Capital & Regional has today announced it is to provide shoppers with free, unlimited WiFi access across its 11 UK-based shopping centres, following a deal with WiFi provider The Cloud

The roll out will see the company's nine The Mall sites, plus its Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch and Lincoln-based Waterside Shopping Centre,  offering customers the ability to log in to The Cloud's WiFi and access websites, social networks, email and apps.

The deal comes as more and more consumers look to use the internet from their mobile devices with a recent report showing 85% of people use internet on the go and 64% do so in retail stores.*

"The ability to use the internet within the shopping centre is increasingly important to consumers and, as such, to our shopping centres," explained Mark Bourgeois, Managing Director, Shopping Centres at Capital & Regional. "WiFi can massively enhance the shopping experience. For example people can use the internet to check product reviews, engage with via social media before they buy something or perhaps tweet about new purchases. This kind of interaction can actually drive interest in the store and increase footfall, so we're pleased to be rolling out free WiFi across our shopping centres and to be enhancing the overall retail experience."

As smartphones and other mobile devices such as tablets become more common place, the demand for free WiFi is expected to increase even further. Couple this with the continued growth of e- and m-commerce and it is clear that the ability to offer a multichannel in-store experience is key for all retailers.

"As shoppers become increasingly demanding of their shopping experience so fast reliable WiFi access is a key part of that." commented Vince Russell, MD at The Cloud. "There is a growing need to provide customers with a multichannel experience, even if they are in the store, because customers want access to the range of information the internet provides, without losing the personal touch of high street shops.  We're delighted to be working with Capital & Regional to deliver greater value to them and their customers and further cementing our position as the WiFi provider of choice to the UK's shopping malls"

An estimated 4m people every day pass through the WiFi network run by The Cloud, a BSkyB company, by visiting one of its partners, including major outlets like Greggs and Caffè Nero, , as well as First Great Western and Network Rail stations.

In May The Cloud announced it was installing WiFi in Land Securities' 24 shopping centres across the UK.

About The Cloud

• The Cloud (www.thecloud.co.uk) builds and operates Wi-Fi networks across the UK and Europe to provide the mobile media experience that consumers want. The service delivers simple, fast, reliable and cost effective broadband to millions of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops and entertainment devices.  The Cloud has exclusive commercial partnerships with retail, leisure, hotels, sports, transport, and entertainment and content partners to deliver its longer-term vision of a connected society.
• The Cloud connects almost a million devices to its Wi-Fi network each month, including Nintendo 3DS users and at locations such as the Emirates Stadium, Silverstone Race Track, the City of London, Wetherspoon, PizzaExpress, Pret, Caffe Nero, Eat, pubs, leisure facilities, restaurants and mainline stations. 
• The Cloud is a BSkyB Company.
• In April, BSkyB announced that Sky Broadband customers can now quickly and easily access free, unlimited and high-speed WiFi at thousands of public places across the UK through new Sky "WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud". The service is available at no extra charge to all Sky Broadband Unlimited, Sky Fibre Unlimited and Sky Connect customers, who are eligible to take unlimited broadband with them whilst out and about through seamless access to The Cloud's network of hotspots. A free "Sky Cloud WiFi" is available for iOS and Android devices and, once downloaded and registered, will allow people to automatically connect their smartphone or tablet to the internet without having to log-in ever again.

Press contact details:
The Cloud
Lorna Hughes
Harvard PR
020 7861 2844
TheCloud@harvard.co.uk

* Our Mobile Planet: UK , Understanding the mobile consumer, May 2012