French tobacco retailer: E-cigarette business loses 1,000 euros per month, believes PMI is unfair competition

French tobacco retailer: E-cigarette business loses 1,000 euros per month, believes PMI is unfair competition

A tobacconist at Place Saint-Pierre in France expressed dissatisfaction with Philip Morris' promotion and sale of e-cigarettes in public. Frédéric Pellet, president of the 31 Tobacco Merchants' Union, said that administrative procedures may be initiated against Philip Morris in the future.

According to French media LADÉPÊCHE on August 6, a tobacconist at Place Saint-Pierre in France expressed dissatisfaction with Philip Morris International (hereinafter referred to as "PMI")'s promotion and sale of e-cigarettes in public, and he believed that this situation created unfair competition for his industry.

Didier, a tobacconist at the corner of Rue Pagaminier and Place Saint-Pierre, was very angry. As the only tobacconist in the area, he had to deal with Philip Morris International's promotion of rechargeable and disposable e-cigarettes for several weeks: "They have four promoters who set up stations here and started promoting and even selling their e-cigarettes."

It should be reminded that tobacconists are prohibited from advertising tobacco products in France.

"You can understand my anger. This situation is particularly unfair, especially when we know the difficulties faced by tobacconists in order to ensure turnover. Personally, in June, I lost 20% of my turnover on traditional cigarettes and 1,000 euros a month on e-cigarettes."

The increase in tobacco prices since January last year has not improved the tobacconists' business - tobacco sales in the Haute-Garonne region fell by 15% in June.

Philip Morris International sent letters to bars in Toulouse to deepen their understanding of this business activity: "Our action is mainly to inspire consumers, allowing smokers to taste the products of a well-known and high-quality brand for free. At the end of the tasting, we also offer the purchase of tobacco products, which avoids your customers going to the tobacco shop. 8 euros can buy two e-cigarettes, or 16 euros for a rechargeable e-cigarette with 4 flavors."

"With such a promotion, the tobacconist is particularly affected." Frédéric Pellet, president of the 31st Tobacco Merchants' Union, believes that on the Place Saint-Pierre, young customers are just passing by, "there is no possibility of establishing user stickiness." But he also believes that administrative procedures may be initiated against Philip Morris in the future.

"But I'm afraid this will end up like the FloraJet incident in 2016, when the tobacconist was fined 750,000 euros for obstructing the distribution of scratch cards in the FloraJet florist's delivery bundle network in a French game." Frédéric Pellet concluded: "In this tobacco incident, the national federation must intervene."

Philip Morris International has not yet responded to this.