A survey conducted by online nictonie pouch retailer Haypp has revealed that two-thirds of Brits believe it’s easier for minors to purchase nicotine pouches online, than in physical stores.
However, this perception does not align with the reality of youth access to nicotine pouches.
According to Haypp’s new Nicotine Pouch Report, 56% of those who admitted to purchasing nicotine pouches while under the age of 18 revealed they bought these products from a convenience store.
An additional 17% purchased them from supermarkets, and 31% managed to get their hands on them via friends. 21% of those surveyed stated that they were able to purchase pouches online when they were under eighteen.
Combining the percentages of those who purchased pouches from c-stores and supermarkets, 73% of those surveyed were able to procure nicotine pouches from bricks-and-mortar stores compared with 21% from online retailers.
In the UK it’s currently not an offence to sell nicotine pouches to under-18s. This is due to a legal loophole that will be closed when the Tobacco & Vapes Bill becomes law.
Although there’s no legal age limit for the sale of nicotine pouches, reputable online retailers have implemented stringent age verification processes to ensure these products can only be accessed by adult consumers. However, it seems that many high street stores are failing to implement any age verification checks for the sale of nicotine pouches.
Based on this data, Haypp is calling for all retailers to act responsibly by implementing processes to ensure that these products are only sold to adult consumers.
Markus Lindblad, head of external affairs at Haypp, said: “A critical factor in the prevention of underage access to adult-only products is having robust and reliable age verification procedures.
“This can often be a point of difference between online and offline shopping. In brick-and-mortar stores, age checks are usually done face-to-face by staff, whereas online retailers typically use digital age verification systems.
“Digital systems can enforce mandatory checks more consistently and maintain a traceable record, whereas in-store age verification is often at the discretion of whichever staff member is on duty at a particular time. Online verification processes remove the potential for human error or employee discretion when assessing a potential customer’s age.”
While survey respondents may have a perception that online shopping poses a greater risk for underage access to regulated products than offline, the evidence doesn’t back this up.
Despite extensive media reporting about online and social media enabling youth access to pouches, the survey data suggests that stores are a much more common source for minors in the UK.
No comments yet