To be a winner, one needs to shed the fear of failure. Only then can one openly explore opportunities, try hands at new things and become a fearless leader charting new paths for others to follow.
Sulian Tan-Wijaya, Executive Director, Retail & Lifestyle (Savills Singapore), has always been one to take challenges head-on, learn new skills, and then channel the newfound, innovative energy into her work. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Law (Honours) degree and was called to the Bar. But she chose Banking as a career, starting out in Private Banking and then spending nearly 10 years in Indonesia as a Corporate Banker before stepping into commercial real estate. Being active in competitive sports during school and college days also made her relish challenges and competition. In between her professional commitments, she also took up competitive swimming, modeling, and deejaying!
Working her Way to the Top
Sulian’s first stint in real estate was with Pacific Star as SVP Asset management for their portfolio of buildings which included Wisma Atria Mall, Capital Square office/retail building, and their stake in Ngee Ann City (mall and office tower). Thereafter she worked at the Singapore Tourism Board overseeing their Tourism Shopping division before re-joining the private sector as General Manager of The Fullerton Heritage, a landmark development overlooking Marina Bay comprising Fullerton Hotel, Fullerton Bay Hotel, One Fullerton, and Customs House.
Currently, Sulian serves as the Executive Director (Retail & Lifestyle) at Savills Singapore. Her current role is somewhat an evolution of her past stints in commercial real estate and retail. She had never envisaged going into real estate advisory and brokerage, but she has been in this job for over 14 years and still enjoys it.
Sulian joined Savills in 2008 to set up the retail + Lifestyle department. She started with just a laptop and a desk, with zero experience in the agency/brokerage business. The Company gave her a blank canvas to grow the business, so she went about pitching for projects and business based on her experience, bringing a fresh perspective to upcoming retail developments and leveraging her network of retailers to build a client base from zero.
“This wasn’t the first time I set up a new business, so I was cool with it. Long before e-commerce, I had already noticed that the retail landscape was already extremely dynamic and fast-changing, with trends coming and going in a matter of months. Trendspotting is something I live, breathe and enjoy, and is something my clients value a lot in our advisory work. In terms of hiring, rather than experienced candidates, I look for talents who are quick, open to new ideas, and have a flair for identifying and engaging new emerging retailers,” says Sulian.
Taking Savills to Greater Heights
Savills is a global real estate services provider listed on the London Stock Exchange. They have an international network of more than 600 offices and associates throughout the Americas, the UK, continental Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, offering a broad range of specialist advisory, management, and transactional services to clients all over the world.
In Singapore, Savills is regarded as an innovative thinking organization supported by excellent negotiating skills. Savills chooses to focus on a defined set of clients, offering a premium service to organizations and individuals with whom they share a common goal. The organization is synonymous with a high-quality service offering and a premium brand, taking a long-term view of real estate and investing in strategic relationships.
Savills hires 165 retail experts across the Asia Pacific, and they are widely regarded as the market leader in retail estate, especially in Tenant Representation, having worked with some of the finest names in the business including Apple, Lululemon, New Balance, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Dyson and Samsung.
Under Sulian’s leadership, Savills had been awarded marketing mandates for: Raffles Hotel Arcade, Guoco Midtown, Dairy Farm Mall, 270 Orchard Road, 8 Club Street (900-room hotel/retail), Mondrian Luxury Hotel, GR.ID, 313@Somerset, JEM, Orchardgateway, Knightsbridge, The Grandstand, Rendezvous Gallery, Maxwell Chambers, Capitol Piazza, CHIJMES, Shaw Centre Revamp, 1A Keong Saik Road, National Gallery Singapore, Crown at Robinson, Centrepoint, The Pines, GSH Plaza, Le Quest, Kinnex Mall, and more.
Challenges in the Industry
The biggest challenge in the retail industry, per Sulian, is an ongoing one. The retail landscape is extremely dynamic and fast-evolving. Customers are getting younger, more knowledgeable, and digitally savvy. Mall owners need to regularly introduce new concepts and brands to keep shoppers engaged. As their advisors, Sulian and her team need to stay on top of trends and spot future market leaders.
“This is a never-ending challenge, so my mind never really stops working, even when I’m out shopping or dining. Late at night, I find myself constantly reading up and studying new retail trends and developments. Fortunately, I quite enjoy it and don’t find it a chore having to keep up,” she says.
Leveraging Technology
Technology, believes Sulian, can be a double-edged sword. It can help you generate more business, and it can also render jobs obsolete overnight. Among the different real estate sectors, retail real estate and consultancy are probably the least homogeneous and the most complex. It’s almost an art and not something technology can easily replicate.
Human factors, soft skills, experience, relationships, and networking are more critical to success in this business. “Having said that, we can’t ignore the importance of leveraging technology in marketing our services and gaining visibility for the projects we market. In this respect, our company has a very capable marketing communications team to support our efforts, particularly on digital and media platforms,” asserts Sulian.
Post-Pandemic Effect
Sulian informs that some sectors in Singapore’s real estate did extremely well post-pandemic. Home prices surged while housing rents hit the roof.
The retail, F&B, and entertainment sectors were hardest hit. The 2 months of lockdown followed by a long period of restrictions crippled many retailers and restaurants. Bars with live entertainment and clubs remained closed for even longer. “The 2 years of the pandemic was a very surreal time for me. Looking back, I do wonder how I even managed to stay profitable throughout the pandemic,” says Sulian.
Singapore emerged stronger after the pandemic, and more new overseas retailers and restaurant groups are now expanding into Singapore.
Despite people shopping more online than in-store during Covid19, shoppers still crave the experience physical stores offer which they won’t get online. This is particularly true for luxury brands where you could see long queues outside Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Dior boutiques during and post-Covid.
Keeping Up with Changes
Read, read, and read is Sulian’s mantra to stay updated with the latest in the industry. Whenever she has free time or during breaks, she reads up on news and trends in retail globally, what’s in, what’s out, and what’s next. This enables her to pick the right brands and concepts for the malls Savills works with. She often studies what Gen Y and Z consumers want, be it in shopping, dining, or leisure.
“When we first introduced Lululemon years ago to Singapore, not every mall understood how popular the brand was or how big athleisure would become.3 years ago, I saw that Singapore is ready for the next level of family KTV entertainment popular in China. I introduced 1 such trend-setting concept to Singapore and am now working on bringing in an even bigger brand to Singapore. I also saw how eSports was growing at such an exponential rate and placed an eSports Hotel in a historical building in Orchard Road,” says Sulian.
She continues, “The next deal I will announce soon is not an easy one to guess and may surprise many. But it does go to show the importance of keeping pace with the fast-changing developments around us.”
A Guiding Statement
Years ago, Sulian attended a business awards ceremony when the winner in the Businessman/Entrepreneur category said during his speech, “Nobody owes you a living”. These words remain stuck in her mind to this day and it has greatly influenced her work ethic.
She has been a corporate “salaried” employee throughout her career, enjoying steady income in good and bad times. But it’s something she never takes for granted. “Not a day passes without me thinking about being profitable or doing better for my company. It, therefore, saddens me when I see some salaried people more concerned about what their company is giving them, rather than what they can do for their company,” she shares.
Words of Experience
The following is what Sulian usually tells her employees to motivate them and keep them on the path to success:
– There are no shortcuts to success
– There is no substitute for experience, and this is something you can only acquire over time
– Work hard and smart to keep up with the competition
– Don’t wait to be spoon-fed or molly-coddled at work. Be tough, learn on the job
– Communicate, communicate, and communicate
Quote 1: “My working style has always been fluid. Instead of saying ‘this cannot be done’, I’m constantly asking myself ‘how can I get it done’”. Instead of ‘no’, I would ask ‘why not?’.”
Quote 2: “Whatever success I achieved in the past means nothing if I don’t constantly adapt my business and working style to keep up with all the changes.”
AWARDS / ACCOLADES
- Prestige Magazine Power Women List 2022
- The Enterprise World Top 5 Successful Women Leaders 2023
- Women’s Weekly 2010 Great Women of Our Time
- International Property Awards: Winner of Best International Marketing
- Standard Chartered Bank: Global Top 10 Cash management revenue generator
