The mall company "Melisron" acquired the digital company GROO from the Sky Fund

The mall company "Melisron" realized that it could not leave the online commerce market (e-commerce) to competitors, and decided to invest about NIS 100 million in the coming years in the development of a digital arm and advanced services. As part of the investment, Melisron has now decided to acquire the digital company GROO from the Sky Fund.
Melisron's goal in this step is to strengthen and improve on the one hand the core business of the tenants' shops in the malls in the city centers. These will be able to use advanced marketing and commerce technologies and innovative logistics solutions of the online commerce market, and at the same time, will be able to upgrade the shopping experience so that customers can enjoy advanced shopping centers that combine digital and physical shopping alike.
As part of the move, after the acquisition, Melisron will combine the MY OFER club with the Gru customer club, and will try to increase the number of visitors and revenue in the malls through it. These as I recall experienced a severe shock in the closures during the Corona period.
Melisron, which owns 17 malls in Israel, explained that Gero will become an independent digital arm within Melisron, thus speeding up the launch of services and being able to more quickly serve office activities and other activities such as rental housing in the future.
"The Corona period and the prolonged closures have proven two things to us: digital shopping has significant value, but the experience of spending time in the mall is irreplaceable," said Ophir Sarid, CEO of Melisron, in a conversation with TheMarker. And also of the tenants, with the customers, while increasing the revenue and traffic in the company malls.
"Gru is the Mercedes of digital. We focus on creating a certain mix for the mall. The better the experience, the more people come and the redemptions increase, so we can bring in better tenants and more interesting brands. The existing one. "
Gru CEO Tommy Schenfeld told TheMarker: “Our customers are used to buying online and then realizing offline. We have the power to motivate audiences. We are nationwide - we have geographical coverage from Eilat to Kiryat Shmona. We have data that fits every mall in Melisron. Today, Melisron does not have the ability to know what its customers like, but we have these capabilities in the data. "
Gru began its operations in Israel in 2011, as a groupon, when e-commerce was in its infancy. It stormed the local market at a dizzying pace, offering coupons to businesses and products and benefits at about 50% lower than the deal value. Israeli consumers, looking for a way out of the cost of living, responded, and the platform soared.