Retailers urged to meet the demands of consumers
CONSUMER desire for the roll-your-own (RYO) section in tobacco has steadily been on the rise in recent years and shows no sign of slowing down for 2024.
Even with the recent rise in duty for the segment, Imperial Tobacco believes that shoppers will still be turning to the segment and retailers should be well equipped to cater to this as a result.
This means there is plenty of opportunity to drive up some RYO tobacco accessories in turn for the year ahead, at least according to Tom Gully, head of consumer marketing UK & Ireland for Imperial Tobacco.
He said: “As demand for RYO tobacco grows in light of the rising consumer appetite for value, the tobacco accessories category provides a substantial sales opportunity for retailers.
“Recent figures show that filter tips are worth a sizeable £114million of sales and, while regular papers account for £44million, king-size papers at £29million and combi papers at £33million are also proving to be popular.
“With this in mind, we strongly recommend stocking a wide range of products across each of these segments to cater for customer needs and maximise the sales opportunities on offer.”
So, Imperial has pushed retailers to stock up on its range of accessories such as its Rizla brand of rolling papers, which Gully said will appeal to consumers who are more value conscious.
One such product that will appeal the most here will be the Rizla King Size Combi Silver, with an RRP of £1.20. The pack offers consumers both papers and tips together to save on spending more to buy two separate options and will also save on some shelf space for retailers.
And with brand loyalty such an important part of tobacco sales as well, the Rizla brand will be well positioned to appeal to a broad range of customers.
Gully said: “There’s now a wide variety of different tobacco accessories available on the market, which means that retailers need to have a solid understanding of which products they are selling in store and which customers they are most suited to.
“In doing so, they’ll be well-equipped to effectively support customers in purchasing decisions in store and also can use this insight to shape their range.”
He added: “It’s important that retailers have a wide range of different tobacco accessories to cater to different customers, such as filter tips, papers and flavour cards.
“Given the prevalence of brand loyalty in tobacco overall, it’s even more important that they are stocking the most popular brands that customers will be looking for, like Rizla, in order to avoid missing out on any sales opportunities.
“With more than 200 years of heritage, Rizla is the number one rolling paper in the UK and the perfect brand for convenience retailers to stock to tap into this trend.”
Imperial launches Rizla Classic King Size Combi
IMPERIAL Tobacco has grown the selection across its Rizla brand with a new Classic Combi variant.
Available to buy now, the new Rizla Classic King Size Combi includes 32 unbleached kingsize papers and tips to help appeal to the rising number of roll-your-own smokers looking for more natural papers, according to Imperial Tobacco.
Imperial also said the new brown papers offer a more natural and authentic feel and, with the inclusion of tips in the pack, offers everything a roll-your-own smoker needs at an MRRP of £1.30 per pack.
Jamie Burns-Smith, category manager at Imperial Tobacco, said: “Our latest launch of Rizla Classic KS Combi taps into the trend for convenience and responds to the rising demand among smokers for more natural papers, filling a gap in the market with its new unbleached papers and tips in the same pack.
“With volume sales of combi formats expected to exceed those of popular standard format kingsize papers thanks to the great convenience they offer, we’d highly recommend stocking up on Rizla Classic KS Combi to tap into this trend and grow sales with an iconic and market-leading paper brand.”
