16
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
MAY/JUNE 2014
NEWS & TRENDS
MAY/JUNE 2014
While no one claims to know where
the FDA will land in regard to e-ciga-
rettes, many are speculating that the
government agency will eventually
regulate the category. The National
Association of Convenience Stores
(NACS) is taking a proactive stance on
that position by encouraging its retail
members to treat e-tobacco products
as an age-restricted product, subject-
ing them to the same age-verification
procedures as those applicable to to-
bacco products.
Convenience stores are the largest
retail channel for e-cigarette sales with
overall sales of nearly $540 million in
2013, representing 75 percent of all
brick-and-mortar sales excluding ki-
osks and tobacco-only outlets.
“Given the uncertain status of e-cig-
arettes, it just makes sense that conve-
nience stores check IDs as part of the
more than 4.5 million age-verification
checks that we already conduct every
day,” explains NACS President and
CEO Henry Armour.
NACS’ position, which was devel-
oped by the association’s retail board
of directors at a recent meeting, is as
follows:
• Retailers should, as a best prac-
tice, follow the same applicable fed-
eral, state and local laws for verifying
the age of purchasers of tobacco and
apply these standards to the sale of e-
cigarettes.
• NACS will promote effective pro-
cedures for retailers to verify sales of
age-restricted products and will en-
courage retailers to utilize these proce-
dures and training tools.
• NACS will work with all appropri-
ate federal organizations to ensure that
convenience stores continue to play a
leadership role in establishing guide-
lines that take into account current
research related to the age-restricted
products.
NACS is also encouraging retail-
ers to use procedures and training
tools like those offered by We Card, a
program established in the 1990s to
provide age-verification tools and pro-
cesses to retailers. NACS was a found-
ing member of this program, which
has provided retailers with more than
1.1 million in-store educational kits
and has trained more than 350,000 re-
tail employees nationwide.
We Card training resources include
state-law-specific eLearning courses
for frontline cashiers and managers
that follow FDA Guidance for Tobacco
Retailer Training Programs, in-store
tools to assist with proper age calcu-
lation, spotting both fake IDs and ille-
gal adult purchases for minors, plus
a wide range of in-store signage and
information on how to display this sig-
nage. We Card has produced new ma-
terials specifically for e-cigarette age
verification.
“As responsible retailers, we want to
help ensure that minors do not have
access to e-cigarettes,” says Armour.
“Convenience stores will continue to
act responsibly in retailing e-cigarettes
and complying with existing laws.”
NACS Weighs in on E-Cig Age
Association urges c-stores to treat e-cigs as age-restricted position relating to e-cigarette sales.
Eco-Cigs, a marketer of electronic ciga-
rettes, announced that it has signed a
distribution agreement with Kimball Dis-
tributing (KDI) of Grand Prairie, Texas, a
rapidly growing distributor of premium
energy and protein drinks to retailers in
Dallas/Fort Worth and 25 surrounding
counties.
The arrangement gives Eco-Cigs full
distribution in seven of the top 10 U.S.
markets. “We’re excited about working
with Kimball Distributing,” says Tony Vec-
chie, senior vice president of sales and
distribution at Eco-Cigs. “We believe this
partnership will make an important differ-
ence for both Eco-Cigs and KDI, and we
appreciate their confidence in our com-
pany and our brands.”
“We are extremely pleased to be
working with Eco-Cigs—a class organi-
zation,” adds Kimball Smith, president
of KDI, which also distributes Sapphyre
and Sapphyre Hookah products to thou-
sands of locations throughout its large
service area. “And our first sales results
with Sapphyre and Sapphyre Hookah are
very positive,” he says. “What’s more,
Eco-Cigs’ high-quality products are guar-
anteed not only by our company, but by
Eco-Cigs too.
“And as a company new to the e-ciga-
rette business,” Smith continues, “we are
comfortable that Eco-Cigs products are
marketed solely to the 18-and-over mar-
ket, and that they offer consumers a real
alternative to traditional cigarettes.”
Eco-Cigs Expands Distribution
Company now has distribution in seven of the top 10 U.S. markets.
