Mitsubishi Estate's ¥14.5 Billion Outlet in Bali That Isn't "About Buying Cheap"

The speaker lays out the key points up front. There are two: one is "not wearing yourself down in a place where you can't win," and the other is changing the very way you sell, from "selling things" to "selling experiences."

There are plenty of malls and outlets in Japan already. Isn't going all the way out to distant Bali, a place with currency exchange issues to boot, full of risk? Wouldn't it be safer to just play it steady at home? The speaker first raises these questions, then explains that this is precisely where the strategy lies.

As the speaker explains it, Japan's population is set to decline, so land suitable for building new large-scale facilities is becoming quite limited. In that environment, joining other companies in a price-cutting war on the same playing field would only wear you down and lead to a slow decline. So Mitsubishi Estate changed the battlefield itself, setting its sights on wealthy customers overseas, in growing markets, who are willing to spend a lot of money. That, at least, is the speaker's read.

The speaker further notes that while the number of foreign tourists in Bali is rising, there's also a shift underway from "quantity to quality": from drawing in large numbers of visitors to attracting good ones. The speaker frames Mitsubishi Estate as having gone straight for the heart of that trend.

The speaker names two weapons that underpin this business. The first is turning shopping into an experience.

In Japan, outlets tend to carry the image of places where locals, or people stopping by during a trip, pick up last season's models at a good price. The Bali facility, by contrast, primarily targets tourists from around the world and wealthy local Indonesians.

The buildings, too, are low-rise, open, and airy, designed to evoke a traditional Balinese village. The aim is not a place you drop by while shopping, but a place where going there is itself the purpose of the trip. The speaker describes this as a shift in thinking "from a place to buy things to a place to experience."

The second is sustainability, meaning environmental consideration, which the speaker introduces as "a little surprising."

To avoid relying too heavily on air conditioning in hot Bali, the buildings are positioned based on calculations of wind direction. Water features on the grounds are designed to cool the area naturally, and local stone and wood are used as materials.

The speaker stresses that this isn't simply a matter of "eco, how nice." These days, more and more famous brands won't open stores unless the facility is environmentally conscious. As a result, the speaker explains, properly addressing environmental concerns has become a tool for attracting those popular brands.

The speaker sums up that by doing these two things, moving the battlefield overseas and changing what it sells from goods to "experiences and meaning," Mitsubishi Estate successfully escaped the grueling war of attrition at home.

On top of that, the speaker feels this isn't just about real estate. Rather than wearing yourself down alongside everyone else in a place where you can't win, move to a place where you can. Rather than simply selling things, sell experiences and meaning. This applies to companies and individuals alike, the speaker says.

The video closes by asking viewers, "Are you fighting on a playing field where you can win right now? Or are you just vaguely wearing yourself down on the same playing field as everyone else?" and ends with the speaker's reflection that this story made them realize choosing where to fight is actually very important.