Paul Hill finds out how JTI’s Nordic Spirit brand is growing within the wholesale channel
What is Nordic Spirit? And what trends and opportunities are emerging that customers can take advantage of
Nordic Spirit is JTI’s range of 100% tobacco-free nicotine pouches. Convenient and discreet, it can be used in situations where smoking or vaping is not possible.
The tobacco-free nicotine pouch category is growing
rapidly and is now worth £4.6m a year.
Within this category, 9mg is the more popular strength compared with the 6mg variant, with over half of the market share.
In terms of flavour split, the UK nicotine pouch market is around 70% menthol and 30% fruit. To meet this demand, Nordic Spirit is available in 6mg and 9mg varieties of Bergamot Wildberry, Elderflower and Mint, with the latter available in 12mg.
What advice would you give wholesalers looking to grow sales in the category?
Having up-to-date knowledge and keeping up with trends in the category is key as it continues to grow. Wholesalers can then not only stock the right products, but also speak to their retail customers about new ranges and confidently give advice on 100% tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
To maximise sales, wholesalers should stock the bestselling products, monitor EPoS data and take advantage of educational tools such as JTIAdvance.co.uk, which offers advice on making the most of the category.
What is Nordic Spirit’s greatest achievement in the past year?
Nordic Spirit has gone from strength to strength since hitting shelves just over a year ago. As a result, it is now the UK’s leading tobacco-free nicotine pouch brand, with a huge 90.5% market share, so it’s safe to say that makes a successful first birthday.
As many wholesalers will already know, we recently changed our design and introduced price-marked packs and a brand-new flavour into our range.
Joining Mint and Bergamot Wildberry, Elderflower is now also available in a regular 6mg and strong 9mg to offer even more choice to customers.
What challenges has JTI/Nordic Spirit had to overcome in the past year?
One obvious challenge that the industry has had to overcome in the past 12 months is the Characterising Flavour Ban, which came into effect on 20 May.
While it’s currently too early to comment on the exact impact of the ban and the direct changes it has made to different categories, we know that Nordic Spirit has been performing extremely well in recent months.
With the Mint flavour our bestseller at the moment, we expect this to grow in popularity as existing adult smokers look at what other products are available to them.
Likewise, the fact that the nicotine pouch category is so new to the UK market is a challenge in itself.
With consumers unfamiliar with the concept, we’ve had to work closely with both our wholesale and retail partners to make sure enough information is available to them.
Are you planning any activity of which wholesalers should be aware?
We know the category is continuing to grow in the UK, and with the demand being so high, we will always look to innovate and listen to exactly what wholesalers want – whether that be new flavours, strengths and even merchandising initiatives as wholesaler’s ranges grow.
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