The large U.S. producer of e-cigarettes – JUUL Labs – is entering the Ukrainian market, which will be the 14th international market for the company.
“We will be represented in Ukraine by the original American product. The Cigar House Fortuna will become our distribution partner. We will be represented in the six largest cities of the country – Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhia. We plan to enter 1,000 retail outlets. Products in stores will appear in the middle of next week,” General Manager of JUUL Labs for Ukraine and the CIS Ivan Darkov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to him, the company intends to oblige each outlet to sign a contract with the distribution partner that it will identify every customer who buys the product.
“If an outlet does not comply with the demand, the company will stop supplying its products. We do not plan to go on Facebook, Instagram, as these channels are aimed at popularizing the product mainly among young people, and also sell products through other online sales channels,” Darkov said.
He said that now the company has no official representation in Ukraine, as well as plans to open its own production.
“In Ukraine, there are more than 8 million adult smokers of traditional cigarettes. Based on the price, our product belongs to the premium segment. We plan to have over 200,000 customers for our products in Ukraine in three years,” the company’s general manager in Ukraine and the CIS said.
In addition, according to him, JUUL Labs intends to participate in the development of bills to regulate the market of e-cigarettes in Ukraine.
