Somerset Mall Gets Store for Alternative to Cigarettes
Cape Town, 17th September, 2020 – Philip Morris South Africa (PMSA) continues to deliver on its vision of a smoke-free South Africa with the opening of another IQOS retail space, this time in the Somerset Mall in the Helderberg.
“The launch of the new space at Somerset Mall follows a further retail expansion across South Africa. Currently we have 25 retail sites nationally and this additional retail site is part of our ongoing efforts. This is the 11th retail site in the Western Cape region,” explains Zimbini Peffer, Head of Marketing and Digital at Philip Morris South Africa. “Our significant investment signals how serious we are about creating a smoke-free South Africa through a product which offers a better choice than smoking cigarettes to the 11-million adult smokers who continue to smoke.”
Somerset Mall has 200 stores offering inviting and engaging lifestyle shopping experiences and is also frequented as a must-visit tourist destination for the Cape Helderberg region, home to almost 200,000 people. It attracts thousands of visitors every year with its singular array of local and international retail brands.
“The location is an obvious fit for the brand,” according to Peffer. “Opening a retail space in a mall like Somerset Mall demonstrates our meaningful strides towards realising our vision of a smoke-free future.”
“IQOS is a sophisticated piece of tech that heats a tobacco stick to no more than 350 degrees Celsius, but does not burn it – creating a nicotine aerosol,” says Peffer. “It is different from other e-cigarettes or vaping devices that heat flavoured liquid often containing nicotine. It produces no smoke, ash or smell. IQOS is not risk free. It contains nicotine which is addictive. But it is a better choice for those adult smokers who choose to continue smoking.”
PMI has continuously shown commitment to providing scientifically substantiated, industry-leading products that help adult smokers, who will otherwise continue using cigarettes, to switch to better alternatives. “Our goal is that by 2025 at least 40 million PMI cigarette smokers, who would otherwise continue to smoke, will have switched to smoke-free alternatives,” she adds.
Peffer states that this space at Somerset Mall allows adult smokers to experience a better alternative to continued smoking.
