ID firm recruits advisors for vape industry

Age verification company 1account is to help retailers improve their online and offline responsible retailing policies with the recruitment of a new team of industry leaders.

The company is a leading technology provider to online vendors of age restricted products and services and says its new advisory board will support its ambitious plans in the vaping sector, which includes the roll out of a new consumer-focused ID app to prevent under age access to vape devices and e-liquids online and offline.

Included on the new panel are Mark Aylwin, the former managing director of Booker; Ralph Topping, the former chief executive of bookmakers William Hill; Simon Bazalgette, former CEO of the Jockey Club, which own the biggest 15 racehorse venues in the UK, and Murray Perkins, who was previously policy director at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). 

Each figure has experience of limiting access of restricted products or services to minors.

Aylwin will help focus on the continued roll out of the company’s online technology and help businesses in the vaping sector make the transition to accepting the company’s new consumer digital ID app, 1account ID, for their online and offline commerce.

The new consumer digital ID app will complement the company’s existing online verification technology which cross references consumers’ purchasing information against data sources that enable it to validate its authenticity, such as a user’s mobile phone network. The company currently provides such a solution to a number of major vape retailers including Ecigwizard, E-Cigarette Direct, Vapourcore and Royal Flush Vape.

Mark Aylwin says: “The creation of a digital ID for the purchase of vape products online and offline represents a major step forward and will enable vape retailers to take the most proactive stance possible in preventing under age sales of vape devices and e-liquids. 1account can offer vape retailers a solution both online and offline that enables compliance for now and the future.”

“Through my experience in the retail marketplace I am looking forward to helping vape product retailers across the board to adopt the digital ID and verification technology so that they can benefit from faster transactions and enhance their customer experience, but most importantly introduce the most robust protection on the market against under age sales.”

Ben Keirle, chief executive and founder of 1account, who sits on the Youth Access Prevention Committee of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA),added: “Age verification is at the heart of our current operations but we are seeing unprecedented demand for our digital ID product that will play a part in everyday lives in the very near future. In creating this solution, which complements existing processes and provides added protection to minors and vulnerable groups, we are now in a position to help the vaping business sector and their customers to make the transition to a truly digitised environment in the future for the purchase of vape devices and ancillary products.”