Cloud Chasing 2
Inside Business
DROPPING THE BALL Matt Moden, Managing Director of Liberty Flights, played down the assumption that the convenience channel has “dropped the ball” regarding vaping. He thinks the sector beats itself up too much with regards to its performance. He said the arrival of the technology and the industry that grew around it “completely usurped” all the big tobacco companies. Referring to the role played by online and specialist shops in the rise of vaping, he said: “It could never have grown like it did in the way that it did without going through the channels it went through. But it’s an evolving market and it is changing so rapidly that there is certainly opportunity.” He acknowledged vaping could be a “headache” for retailers for several reasons and urged them to take a full category approach. To that end, Moden laid out his seven golden rules for success. The first of these is to take knowledge seriously. “You have to understand what you’re selling,” said Moden. “If you or your staff aren’t taking it seriously, you might as well put gin on the shelves.” Walk before you can run is Moden’s second rule. He said Premier Racetrack was a great example of “somebody running and doing it with a plan”. Moden also stressed the importance of efficient merchandising. Retailers must expand and evolve their display solutions, he said. The migration from the tobacco gantry to a free-standing display unit is “critical”. As is offering shopper value. If you get it right, said Moden, and deliver a good solution, it will “massively increase footfall”. His fifth rule urged retailers to “own their profit destiny”. He is in no doubt the category is seeing a “race to the bottom” and said: “We’ve got to be mindful of the distinction between POR and cash margin.” He then sounded a note of caution and advised retailers to “pick pod systems wisely” and think where the lion’s share of category sales come from. The biggest challenge for pods is the existing market for open tank systems, said Moden, warning that – much like coffee pods – their ecological impact will become an increasing problem. For his final point, he urged retailers to “stick to the plan”. Work with a partner to take a holistic category approach and you should “see results in three months”.
GETTING A FAIR SHARE Paul Hastings of JTI and retailer Ferhan Ashiq offer an informative case study.
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SLR December 2019.indd 37
Stuart Lane, Head of FMCG for Blackburnbased Vape Dinner Lady reiterated the point that convenience isn’t getting its fair share of DECEMBER 2019 | SLR
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