Almost all flagship IQOS shops of PMI or Philip Morris International in the UK are now closed. It is because its heated products have failed to recreate the success of vape products for almost a decade. Their many glamorous PMI IQOS stores opened all over the UK.
From the first 16 shops opened up in 2019, only a few remained since PMI fell back on its purpose to broaden its existence on the street. Although some countries are making a good market, UK vapers and smokers have remained uninterested in heated tobacco products and proposals.
According to one of PMI’s staff, it was tv he last quarter of last year when the company decided to close down quietly in response to the millions spent on an unsuccessful retail strategy. Its closure became controversial and raised a lot of questions with regards to the success of the commercial of IQOS in the United Kingdom and the product demand in the UK, if there’s any.
PMI will disagree that their stores in the United Kingdom are no longer needed and that, in fact, e-commerce is growing and they have now reached the biggest supermarkets in the country. However, it is still a huge U-turn for them to close retail shops after running for just 18 months.