How to overcome the challenge of retailing heated tobacco

With alternatives to traditional tobacco products on the rise, vapes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products are increasingly coming into their own. The heated tobacco category in the UK is now worth nearly £2m a week in traditional retail¹and already worth £28m in the last year¹, with growth of 19.6% year on year in independent and symbol stores².

This represents a huge opportunity for retailers. However, the challenge to convenience stores lies in educating retailers and their staff on the category.

What is heated tobacco and how does it work?

According to supplier JTI, heated tobacco offers a familiar yet alternative tobacco experience for existing adult smokers and vapers. By heating tobacco, instead of burning it, these devices are said to give the user an authentic tobacco taste, but without the smoke smell and minimal charring.

Within the overall category, sales of tobacco-flavoured variants account for 50% of all refill sales in traditional retail³, while menthol flavoured variants account for 43%⁴, showing the trends forming in the market, it says. But with heated tobacco being a relatively new category in-store, it’s important for suppliers to give as much support to retailers as possible to ensure the success of the sector.

Heated tobacco vs vaping

Products within the heated tobacco category

Ploom is JTI’s offering in the heated tobacco category.

EVO Tobacco Sticks are inserted into the Ploom device and then heated to release a tobacco vapour. The EVO range comprises eight flavours, including tobacco, menthol and fruit-based options, with the key flavours from the company below:

Consumers can heat 20 sticks from a single charge and there is minimal cleaning as the sticks are heated from the outside, resulting in less tobacco debris, says JTI. The Ploom device comes in three finishes: matte black, soft champagne and steel silver.

Top tips from JTI for selling heated tobacco

1. Train your team: C-store retailers need to ensure their staff are category experts and able to assist consumers in their decision-making. So, understanding the key differences between heated tobacco and vaping, for example, is a good place to start.

2. Have devices available for in-store demonstrations: These will enable retailers to illustrate to their customers how the heated tobacco devices work and will also give confidence to staff in explaining them.

3. Ensure consistent product availability: To make the most of the sales opportunity, retailers should ensure they have good availability, so consumers don’t have to shop around.

4. Establish clear product visibility: Give the category a clear ‘home’ by displaying heated tobacco devices on a back wall, so the customer has a visible choice of nicotine products.

5. Use all available resources: as well as JTI’s business advisers, who can advise what to stock and how to maximise sales, accredited retailers⁵ also have the support of a Ploom specialist, which are total category experts and on hand to assist trade partners. Retailers can also reach out to JTI’s customer care line on 0800 163503 or visit the company’s trade retailer website on www.JTIAdvance.co.uk.

^{Sources
1 IRI Market Place, Value Sales, Total T-Vapour Category, Symbols & Independents, MAT Jun 2022
2 IRI Market Place, Value Sales, Total T-Vapour Category, Symbols & Independents, Jun 2022 vs Jun 2021
3+4 IRI Market Place, Unit Sales, Total T-Vapour Category, Total UK, June 2022 vs June 2021
5 200 retailers have been specially selected by JTI and trained to be able to converse with consumers about the Ploom product range}