Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore how vape shops use retail kinship strategies to create a community of loyal customers. Retailing a product shrouded in rhetoric and controversial benefits is risky: a product that may wean consumers from a nasty habit proven to shorten one’s life span yet is banned in Canada and restricted in Australia with a plethora of laws regulating its use. In the UK and Europe the reality is a welcoming of e-cigs as an effective tool to discourage smoking tobacco. Such a product is not only perilous and controversial but requires customised retail strategies to flourish in a kinship manner devoted to their community of customers. The UK e-cigarette industry is facing paradoxical public opinion, contentious medical reports and ever-changing governmental legislation– welcome to the UK e-cigarette market, an industry worth £913 million and 2.6 million users of vape products. (Goldsmith, 2016).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | ANZMAC 2017 : Marketing for Impact |
| Subtitle of host publication | Conference Proceedings |
| Editors | Linda Robinson, Linda Brennan, Mike Reid |
| Place of Publication | Melbourne |
| Pages | 649-652 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Dec 2017 |
Keywords
- e-cigarettes
- vaping
- retail kinship
- vape retail
- customer communities