Marketing Of Senior Living In Malaysia

The marketing of senior category housing in Malaysia is still in a muddle. This means a whole new field of opportunity for the marketing and communications industries in the adjacent future. This article hopes to provide an efficient summary of this big yet largely under-tapped industry. 

Firstly, there are three basic categories of senior living housing; (a) Independent Living; (b) Assisted Living and (c) Fully-Assisted Living. 

(b) Assisted Living and (c) Fully-Assisted Living. 

Categories (b) and (c) are well taken care of in Malaysia presently in terms of availability, affordability and functionality. Operators such as Care Concierge has come a long way to become one of the more prominently branded forerunners in the industry with a range of quality products. There are also many other assisted living operators but not all do a good job of branding their services.

Then, there is now a highly developed healthcare-to-home services industry. Click2Health  is one example that provides very professional online and home care services, both medical and healthcare. They have also started assisted living facilities with a higher spec of medical standards.

(a) Independent Living

Until this present moment, there are only two purposed-built retirement living projects in Malaysia; The GreenAcres Retirement Village in Ipoh; and Eden-On-The-Park in Kuching.

A few more notable projects were promoted and some tested over the last 15 years for Independent Living and Retirement Village projects. There is a lot to learn as to why these died off or were shelved indefinitely. 

We shall do a F&Q here to answer the most regular enquiries. If you do have more questions pertaining to this matter, you can reach me directly at alwaysken(a)gmail. I'm always glad to share about this passionate industry. 

Q1. Are Malaysians ready for Retirement Villages RV (Independent Living Housing)?

The need has always been there since decades ago. Individual Malaysians have always wanted to share a property with friends when they retire and live together happily ever after. This never really materialised as professional home healthcare services were not available decades ago. They are ready now. 

So for Malaysians in general, they may not need to buy into an RV per se as they can fully realise their co-living idea with a shared bungalow. But of course a retired lifestyle in a premium RV is certainly a great way to live.

Single independent Malaysians do worry about getting medical attention when they are alone at home. Vertigo and fall injuries are some of the worries. Herein comes the safety feature of a good retirement living project.

Q2. Then who else do we target for the RVs?

The bigger market for retirement villages in Malaysia however, is the international market. Being a commercial titled project, international seniors can enjoy spacious landed property living. Life leased or term leased. This is especially attractive for the East Asian market. The rental market is also very attractive for the Winter-Over segment from both hemispheres. Every six months see a different group of people seeking warmth in the hot Malaysian climate.

We can start to pick up a lot of learned experiences and knowledge from the Australian senior living industry marketing. This especially for the independent living segment. Yes, of course to be adapted to the Malaysian context.

Malaysia is a great place to retire. The problem now is there are virtually not enough top quality retirement living products built.

Q3. If it is so positive, why weren't more of such projects built?

The stumbling block faced by most if not all suitors is the purchase model. A themed project such as this must never be sold outright. It becomes a nightmare when you lose control over the tenant mix. This is alike the the cases of the prominent shopping mall in KL and one in USJ where they sold outright the premium ground floor lots and could not maintain a right mix of stores.

The lease model would mean having to build the entire project before you can lease out. So cost outlay could be a factor without clear sales projection.

Q4. So how did The GreenAcres do it?

The developers were fully dedicated to the project and concept entirely. They built the clubhouse regardless of sales. Then they built about 20 units of homes at a time. These were landed so they can do it phase by phase. Kudos to them for their dedication.

Q5. Why did earlier projects fail?

SELLING LIKE A PROPERTY ASSET

CASTING A NET TOO WIDE

Retirement living is chiefly a lifestyle product. However, many of the aborted projects were created with the retail property mindset: ie- Size, Rooms, Car park, Value, Yield, etc. One of the earlier projects near the coast promised resort lifestyle living. Large units, sea facing with healthcare below etc.

All of these factors are important somehow or other, but retirement living clearly is not resort living. ~ I need to get my hair cut. Walk to get the newspaper. Go to the local market. Watch a movie. Meet friends. Go fishing. Catch a meal in town. Work in my community green patch. Et cetera.

Purchase of a Retirement Village home is also not with real estate investment top of mind.

Developers were casting a net too wide and selling like a typical property project. Here is where more delicate branding and marketing communications design require relevant insights, passion and empathy. It is a learning curve but we all have to start now. 

Q5. What's a good way to start with?

The Marslow's Hierachy Of Needs Chart is a basic but simple way to segmentise the emotional and physical needs of the market. The bottom segment is taken care of by social services, friends, family and society. The top 3 segments are good product differentiators for product development. 

Design with the lifestyle needs. Design the facilities, services and amenities with the concept in mind. Only then, design the built environment around these factors. 

Lately, we have seen a huge wellness living project advertised more for the medical facilities and property prices. The wellness essence is missing from the mix. 

We will learn from everything. The Malaysian journey has just started.

E.&O.E.