JTI UK’s Sales Vice President, Ross Hennessy, has released an update on how JTI is supporting their trade partners during the Coronavirus pandemic.
“From the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) priority has been the wellbeing of its employees and their families. We are closely following the World Health Organization’s strategy of disease containment and continue to take measures across our company to reduce the risk of disease transmission and to safeguard the health and safety of our employees and trade partners
Since Tuesday 17th March, our salesforce and Account Managers have not been physically visiting stores or our trade accounts and will not do so until further notice. We will continue to monitor the situation and as soon as it is safe to do so, we look forward to being in a position to start visiting again. We are committed to providing support to all our trade partners during this time and hope to achieve the same level of assistance while working remotely.
We would encourage any account who requires assistance while store visits are suspended to either contact their JTI representative by phone, visit our trade website JTI Advance or call the Customer Care Line on 0800 163503. Our salesforce and Account Managers will also be ringing all their customers regularly to help in any way they can. This call will be designed to keep our trade partners up to date on any information that is relevant, as would be the normal course of business during a physical visit.
I want to assure you that our supply chain is very robust globally and locally and we have enough stock within JTI’s supply chain to support all our trade partners, therefore we request that you continue to order stock as normal and this will help ensure continuity of supply. This also applies to our Menthol & Capsule products.
Deliveries of stock from JTI to all accounts will continue as normal, therefore we do not currently anticipate any disruption to our supply chain. However, should there be any change in the current situation, either driven by further Government advice or any unforeseen restriction in JTI supply, we will contact you immediately to ensure that mitigation is quickly put in place.
With a view to the upcoming Menthol Ban, JTI sales representatives are in constant contact with their retailers via phone to advise on the forthcoming legislation and to remind them to rotate / sell through all non-compliant Track & Trace stock ahead of the May 20th deadline. Should your local JTI representative not be able to visit your store immediately following the Menthol & Capsule Ban on the 20th May 2020, please ensure that you keep the JTI Menthol and Capsule stock that need swapping separate from other stock. As soon as it is safe to do so, your JTI representative will begin visiting again, so please ensure stock has been separated in readiness for their visit. In the meantime, should you require assistance, please either contact your JTI representative by phone, visit our trade website JTI Advance or call the Customer Care Line.
Finally, we are pleased to announce that JTI is partnering with the NFRN for its Shop Local Shop Little campaign. The timely initiative will see us work with NFRN to support independent, local retailers during this challenging time and highlight the important role they play within communities across the UK.
Kind regards
Ross Hennessy, Sales Vice President, JTI UK”