Philip Morris, the world鈥檚 largest manufacturer of cigarettes, is going 'smoke free' with the launch of two stores in Manchester to drive the sales of its alternative products.
Following 拢1.5m investment and the creation of 20 new jobs, the tobacco giant has launched stores in St Ann鈥檚 Square and Princess Street to sell its IQOS heated tobacco technology.
The makers of Marlboro have been working on replacing traditional cigarettes, in which tobacco is burned, with innovative heated tobacco products 鈥榬emoving on average 95 per cent of the harmful toxins鈥 found in traditional cigarette smoke.
Bosses describe the new IQOS products as 鈥榓 cross between cigarettes and vape鈥 and is a result of 拢4bn research and development investment by Philip Morris International over the past decade.
The products are now sold in cities across 47 countries with more than 10 million consumers globally.
Expansion in Manchester follows the successful launch of IQOS in London 18 months ago with device sales reaching a total of 100,000.
The company says it plans to open more stores in the city and retail outlets with plans to expand across the 海角视频.
Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris, said the future of the company is 鈥榮moke free.鈥
鈥淥ne day we would like to stop selling cigarettes and we see our future in alternatives such as vapes and heated tobacco,鈥 he said.
鈥淭he IQOS is a new type of product which we launched a few years ago in Japan.
鈥淏ecause you heat the tobacco instead of burning, it reduces the harmful chemicals that are found in cigarettes by 95 per cent.
鈥淎t least 70 per cent of people are able to stop smoking cigarettes and that gives us confidence to expand and that鈥檚 why the product has been so successful where we have launched it.鈥
As such, Mr Nixon believes expanding IQOS 'will help one in six people who smoke in Manchester switch from cigarettes to smoke-free alternatives at a much faster rate' claiming it is a 鈥榞ame changer鈥 for the region.
鈥淚 believe the impact of IQOS could accelerate Manchester into becoming a smoke-free city,鈥 he said.
The introduction of alternative and 鈥榮afer鈥 options to the market has also meant a huge shift in the group鈥檚 business model.
It鈥檚 the first time the cigarette manufacturer has moved into the high street and now has an ecommerce site to sell its alternative products direct to consumers.
Mr Nixon said: 鈥淲e have always manufactured cigarettes and sold them to retailers.
鈥淣ow we have our own shops, we have our own call centres to deal with enquiries about electronics, and we have our own ecommerce site.
鈥淏ecause we are helping people to come off cigarettes and move to alternatives we have a whole coaching system in place and employ people to help smokers move to alternatives reconfirming our commitment to stop selling cigarettes.鈥
