Retailers Find Packaging Solutions

2. MASTER COMPLIANCE

While it’s important to please the right customers, retailers need to be just as mindful to NOT sell to the wrong customers. Do not overlook regulatory compliance in merchandising the tobacco set.

“Here in New York state, there is a required redlettered sign that says that we don’t sell tobacco products to minors,” said Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores. “There’s also a corresponding sign about not selling vaping products to minors. But every state has different requirements.”

Staying on top of these requirements — especially if you have locations in multiple states — is essential to properly selling the tobacco back bar. For example, some states require very specific signage while others do not, Calvin noted.

3. PRIORITIZE TRAINING

Going even further, Calvin strongly recommended developing a store “culture of continuous vigilance” in preventing the sale of tobacco products to minors. And that means repetitive training. “Training people once and hoping that they remember it and retain it forevermore — it does not work,” Calvin cautioned. “There need to be constant reminders.”

A store’s entire staff, he said, must internalize the responsibility so it becomes automatic. “There has to be that constant vigilance that is in the hearts and minds of your cashiers every hour of every day,” he advised.

4. GET INVOLVED LEGISLATIVELY

Calvin also stressed the need to be active in convenience industry trade organizations as well as with other retailers and industry groups. When you amplify your voice, it’s more likely to be heard. “It’s important to be plugged in to your trade association as to what types of laws and regulations are already on the books and new ones that are being proposed,” he advised.

Retailers should remember that they are able to have some influence with lawmakers by attending the next public hearing or town board meeting. This is becoming increasingly important given the trend of local governments passing tobacco-related ordinances. More localities are requiring retailers to have a town or city or county tobacco license — on top of a state license.

5. PROMOTE TOBACCO DEALS

Using signage to promote tobacco prices and deals is key to boosting tobacco sales, advised Fuel City’s Segura. “Make sure that if you are offering those multi-pack specials, put that big around your tobacco displays so (customers) can see that. Be consistent with it.”

Segura strongly advised that retailers give the customers what they ask for — that’ll lift sales throughout the store.

“We have a lot of return customers,” he said. “If you find a customer that likes an off-brand … and they want it, bring it in for them. Then keep it in stock for them, and you’ll keep that customer coming.” CSD

fast facts:

• Tobacco consumers love multi-packs. • Electronic nicotine delivery systems and spitless are seeing the greatest sales gains. • Training and vigilance prevent underage tobacco sales.

Bidi Vapor Going After Illegal ENDS Products

E-cigarette maker employs legal tactics against unlawful competition, intellectual property violations, while maintaining internal compliance to federal, state rules.

By Thomas Mulloy | August 27, 2021

Bidi Vapor, the maker of the BIDI® Stick disposable electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), announced today that the company will deploy a multi-prong strategy to combat the flood of illegal and subpar ENDS products that have entered the market.

Among the strategies Bidi Vapor publicly disclosed include injunctions and lawsuits over false advertising and intellectual property violations, as well as an appeal to local and federal law enforcement, including sharing data from the Bidi Vapor’s own investigative efforts. “Bad actors are flooding the market with products that fail to meet FDA standards, mislabel their formulations and use candy and fruity flavored names that entice kids,” says Niraj “Raj” Patel, President and CEO of Bidi Vapor. “For companies like ours that live by the rules, it’s an uneven playing field.”

Bidi Vapor said it has spent the past several months actively pursuing litigation and conducting targeted outreach to state attorneys general and federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

For his part, Patel has focused on building an ENDS company that not only provides a real-world option for adult smokers 21 and over but also avoids practices that generate interest and use among minors and non-vapers.

Since entering the ENDS industry in 2014, Patel has focused on the needs and wants of a mature demographic. That meant not only developing and designing a device for adult smokers but to build upon the lessons learned from the mistakes of others. Patel chose to focus on solid, age-restrictive policies and to market only to the adult-smoking population age 21 and over.

Patel’s strategy of integrity and introducing a premium product into the disposable category helped make BIDI® Stick the No. 1 disposable in the United States in recent months, according to Nielsen statistics.

Beyond legal remedies, Patel said his company has also made additional competitive decisions tied to their go-to-market strategies, which he declined to elaborate on as they are in varying stages of execution. “Until the rules start to mean something on the street, we are not going to take this abuse lying down,” Patel said. “Adult smokers deserve a viable option to combustible cigarettes that deliver on their brand message. They deserve products made with quality and backed by integrity.”

Bidi Vapor’s founding mission is to provide recreational, non-combusted alternatives to adult cigarette smokers. The company is vehemently opposed to all illegal, underage tobacco use, including ENDS use, by minors.

WARNING:

This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

PREMIUM. INNOVATIVE. SUSTAINABLE.

ADULT USE (21+) ONLY

FDA Reshapes Vape Category

Pre-market tobacco application decisions shrink vape category as marketing denial orders hit more than 900,000 vape and e-cigarette products.

Anne Baye Ericksen • Contributing Editor

On Aug. 26, the Food and Drug Ad-

ministration (FDA) lowered the hammer on approximately 35,000 fl avored e-cigarette items by issuing marketing denial orders (MDOs). The ruling prohibits interstate commerce for these products, resulting in convenience stores, vape shops and tobacco retailers immediately pulling them from store shelves.

One week later, the FDA released approximately 300,000 more MDOs on fl avored vape and e-cigarette products. Then, on the courtmandated deadline of Sept. 9, the FDA stated it had taken action on approximately 93% of the more than 6.5 million pre-market tobacco applications (PMTAs) accepted, including MDOs for more than 946,000 fl avored vape and e-cigarette products. “We know that fl avored tobacco products are very appealing to young people; therefore, assessing the impact of potential or actual youth use is a critical factor in our decision-making about which products may be marketed,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock.

“Right now, our main concern is that the FDA is aiming to clear the market of all but a handful of tobacco-derived nicotine vaping products. FDA is leaving adult smokers behind by trying to limit this category to only tobacco and menthol products. The end result will be disposables, e-liquids and pods being made with synthetic nicotine, which the (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products is not empowered to regulate,” said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association (AVA). “Efforts will eventually be made to restrict these products at the federal and state level, but as long as they remain legal, there will be a very large market for them.” “It is absolutely absurd that the same agency that found time to ban over 6 million vaping products manufactured by small businesses is now indicating they need more time to review products with massive market shares.“with massive market shares.

— Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association