Philip Morris International (PMI) Duty Free’s investment in digital innovation amid the pandemic has paid off with six major industry awards during 2021.
The awards were made across categories ranging from omnichannel strategy and multi-channel communication to shopper technology and experiences.
PMI Duty Free (with Play Retail) won Best Multichannel Communication Collaboration and Best Omnichannel Strategy Collaboration categories at The Moodies Travel Journey Digital Awards 2021; first place in Duty Free Experience of the Year at the DFNI-Frontier Asia Pacific Awards 2021; Bronze winner of Best Use of Mobile and/or Corporate App and Best Use of Digital from FMCG sector at the Digital Impact Awards 2021; and a Bronze Shopper Technology Award at POPAI 2021.
“Consumers expect the same level of service in travel retail as they would expect elsewhere in their consumer journey. Digitisation of the consumer journey is paramount, and in-store experiential retail will become a must-have. We are committed to ensuring the consumer remains at the forefront and will continue to be the driver of our innovation” – PMI Duty Free Head of Consumer Experience, Marketing & Digital Martin Jobin
The basis for the awards success was set in 2020, noted the company, when PMI Duty launched an integrated network of digital-to-consumer tools providing legal age consumers with interactive digital experiences to discover and purchase IQOS smoke-free device products.
With the travel ecosystem becoming fragmented, PMI Duty Free said that creating an omnichannel experience where consumers can choose their preferred platform, physical or digital, to engage with IQOS was a priority, it noted.
PMI Duty Free observed that its omnichannel approach bridges the interaction between digital and physical touchpoints and reinforces the importance of both in delivering an integrated and tailored consumer experience.
PMI Duty Free Vice President Edvinas Katilius said: “We had a clear vision of where we wanted to go with our digital transformation. The pandemic and the resulting changing consumer needs accelerated the deployment of our digital initiatives across our global points of sale.”
“The awards we have received from peers within our industry and from outside the travel retail industry are testimony and recognition of our consumer-centric digital innovations.”
PMI Duty Free Head of Consumer Experience, Marketing & Digital Martin Jobin said: “It is paramount that digital and technology innovations are deployed to address consumer needs and their pain points and to ultimately bring a better more efficient, more seamless experience to the consumer. Receiving these awards is great recognition of our strong consumer experience and marketing efforts.”
He added: “Consumers expect the same level of service in travel retail as they would expect elsewhere in their consumer journey. Digitisation of the consumer journey is paramount, and in-store experiential retail will become a must-have. We are committed to ensuring the consumer remains at the forefront and will continue to be the driver of our innovation.”
PMI Duty Free digital innovations overview
Discover IQOS is an informative and educational platform that guides legal age smokers through a tailored journey, presenting informative content to answer consumer questions and communicate the benefits of switching to IQOS.
Shop IQOS is an order system for legal age consumers to reserve IQOS products using a mobile device or at a touchscreen kiosk in the duty free shop. Orders from both platforms are sent to an order management system at the cashier desk so IQOS staff can prepare orders and indicate when an order is completed and ready to be collected.
Loop Digital Signage is a digital signage platform to schedule video content to be deployed to a network of connected digital screens globally. This tool ensures that all content at POS remains up to date.
QR codes: By scanning a QR code the legal age consumer can view content relevant to the product and download brochures or supporting content.
