Retail stores for IQOS, a Rothmans, Benson & Hedges product, now have a name. The intent is to make the stores easier to find for adult smokers who are transitioning away from cigarettes.
The stores, which sell the innovative tobacco heating system, are now called Q-Lab. Due to Health Canada regulations, the stores could not use the product name as signage so they were operating with no name, including the location in West Edmonton Mall, which opened late last fall.
The name change is in the process of taking place, said Jeff Gaulin, director of external affairs with Rothmans, Benson & Hedges.
The company’s first Canadian store opened in April 2017 at Queen West and Peter Street in downtown Toronto. The company operates four stores in Canada – two in Toronto, one in Edmonton and one in Vancouver. The Toronto stores have changed their names, Edmonton officially changed on Monday and Vancouver will change within a week.
Jeff Gaulin
“It’s hard to say with bricks and mortar retail how many stores are going to be appropriate (in Canada),” said Gaulin. “We know that online shopping is probably the way of the future – it’s the way of today. But having a store presence is really great to build brand awareness and brand sensibility.
“So where we have a significant market share like in Western Canada I think that’s where it will make sense for us to have some stores. … We want the stores to be signature and destination places.”
IQOS is an electronic device that heats tobacco rather than burning it. It has three main components: a heat stick called a HEET, an IQOS holder, and a charger around the size of a cellphone. Using the device is billed as fairly close to the ritual of smoking and is said to offer a cleaner alternative to smoking cigarettes.
The smoke-free product uses heat-not-burn technology, allowing adult smokers to enjoy the true taste of tobacco without fire, ash or smoke and far less smell than a conventional cigarette.
“Originally we had called the stores IQOS, which is the name of the device that retails there. And under the new rules from Health Canada that was deemed not appropriate because IQOS is a tobacco delivery device and it was considered promotion. We couldn’t have the name of the device as the name of the store.
“So we went back to the drawing board and said what’s most important here was to let consumers know that there’s a heavy scientific backing to these devices and these innovations. This is not something that’s just new in the last year or a couple of years. This is 20 years in the making – more than C$8 billion of investment into science and technology,” said Gaulin.
“So we wanted something that gave consumers a real sense that there’s a lot of science behind these devices and the technology and the transition that we’re trying to get today’s smokers off of cigarettes.”
Gaulin said globally almost 10 million smokers have converted to the device.
“In Canada we’ve got about four and a half million tobacco users – cigarette smokers – so there’s a significant amount of Canadians I think that could make the switch to something that is less harmful for their health and a much better choice for their lifestyle,” he said.
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