ITALY/CZECH REPUBLIC. Lagardère Travel Retail has used augmented reality to enhance Chinese New Year celebrations – and retail spend – at Rome Fiumicino and Prague Václav Havel airports.
The travel retailer invited Chinese passengers to search for fortune-bringing red packets at its Aelia Duty Free stores using the technology, which was accessed through WeChat and their smartphones.
To play, travellers were required to scan QR codes spread throughout the store using WeChat. They then had to point their smartphone camera at different red packet signs to collect virtual ones, which converted into discount cash coupons of differing amounts that could be used immediately in the store.
Each participant had three chances to play the game, and could present their smartphone screen at the cash tills to claim their discount.
The activation began on 12 February for fifteen days, and took place in Rome Fiumicino’s Terminal 3 and Václav Havel’s Terminal 1.
Lagardère said that in the first week of the promotion, the average basket size of Chinese passengers playing the treasure hunt-style game was “dramatically increased” at both airports.
“One of the aims of our strategy for Aelia Duty Free is to offer a tailor-made experience which meets the expectations of passengers from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds,” Lagardère Travel Retail Duty Free Global Marketing & Digital Director Stéphanie Metz-Thevenod told The Moodie Davitt Report.
“After several successful activations in 2017, we have identified WeChat as the most relevant digital channel to leverage the potential of Chinese passengers, who are the most digital-savvy when they travel and shop abroad.”
Lagardère Travel Retail Trade Marketing Manager Yilin Wang-Chenal commented: “For this Chinese New Year, we wanted to go a step further with the WeChat activation, to offer a new and playful shopping experience combining the tradition of red packets distribution with augmented reality technology.”
Traffic Acquisition Manager Sophia Mazouz added: “Since the use of augmented reality has been intensified in China’s domestic retail environment in recent years and many of our Chinese customers have been getting familiar with it, we wanted to bring this technology to our stores at the airport to create a dynamic and vivid customer engagement journey.”
