ITALY. Lagardère Travel Retail has reported a 10% sales increase among Chinese passengers at Rome Fiumicino Airport as a result of an omnichannel strategy there during its Year of the Pig celebrations.
The figure refers to sales at the retailer’s flagship Aelia Duty Free store in the Avancorpo area during the first three weeks of a Chinese New Year campaign that runs until 27 February.
Lagardère Travel Retail said its objective was to offer a variety of retail promotions through different channels, targeting Chinese travellers throughout their journey – from trip planning to arrival at the airport and after departing.
In the pre-travel phase, the retailer collaborated with Chinese price comparison app Jessica’s Secret to launch two special Chinese New Year promotion coupons. Jessica’s Secret application users received a 10% discount with a minimum purchase of €360 or €260 for their purchase in the Aelia Duty Free store from 29 January to 15 February.
During the same period, Lagardère Travel Retail also partnered with airport operator Aeroporti de Roma to send two retail promotion coupons through the airport’s free WiFi service. Chinese passengers would see a timed-splash page on their devices offering the coupons when they tried to connect to the airport’s WiFi. They could then screenshot the page and use them in-store.
Inside the store, the retailer projected a dedicated movie celebrating Chinese New Year on a giant LED screen above the entrance. It also featured greetings in Mandarin and English as well as call-to-action messages to invite travellers to participate in a WeChat digital game in the store.
The game involved a virtual red pocket digital treasure hunt using the WeChat app. Players could scan a QR code with WeChat to start the game, then point their smartphone camera at different red pocket spots scattered throughout the store to collect coupons. A similar game was run for Chinese New Year 2018, but Lagardère Travel Retail enhanced the scope of the promotion this year to cover both extra-Schengen and Schengen areas as well as the main store.
Lagardère Travel Retail said the WeChat digital in-store animation “dramatically boosted the average basket of Chinese passengers playing the game”.
