A major British shopping centre chain is breaking Intu new territory as it rebrands from Capital Shopping Centres to Intu Properties. The company, which owns Lakeside and the Trafford Centre, has invested £25 million and hopes to compete with Westfield centres.

The rebrand was devised largely to address the reshaping of retail to suit the digital age. In a presentation to stakeholders, the CSC group show that 68% of smartphone users use their devices instore and 44% of shoppers look online before shopping instore. The ecommerce launch and in-mall WiFi will allow the Intu centres to address the technological developments in the retail sector.

CSC chief executive David Fischel says, “We have the scale to seize the opportunities provided by the changes in the retail marketplace. 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.”

The rebrand will be rolled out to 14 of the company’s sites in May and will feature an ecommerce site in which 40 retailers have already agreed to participate. The physical rebrand will also deliver WiFi throughout the Intu malls by February 2014. The Intu name is representative of what the company wants its customers to do when encountering a shopping centre.