In 2018, Juul Labs Inc. had announced its plans to stop selling most of its flavoured nicotine liquids at bricks-and-mortar stores. The e-cig manufacturer had said that it would keep on selling menthol and tobacco-flavored products in stores, and that all the other flavours would remain available for sale on its website, which has age-verification controls.
Over 40,000 outlets from over 50 retail chains have set in place the age verification system set by Juul.
At the time, former CEO Kevin Burns pointed out that the company had “stopped accepting retail orders for our Mango, Fruit, Creme and Cucumber JUUL pods to the over 90,000 retail stores that sell our product.”
However, likely in response to last month’s announcement by the Trump administration that all flavoured vaping products may be banned, Juul has just announced that it will now also stop selling its flavoured pods on its website, effective immediately. Meanwhile its mint and menthol nicotine pods will remain available for sale.
“We continue to review our policies and practices in advance of FDA’s flavor guidance and have not made any final decisions,” Juul spokesman Austin Finan said in a statement. “We are refraining from lobbying the administration on its draft flavor guidance and will fully support and comply with the final policy when effective.”
Another Measure to Prevent Teen Vaping
Meanwhile last month, Juul had announced that it was setting in place a new age-verification system at points of sale, aimed at keeping its products out of minors’ hands.
More than 40,000 outlets from over 50 retail chains have set in place the age verification system set by Juul, including convenience store chains ExtraMile and Cumberland Farms.
In order to encourage retailers to embrace this system, Juul which controls about 75% of the American e-cigarette market, has been offering over $100 million in incentives to stores that adopt the standards by May 2021. Additionally, the manufacturer plans to stop distributing products to any retailers who do not implement the system.
Once the age-verification feature is implemented, scanning a Juul product locks point-of-sale systems until a valid government ID is scanned. The system also automatically limits the number of Juul products that one customer can purchase, a feature aimed at preventing adults from buying in bulk and reselling to minors.
Juul has also said that it will roll out a nationwide version of its Track & Trace program. This scheme aims to locate confiscated Juul devices, and determine where they were sold with the assistance of educators, police and parents, who would report device serial numbers. According to the manufacturer, this program was piloted in Houston over the past months.
Read Further: CNBC
