Acknowledgement of Country

Right Angle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land and pay our respects to the Elders past and present.

Asian Study Tour

  • Client

    GPT

  • Year

    2018

  • Location

    Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong & Bangkok

  • Scope

    Research, Itinerary Creation, Tour Leadership, Insights, Post-tour Presentation

  • Collaborators

    Photography by Liu Jingya, Austin Bush, Viktor Gorshkov and Samuel Davison.

What can today’s great Asian cities teach us about the future of Australian retail?

The retail market is in a state of rapid flux as it adjusts to new technologies, evolving audience needs and the flow of new products into market. By comparison, the property market moves incredibly slowly; architecture and construction take years.

The difference in tempo between retail and property presents a real challenge to the developer who needs to design retail spaces that anticipate the future and remain resonant with retail brands and shoppers for decades not months.

To help our client understand the retail audiences and trends that present the greatest commercial opportunities in Melbourne we planned, hosted, documented and translated an Asian Study Tour.


“From the luxury malls of Ginza to the community-focused retail of Bangkok, we illuminated the retail trends that are poised to emerge in the Australian market, and helped our client understand the audiences that are becoming increasingly important in Melbourne.” 


Starting with an in-depth analysis of their retail asset and current shopping audiences our team identified the types of retail experiences and destinations that were most relevant. We then built a bespoke itinerary that traversed four of the continent’s great retail destinations: Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Our personal experience and on-the-ground contacts in each city guided our preliminary research and itinerary creation, while local ‘fixers’ helped us avoid logistical hiccups along the way. 

From the luxury malls of Ginza to the community-focused retail of Bangkok, we illuminated the retail trends that are poised to emerge in the Australian market, and helped our client understand the audiences that are becoming increasingly important in Melbourne. Finally, we documented the tour’s key insights, helping the travel party communicate the findings of the study tour to their teams and the executive level of the company.