Take the next step in vaping product sales
Winner – Premier RaceTrack Pitstop Bearsden
Vaping Retailer of the Year – supported by BAT
Interview with Guna Sud, retail manager at Premier RaceTrack Pitstop
VAPING has without a doubt been one of the most turbulent categories for convenience store retailers in recent years.
A massive money maker for shop owners, thanks to its generous margins, it’s clear-cut why it has become such a popular sector for the convenience channel across the whole of the UK, but it has certainly come with its struggles.
These include counterfeit products that have kept retailers on their toes to ensure the product on the shelf remains safe for their customers; demand that can surge and drop off across flavours, tank sizes or even brand names; and, of course, the incoming disposable vape ban to throw another spanner in the works.
It’s a challenging category, but one that will almost certainly pay off for those retailers who are willing to get to grips with the intricacies that it can present and develop a range that is fit for consumer demands.
This has clearly been the case for Guna Sud, retail manager for Premier RaceTrack Pitstop, who has worked to develop a vaping range that is tailored towards each of the company’s stores and meets the ever-changing desires of consumers within the category.
This is plainly present in the Premier RaceTrack Pitstop Bearsden store, which offers an expansive range of vaping options that covers off every possible subcategory within the sector, including disposable options or refillable ones, across a plethora of brands popular with shoppers.
Guna said: “Vaping is a massive element to our stores, it’s a big driver for footfall and a significant portion of our sales comes directly from vapes.
“From the very beginning, we made sure that we were offering something different for consumers for vapes, we didn’t just want to have a smaller, simple range that only stocked the fastest sellers.
“We have made a range that has something for everyone, from disposables to starter kits and into more intermediate options and nicotine salts.
“It has become such a core part of our business now and is something that shoppers expect to find when they come into our stores. If they see RaceTrack above the door, they know they’ll be able to find what they’re looking for.”
To ensure this success has lasted the challenges that are presented across the category, Guna remains on top of the sector and is constantly reviewing it to ensure it remains future-proof and will continue to be a money-spinner for the RaceTrack brand.
As such, Scottish Grocer judges saw fit to name Guna and the Premier RaceTrack Pitstop Bearsden store as the Vaping Retailer of the Year at the Scottish Grocer Awards 2024, to recognise both the success of RaceTrack’s Vaped4U brand and the ongoing ambition to remain ahead of the competition.
It has been no small feat for Guna to make sure his vape range has remained at the forefront of the Scottish convenience channel.
And, despite never using a device in his life, Guna has become something of an expert in the field. He said: “You have got to do a lot of research in this category. There are so many brands, suppliers, wholesalers and options on the market, so you need to keep on top of all of this.
“I talk to as many brands and suppliers as I can to find out about what kind of products are starting to come through and help decide on what I should be stocking.
“This means I can stay well ahead of the game, and prepare in advance for the incoming disposable vape ban.”
Perhaps the biggest concern this year for plenty of retailers, the disposable vape ban – set to come in on 1 June – has presented a number of challenges right across the convenience sector.
But Guna believes this new legislation doesn’t need to mean the end of the vaping sector as we know it – it’s just a matter of moving on to the next step and evolving his offer across Vaped4U.
To do so, Guna has been working to move his customers over to refillable options by running promotional offers across Starter Kit options and highlighting the money that shoppers will save.
Guna said: “We have been really pushing out refillable options and Starter Kits across Vaped4U in these last few months. It’s where our sales growth has been for the category, so there is still plenty of worth to be found in vaping.
“We’ve worked directly with our brand partners to do this and, for example, we have had reps from Elfbar who came in to offer shoppers a free Starter Kit if they bought a nicotine salts product.
“It was £5.99 cost to the customer and nothing else, so doing promotions like that has really helped us to drive up sales and push customers the correct way forward.”
As a result of this, Guna has been working ahead of the ban to cut down on the number of disposable options across his sites and, in early April, he said his single-use options only made up about 40-45% of his stock at the Bearsden site and was now in the minority for the vaping section.
And from 1 May, nothing new is set to come through for the disposable section from wholesalers across the RaceTrack stores as Guna says he is now working to sell off as much of this stock as he can before the ban to ensure minimal wastage and lost profits across his stores.
While it’s clear that Guna is covered for the immediate future in the vaping section, his ambitions with the future of the category don’t stop there.
The most important step that a retailer can take within the vaping sector is the next one, and that’s the ambition from Guna, who is looking beyond the disposable ban to ensure he can continue to bring the cutting-edge to his customers within the category.
Guna said: “We are thinking well beyond the ban as this will only do so much to the category, and we’re looking at how we can bring our customers with us as we move beyond June.
“This means finding what works for customers when they initially move away from single-use vapes and help them to take the next step after that.
“For us, this means we are looking at more big-puff reusable devices and pod-based systems from various brands as consumers know them and already trust them. These are still growing sales for us, but we’re staying cautious on just how many SKUs we bring in for them.
“That’s step one for us. Step two is helping them to explore the category more once they have a bit of confidence to do so and move to products like nicotine salts. It means we have shoppers coming back to us and they know they can trust us regardless of what comes in the future.”
