JUUL Labs is encouraging convenience stores to educate their customers to make the switch throughout April – a month dedicated to raising awareness around vaping with the launch of the UKVIA’s VApril campaign – in light of new research conducted by OnePol on the company’s behalf.
Exclusive consumer research by OnePoll for JUUL Labs in March1 uncovered misconceptions around smoking risks and role of vaping in harm reduction including:
- Over two thirds of smokers (69%) don’t know that cigarettes kill 1 in 2 people who use them
- 64% of smokers are unaware that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking, despite landmark study backing the fact2
- Half of smokers (50%) wrongly believe that “nicotine causes cancer”
JUUL Labs’s Sales Director John Patterson is fearful that retailers are missing out on valuable sales due to a lack of consumer understanding on vaping and its benefits.
“The OnePoll research demonstrates that there is still a long way to go to convince adult smokers of the benefits of switching. VApril – the vaping awareness campaign organised by the UKVIA – is the ideal opportunity for the convenience retailers to introduce their customers who smoke to vaping products and educate them on the role vaping products play in helping them switch away from cigarettes.”
“Traditional retail – multiple grocery and convenience retailers – is responsible for 99% of all UK tobacco sales. However only around 20% of vape sales go through these channels with specialist vape stores and online vendors making up the majority of sales. With the UK vaping market forecast to grow by over 30% every year over the next three years3, now is the time for convenience retailers to invest in the vape category and realise the potential sales, profit and footfall that vape can bring to their businesses.”
The VApril campaign – run by the UKVIA and its members – is a month long campaign to highlight the benefits of vaping and is fronted by TV’s Dr Christian Jessen and encourages smokers to make the switch.
Patterson concludes “At JUUL our mission is to improve the lives of the worlds one billion smokers by helping them switch to less harmful alternatives. We are hopeful that VApril will act as a trigger for adult smokers to make the switch to less harmful alternatives and retailers can play their part in this mission by promoting vape products throughout April and positively impact the lives of the UK’s 7.4m adult smokers.”
JUUL Labs operates a strict Challenge 25 policy which every retailer has to sign up to before receiving stock and enforces this through mystery shopping and sanctions against non-compliant stores.
Retailers interested in becoming a JUUL stockist must sign up to the company’s Challenge 25 policy and can call 0808 164 1301 or email uksales@juul.com. More information on JUUL products can be found at juul.co.uk
Sources
- OnePoll Research fro JUUL Labs 25 March 2019
- Public Health England (PHE) e-cigarette evidence review, February 2018
- E-cigarette Market in the UK 2018-2022, Technavio.com
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