Co-op Wholesale is slashing prices on vapes and streamlining the category’s rebate model as it seeks to drive profits for Nisa retailers, The Grocer can reveal.
The wholesaler and symbol group operator will be reducing wholesale pricing across its vape range by up to 15% from next month.
Vape sales will also now contribute to retailers’ overall weekly order values for rebates, rather than having a separate vape rebate mechanism. Retailers can earn up to a 6% rebate if they spend £16,500 or more a week with Co-op Wholesale.
The changes are designed to deliver value directly through lower purchase prices, give retailers greater transparency, and make margins easier to manage.
It is also adding over 200 new vape lines, taking its range to approximately 500 SKUs, through its partnership with Aquavape and other vape suppliers.
The investment in its vape proposition comes as the Vaping Products Duty is set to launch on 1 October. It is a new £2.20 excise duty on all vaping liquids manufactured in, or imported into, the UK, whether they contain nicotine or not.
Co-op Wholesale said the new tax would bring additional complexity to the category and it was looking to simplify how value was delivered to retailers.
A consultation launched by the Department of Health & Social Care in July, which proposes restricting displays of vaping and nicotine products, is also running until 2 October.
“Retailers are navigating significant change within the vape category,” said Co-op Wholesale MD Katie Secretan. “This is an opportunity for us to simplify the way we manage the commercial value of vape; from rebate to price, offering our retailers a real opportunity to grow their business.
“We are refreshing our range to one of the biggest in the wholesale market of over 500 SKUs, and investing to deliver some of the best pricing in the market too. We’re going big, to support our retailers at a time that really matters.”
Co-op Wholesale made similar moves with tobacco last year when it invested £2m to drop the wholesale selling price of over 500 tobacco lines. The aim was to deliver margins that would help retailers be sustainable and grow in a challenging market.
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