Roma Fiumicino Airport is the place and the Aelia Duty Free shop in Terminal 3 is the adopted home of Romeo the robot – Lagardère Travel Retail’s latest ‘multi-sensorial’ shopping assistant – who is fluent in both Italian and English.

 

This brand new toy-sized character also has all the answers for customers asking ‘wherefore art’ their various products..?

 

He is even capable of throwing in some bonus ‘retailtainment animation’ all on cue – aiming at imparting his inner ’original emotions’ for hard conversion into customer retail benefits.

 

SIX MILLION VISITORS TO DATE

Aelia’s ‘next generation’ 1,850sq m store and Romeo’s home is where more than 6m visitors have so far discovered the retailer’s Roma Airport concept since it opened – complete with its multi-sensorial experience created for passengers and a large selection of international and local brands.

 

Lagardère Travel Retail says the store – which opened in September – has taken its ‘Here and Nowhere else’ concept to the next level, with the Romeo shopping assistant ready and waiting to speak ‘perfect Italian’ to unsuspecting passengers.

 

The retailer also explains that Romeo is also built for multiple purposes, including both surprising and welcoming customers when they enter the store with smart and friendly greetings in both English and Italian.

 

COLLECTING CUSTOMER CONTACT DETAILS

He is also able to entertain store visitors with several animations for the purpose of collecting customer email addresses

 

There is also a Photo Booth animation which detects faces and takes photos with a built-in camera, to which visitors can then apply their favourite filters, leave their email address and then receive a souvenir picture.

 

 

DISCOUNT VOUCHER GIVEAWAYS

In addition, ‘Guess town’ is a travel-theme game, inviting visitors to guess which shadows belong to which European cities. Whether they win or not, passengers get to leave their email addresses to qualify for a discount voucher worth €10 ($12) for those spending €130 ($153) or more. Customers can also choose to leave their email addresses and directly retrieve the voucher without playing games.

 

Romeo also helps to increase the visibility of the perfume and cosmetics area, which Lagardère/Aelia says is the most popular customer draw at present.

 

The little robot can also inform visitors about other in-store animations, while also presenting different activities, such as the in-store replica of the famous Bocca della Verita and the fine food area Casa del Gusto. As such, Lagardère Travel Retail says it strongly believes in Romeo’s potential to improve the customer experience in airport retail.