Johannesburg - UK specialist shopping centre owner Capital
Shopping Centres [JSE:CSO] is investing £25m to create a nationwide consumer-facing
shopping centre brand - intu - and a transformed digital proposition‚ the
company said on Tuesday.
The company said that with 320 million customer visits and
over 30 million unique visitors a year‚ it has the physical scale to establish
a strong national brand to integrate the online and shopping centre retail
experience.
Among the key initiatives is the creation of a single brand‚
intu‚ to be incorporated into the names of the company and its directly-managed
centres.
It also intends to integrate the physical and digital
environments to provide a seamless multi-channel experience for visitors
through the installation of a new fibre optic network for every centre and the
provision of high quality free WiFi throughout its malls.
It will launch intu.co.uk‚ a transactional‚ fashion-focused‚
mobile-enabled website.
The overall investment of £25m‚ comprises £7m on brand
creation and roll out‚ £8m on digital infrastructure and £10m on the
acquisition and start-up phase of intu.co.uk.
CEO David Fischel commented: "With over half the UK
population visiting our shopping centres each year‚ we have the scale to seize
the opportunities provided by the changes in the retail marketplace. We are
investing £25m in digital infrastructure‚ an e-commerce website and a new
brand. We very much look forward to implementing the initiatives announced
today‚ which mark an exciting next phase in the evolution of our market-leading
UK shopping centre business‚ to the benefit of customers‚ retailers‚ staff and
investors. "
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