SOUTH AFRICA
Philip Morris South Africa’s (PMSA) local investments are expected to exceed SAR650 million (US$43.5 million) by 2020, as it expands its IQOS market nationally.
Marcelo Nico, PMSA’s managing director, said, “Despite challenging economic conditions, we’re investing to bring better, smoke-free alternatives to South Africa’s 10 million adult smokers. Our total investment from 2017 to 2020 will exceed SAR650 million and we plan to continue investing in the years to come. This underlines our ongoing commitment to the South African economy.”
PMSA has opened 26 new IQOS retail stores since launching in South Africa in April 2017, with 15 of these being opened in 2019 alone.
The company has also introduced an IQOS subscription option enabling consumers to pay off the device over the course of a year for around SAR80 per month. According to Nico, this is to ensure that the device cost is not a barrier to choosing a better alternative to cigarettes.