TCC Global, a leading, global retail marketing company, has acquired online retailing specialist Summit; apartnership set to create a new generation of digitally-led marketing programmes for retailers.

The deal, advised by Livingstone, sees TCC Global, which turned over €500m in 2015, bring in Summit’s expertise in online retailing to enhance its digital engagement capabilities. Summit, which turned over in excess of £47m in the same year, will retain its established brand and existing senior management team, who have worked on the business for many years.

TCC Global was founded in 1991 by Richard Beattie, the group’s Chairman. Today, TCC Global runs campaigns in more than 70 countries, operating from 34 offices around the world. As one of the biggest players in the loyalty marketing field, it is a global leader in creating campaigns that deliver sustainable sales growth and enhanced brand equity for its clients, including many leading international retailers such as Tesco, Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi, Woolworths Australia and 7-Eleven. TCC Global works with a diverse range of partners to bring its campaigns to life, including global brands such as Disney, MasterChef, Warner Bros., Pyrex and major FMCG suppliers.

Summit was launched in 2000, by CEO and founder Hedley Aylott, and has grown to over 160 staff in three locations across Europe. Summit received investment from Rcapital in 2015, accelerating the company’s growth. The retail specialist, which has transformed the online offering of a list of clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot, Argos, Reckitt Benckiser and Carpetright, brings with it state-of-the-art marketing intelligence platform Forecaster. Forecaster was developed by Summit in 2015 and draws data from a diverse range of sourcesand applies complex statistical models to predict the sales from any given online marketing spend.

Hedley Aylott, co-founder and CEO of Summit said:“The marriage of TCC Global and Summit will help revolutionise the way we shop: together, we are going to take know how from the most digitally sophisticated market, the UK, across the globe. This knowledge, which Summit has, will help TCC Global to deliver even more powerful campaigns for its clients.

Summit’s stronghold of experts and founders, who have been here since the company’s dawn and still remain, will continue on this journey alongside TCC Global, and I wouldn’t go global with anyone else.”

Perry Valkenburg, CEO of TCC Global said:

“Shopper understanding is central to TCC Global’s ethos.  In the new world of retail, where bricks, clicks and commerce fully integrate, it is more important than ever to provide the best possible solutions and ones that address the whole value chain.  We are adding more digital engagement platforms to TCC Global’s portfolio, so Summit’s expertise in online retail and data analytics will be hugely valuable.  As a combined force we can deliver unrivalled expertise to the retail market.

“This is a further innovation to support our customers, following our acquisition of Gametation, the leading digital gamification company, in 2015. A focus of Summit’s expansion is to grow its operations globally. This fits perfectly with our vision to assist our clients in retaining and rewarding their best customers, attracting new shoppers and developing digital engagement platforms to ultimately unlock the power of data and create tailored marketing solutions across the entire online and offline value chain.”

Daniel Domberger, Partner at Livingstone, added: “There was intense interest in Summit but TCC Global had the best vision for the company, and recognised the transformational opportunities Summit can help it unlock. It will undoubtedly be a hugely successful partnership.”

Jamie Constable, CEO, Rcapital, said: “The quality of Summit’s enhanced digital product offering to its blue-chip client base was obvious. I am delighted for both TCC Global and Summit on the exciting future ahead.”