Ploom takes first steps outside London  

JTI’s heated tobacco system, Ploom, is now available in retailers outside the M25 with Tesco and Evapo stores in Bristol, Sheffield, High Wycombe, Brighton and Birmingham all now stocking both the Ploom S device and the EVO sticks which the system uses.

Ploom was launched at the end of last year with two Ploom lounges in Argyll Street and Westfield Stratford in central London. Sixty retailers (30 vape stores and 30 independent retailers) were also given the opportunity to stock the range. The initial launch was interrupted by the UK lockdown last winter, however.

Last month, meanwhile, Philip Morris announced its IQOS brand would focus on growing sales in 18 UK key cities as the business looks to widen distribution as we emerge from pandemic restrictions.   

Taken together, both brands’ efforts to widen distribution at speed underlines that 2021 has become a key year in the development of the still-new heated tobacco category.