UKVIA: How to keep shopper confidence as lockdown eases

The UK Vaping Industry Association is urging stores to follow government guidance in the weeks ahead as vape specialist stores prepare to open their doors again.

John Dunne, director of the UKVIA said: “The vaping industry on the whole has been exemplary in following government guidance to date, indeed going beyond it in many cases, and it’s imperative for the sector that vape shops fully subscribe to additional retail guidance that has been issued. By doing so it will give consumers the confidence they need to visit vape stores and will help the vaping retail sector get back on its feet as quickly as possible.”

Dunne also said he was expecting significant numbers of menthol smokers to switch to vaping in the coming weeks. Last month on UKVIA member, Vape Club, published research suggesting 39% of smokers were likely to quit in the aftermath of the menthol ban with 18% moving over to the vape category.

With an estimated 1.3 million current menthol smokers in the UK this could translate to nearly a quarter of a million new vape customers.

Dunne said: “Early feedback that I’ve had from the industry is that they are already seeing interest levels in menthol vape products rising and that’s likely to accelerate once business gets back to normal over the next few months. We predict that once stores are open again menthol smokers will be keen to gain specialist advice on the menthol vape products available to them which will drive the switchover further.”