CHINA. Billion Connect, the world’s largest travel SIM card operator, has gained what it calls a ‘second wind’ by adapting to thrive in the travel retail industry during the pandemic.
Billion Connect claims to have built a loyal group of ten million-plus users over recent years. During the long COVID-prompted ‘winter’ for the international travel industry, the company’s vast user base allowed it to diversify by rapidly building up its travel retail marketing capabilities.
During the crisis, Billion Connect has worked with various leading travel retail stakeholders, including international brands such as P&G, Bacardi and Glenfiddich in online marketing, successfully opening up a new point of growth for the company.
Historically, Billion Connect has offered outbound travellers around the world a range of internet service and other value-added offers across various destinations. The company has also developed successful marketing campaigns with leading local market retailers and brands.
The Billion Connect Global Sim Card and internet service covers over 150 countries and regions worldwide and is distributed in 25 countries, allowing users to enjoy global travel with only one Sim card.
Since 2017, Billion Connect has attracted nearly 70 million registered users, with the number of its daily active users reaching one million. In pre-pandemic 2019, the company sold over 12.1 million Billion Connect cards globally, representing strong growth of +150% year-on-year.
“Crisis is just opportunity in disguise,” said Billion Connect CEO Antonio Xu in describing the company’s reaction to the pandemic. While COVID meant a suspension of China’s outbound travel sector, a silver lining appeared in the form of increased domestic travel and related offshore duty free spending in Hainan province.
Billion Connect captured what it described as “the window of opportunity” by unveiling a diverse range of travel retail marketing initiatives and programmes.
“Their outstanding performance proves that Billion Connect has the ability to effectively link our Sim card business and travel retail marketing efforts with value added in between,” the company said.
“Before working with duty free companies in China, we had already partnered with Thailand’s number one travel retailer, King Power, and the fast-growing Shinsegae Duty Free in Korea and significantly boosted their consumer numbers,” Xu said.
“And our recent success in collaborating with domestic duty free companies in China has strengthened our determination to expand our travel retail business.”
In 2019, Billion Connect began working with King Power and Shinsegae Duty Free through co-branded Sim cards. This led to a significant increase in both retailers’ brand awareness and popularity among their target market, Billion Connect noted.
Through its global internet service, Billion Connect also provides shopping and discount information to its Sim card users based on their current locations. The conversion rate is as high as 12.5%, which Billion Connect claims is well above the industry average.
During the pandemic, Billion Connect has been working closely with domestic duty free companies and international brands in the area of online marketing.
Thanks to its private traffic (communication with customers that the brand has full control and ownership over, without relying on any third party) resources cultivated over many years, Billion Connect says that it can help its partners attract customers with speed and precision, providing great value to their businesses. The company has worked on a number of online marketing projects with CDFG, Shenzhen Duty Free and CNSC for their member shops on WeChat.
Through its various WeChat accounts, mini-programs and groups, Billion Connect is able to reach the target audience for travel retail and generate huge amounts of high-quality private traffic, which in turn significantly boosted the sales performance of their travel retail partners.
The Billion Connect Duty Free WeChat mini-program now covers over ten platforms operated by major duty free retailers in China including CDFG, SZDF, CNSC, GDF Plaza and HTDF. It provides users with shopping recommendations and discount alerts. The platform is highly praised by its partners and demonstrates great potential, the company claimed.
During its marketing collaboration with first-tier international brands such as Bacardi and Glenfiddich, Billion Connect said that it has demonstrated its value both online and offline.
Online, the company helped its partners build and operate their Brand Pavilions in the CDF Member Shop Qianhai. It provided advertising and traffic redirecting services and planned and executed online marketing events with KOLs and livestreaming events.
Offline, Billion Connect supported partners with exhibition booth design and construction, event planning, and airport advertising. Billion Connect said that it is well-equipped to provide marketing services from online traffic exploring to offline media coverage, and from planning to final implementation.
Today, Billion Connect enjoys a 10 million-strong user base across its WeChat groups, official accounts and mini-programs, and maintains close partnerships with nearly 1,000 KOLs on social media platforms such as Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), Little Red Book and Weibo.
It also has an experienced and well-equipped support team for livestreaming events, 76 airport advertising displays, and an exhibition design and construction team that caters to the marketing needs of premium international brands. In short, the company has developed into a fully-fledged one-stop marketing solutions provider.
With its name now well-spread in the travel retail industry, Billion Connect claims to have received the goodwill of many international brands.
“They are not only interested in the marketing ability Billion Connect has already demonstrated but more importantly they also have confidence that after the pandemic, Billion Connect can continue to provide quality telecom services to outbound travellers and explore the global marketing abilities of Billion Connect Global Sim Card.
“While providing thoughtful destination services to outbound travellers, and accurately attracting target customers for travel retailers, Billion Connect will open up a new point of growth and help to boost a new round of growth in the travel retail industry, thus achieving a win-win result for all three parties,” Xu concluded.
Coming soon
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The new digital title, to be launched soon, will be published in Mandarin and English four times a year across multiple platforms.
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