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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. "
