A Calgary e-commerce company has signed an agreement with Circle K stores in Arizona to help install multi-use public kiosks at more than 500 locations across the United States.
Digital Matter Corp. inked the deal with Tosco Corporation, a company recently acquired by oil giant Phillips Petroleum, whose retail division is the largest operator of company-controlled convenience stores in the U.S.
“It’s a real Calgary success story,” Digital’s president and CEO, Robert Curtin says of his company, which has 15 employees in Calgary and offices in London and Toronto.
“We haven’t really done much in the way of public relations or promotion. Our success has been word of mouth, and it’s starting to really pan out for us.”
Four-year old Digital is a member of international kiosk provider Global Access Alliance Inc., a group also included in the deal, estimated to be worth $60 million US. The 500 kiosks to be installed in the next six months “represent more than a million Canadian dollars to Digital Matter,” noted Curtin.
Curtin says Digital will contribute to the design of the hardware configuration and provide its proprietary software and video applications to the kiosks, which will offer customers everything from Web surfing, MP3 music downloads and Voice Over IP for domestic and international phone calls. Up to 3,500 kiosks may eventually be deployed.
Curtin added his company is also negotiating with Phillips to license Digital’s software for other electronic devices in Circle K stores and gas stations.
Since the deal with Phillips, says Curtin, the Calgary company has been approached by three major U.S. oil companies who also have retail and convenience stores. “The door is wide open,” he added.
