JW Filshill releases guide to single-use vape ban

JW Filshill has created a comprehensive guide for retailers ahead of the single-use vaping ban, which takes effect on 1 June.

The Glasgow-based wholesaler is encouraging its customers to act now to ensure they are prepared for its implementation. This includes ensuring that all remaining stocks of single-use vapes are sold before 1 June and purchasing only vapes that adhere to the new regulations. Retailers with any single-use vapes in their possession after 1 June will not be able to sell them and must ensure they are disposed of safely.

The family-owned wholesaler has also warned that retailers found selling non-compliant vapes after 1 June may face legal consequences via Fixed Monetary Penalties (FMPs), with initial fines starting at £200 (reduced to £100 if paid within 28 days).

Continued non-compliance repeat offences may result in stop notices, preventing retailers from selling all vaping products. Larger fines could be imposed and even a prison sentence is a possibility.

To help retailers fully understand the new legislation and be prepared, Filshill’s category manager responsible solely for the tobacco and vape categories, Derek Cowan, has compiled a comprehensive guide outlining what businesses need to know and how to prepare for the transition.

Cowan said: “Any legislation that affects convenience stores is important and requires retailers to be fully compliant with all aspects of it – and the new UK-wide regulations around vapes are particularly important.

“However, government legislation can be cumbersome and complicated for busy business owners and their staff to navigate, which is why we have put together our comprehensive guide to what is required of them ahead of the 1 June deadline.

“From record-keeping and preparing for the shift to compliant vaping and ensuring that stores continue to provide a dedicated vape recycling bin for customers – even after disposables are no longer available – our guide should be studied by all retailers and staff who sell vapes to help them understand the many aspects of this upcoming legislation.

“Retailers requiring more help or advice are also urged to contact their KeyStore business development manager as soon as possible.”

Within the guide, there are sections on optimising a store’s new range of vapes with the bestselling rechargeable devices and how to best educate staff and customers about the new regulations and legal alternatives.

It also crucial for stores to phase out disposable vape stock as soon as possible before replacing it with long-term, compliant alternatives, Cowan urged. “Retailers should start transitioning their stock now, reducing the number of disposables on sale and keeping only the fastest-selling lines,” he said.

“They should start moving towards compliant, rechargeable vaping products to continue meeting consumer demand, while following legal upcoming legal guidelines.

“As a responsible wholesaler, it’s important that we communicate to our retailers when they should transition from non-compliant to compliant SKUs as unfortunately ranges are transitioning at different times – and also what the optimum range and planogram they should execute going forward.

“We will be in a position at the end of April that all stock we have will be compliant.”

RETAILER CASE STUDY

Longstanding KeyStore retailer Chris Cobb, who has run his store in Cults near Aberdeen for nearly 18 years, has been planning for 1 June since the beginning of the year. “We’ve been running down stock and ordering new products that are compliant,” he said. “We expect to have all our disposable vape stock finished by the middle of May.”

However, Cobb said that demand for stock which will soon be non-compliant remains high. “Some customers are aware of the changes, but we are making a point of reminding them every time they make a purchase,” he added.

“We are trying to educate them, and are telling them that disposable vapes will be illegal and encouraging them to move over to other products. For others, however, I don’t think it will hit home until 1 June.”

Cobb wholeheartedly agrees with the ban on single-use vapes. “You see them lying about and the ban will have a really beneficial environmental impact,” he said. “It’s not just vapes though – it’s a societal thing. We are a throwaway society.”

Advising all retailers to ensure that they take on board Filshill’s advice ahead of 1 June, he said: “It’s really important because Trading Standards will be all over it – it’s just not worth taking any risks because you will damage your reputation.

“If you are unsure about anything, your business development manager is at the end of the phone. You must protect your name, brand and standing in your local community.”