“We help shopping centers deliver an increasing share of revenue from digital. We want shopping centers to experience that digital is not only a marketing channel. It is a revenue channel. Instead of feeling challenged by e-commerce, they can push the limit for how far they can go into digital sales to the benefit of their tenants,” said Peter Tonstad, CEO of Boostcom Group.
As part of its growth strategy, the company has now acquired iColumn based out of Singapore. iColumn is the leading player in digitalisation of shopping centres in South-East Asia since 2009.
Boostcom and iColumn have data management, CRM and loyalty related products and services that complement both companies in favour of all customers. In total, the companies serve approx. 200 shopping centres in 16 countries, and had a combined turnover of MUSD 11 in 2018, with close to 100 employees.
Boostcom/iColumn integrates all possible digital sources with a unified data layer to link the physical shopping malls to consumers in digital channels. The data is used to make relevant and targeted marketing to consumers in their preferred digital channels.
Boostcom has customers that reach up to 80% of all consumers in the physical centre through their database of digital profiles, and where the shopping centres data-driven digital activities drive more than 25% of the revenue for some tenants on a monthly basis.
“We have not seen similar results outside our own customer base anywhere in the world. We are and want to be the hub of the digital transformation to a very large and important global industry,” says Tonstad.
”iColumn wants to be part of a major world-leading player in digitalisation of shopping centres. We have been pioneers in the area in South East Asia, and we will now grow more across Asia and globally together with the rest of Boostcom. The difference between Asia and Europe in this area is that in Asia, there has been more focus on consumer benefits linked to actual purchases. In the Boostcom perspective, it is crucial for us to deliver the largest possible range of documented consumer transactions from digital to shopping centres and their tenants. We are and will be a crucial partner for the shopping centres into the future,” says Jason Cheong, CEO, iColumn.