a novel alternative for shopping malls and other public sectors, to ensure people can order goods from home without having any issues.

"We see an opportunity in storage and warehousing given higher logistics demand as shoppers go online. Mall owners should also consider leasing vacant space to co-working companies as businesses seek smaller offices in various locations," Joey Bondoc, a research manager at Colliers International Group Inc. stated.

Also, many big companies like SM Prime Holdings Inc., the nation's biggest landlord, are leasing out some of its parking lots for longer-term car storage to convert areas in their shopping centers to e-commerce back-end facilities and medical clinics. The Philippines is the home for some of Asia's biggest mall capital, Manila, and surrounds boast total retail space of 7.3 million square meters. Therefore it is also difficult for the mall authority to sanitize such huge malls. Therefore the authorities have decided to use an e-commerce platform to deliver the goods which customers order with at most care.