Global tobacco display ban to hit UK stores

Retail associations representing convenience stores have reacted angrily to the UK Government’s plan to ban the display of cigarette products in retail outlets.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the campaigning voice of over 33,000 local shops, claimed the decision will lead to cost and disruption to tens of thousands of retail businesses of all sizes.

Lowman: mockery of Government claims

ACS chief executive, James Lowman, said: “We have explained that implementing a tobacco display ban will cost our industry over £250m and concessions on a longer lead-in period will not allay our grave concerns. This announcement makes a mockery of Government claims to be the friend of small and local businesses.”

Lowman said that experiences from the few countries and states which have introduced a ban provide no compelling evidence that a display ban leads to a reduction in smoking.

“It is deeply frustrating that whilst the Government is willing to dismissively treat robust evidence provided by experts here and abroad about the cost impact on retailers, they are willing to rely on inconclusive and flimsy evidence of the benefits of this measure,” he said.

The British Retail Consortium said Government was right to try to stop children smoking but display bans were not the answer. They will pile on costs for retailers and inconvenience for customers, it claimed.

BRC director general, Stephen Robertson, said: “This will hit small stores, which lack the space and resources, particularly hard.

“It will impose thousands of pounds of pointless refit costs on stores, ultimately met by customers, and create delays and inconvenience for customers and staff.

“We supported last year’s increase in the age for buying tobacco to 18 years old. Next April there will be tougher penalties for stores who break that rule. Enforcing existing and new regulations and stopping parents and older peers supplying tobacco to children is the real answer.”

New legislation

In a statement last month the Department of Health said it would legislate to ban the display of tobacco products in shops and prevent underage access to vending machines.

Tobacco displays would be removed from larger stores from 2011 and from smaller stores by 2013.

The Government stopped short of a complete vending ban and also rejected proposals to ban sales of packets of 10 cigarettes and remove all branding.

Health secretary Alan Johnson said: “Protecting children from smoking is our goal. My hope is that shops will use this opportunity to promote healthier goods to their customers.’

The Government said that in countries including Canada where point of sale displays have already been removed there has been a 10% drop in smoking among 15-19-year olds.

It added there was no evidence that stores have had to close as a result of removing displays.

However, in an interview with Global Convenience Store Focus in November, Dave Bryans, president of the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCAS), said almost a third of Canada’s convenience stores will close in the next five years as a result of the tobacco display ban.

Bryans said the ban targeted small businesses disproportionately and that tobacco consumption had not gone down as a result.

“Consumption has gone down nowhere,” he said. “Governments don’t lose out because the volumes don’t go down. The manufacturer does not suffer - he makes more money. The only person that suffers is the family-run store.”

Bryans sounded a wake-up call to UK convenience retailers at the time.

“You’ve got to fight the fight of your lives. If you don’t, like Canada, you will wish you had.”

Dave Bryans will be presenting at Insight’s Global Convenience Benchmarks 2009 event in Dublin, Ireland, 23-26 March 2009.