When it comes to figuring out what young shoppers want, SM Supermalls has decided that perhaps the best people to ask are-well, young shoppers themselves.
SM Supermalls president Steven Tan revealed that the mall giant has its own internal ‘Gen Z Council,’ a think tank composed solely of Gen Z employees whose job includes keeping management plugged into the fast-changing tastes of younger consumers.
‘You learn so much from the younger generation,’ Tan said, adding with a laugh that he ‘definitely’ cannot participate in the council.
Instead, the council members discuss trends among themselves before pitching their ideas to management. The older hands then bring experience and practicality into the equation.
‘You just have to be more practical when you apply. That is where we come in because of our experiences. Then you balance it out,’ Tan said.
SM Supermalls executive vice president for marketing Joaquin Agustin said the council plays a role in shaping the company’s strategies by providing insights straight from their generation.
Rather than leaving consumer research entirely to senior executives, SM deliberately taps its younger officers to find out what is clicking-and what isn’t-with today’s market.
‘They tell us and present to us what is the pulse of the market today,’ Agustin said.
Those insights, he added, help SM personalize what it does as a mall and as a broader business.
So while seasoned executives still call the shots at SM, some of the ideas keeping its malls relevant may increasingly come from the youngest voices in the room. -Emmanuel John B. Abris
Meralco keeps nuclear option
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) stays the course on its nuclear power quest, tapping a US-based engineering firm to explore the potential deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the Philippines.
With Meralco PowerGen Corp., the group inked a deal with Sargent and Lundy, in partnership with local engineering firm AMH Philippines Inc., to launch a comprehensive feasibility study on SMRs.
This forms part of the $2.8-million technical assistance program funded by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), which Meralco secured in February.
The study, which is seen completed by the last stretch of 2027, will produce ‘a rigorous, data-driven basis for determining whether, when, and how SMRs’ can beef up the country’s electricity mix. SMRs have a capacity ranging from 300 megawatts (MW) to 450 MW each.
Meralco said that it has created an SMR working group to work closely with the engineering firms.
‘Partnering with Sargent and Lundy marks a pivotal step in turning our nuclear roadmap into actionable, data-driven decisions under our NEST (nuclear energy strategic transition) program,’ MGEN president and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said in a statement.
‘As we advance this USTDA-funded study, MGEN remains committed to exploring safe, reliable, and low-carbon technologies such as SMRs as we work to secure the Philippines’ long-term energy future and support the country’s economic growth,’ he added.
Talks on nuclear energy advanced under the leadership of President Marcos, seemingly a continuation of what his father, late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., envisioned with the establishment of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. The mothballed facility, however, was hounded by safety fears