Three years ago, Allan Barclay set up a new business in his living room designed to be a second income.
Today, that same business has an annual turnover of over £1 million.And even Allan is taken aback by the speed of his company's growth.His lightbulb moment came after buying his wife Laura an e-cigarette in an attempt to persuade her to give up her long-standing smoking habit.The Aberdeen-based businessman recalled: “In late 2012, when the first generation of e-cigarettes were popping up, I bought one for my good lady who was quite a decent smoker shall we say.
“Over the years we’d tried everything to try and get her to stop smoking.
“The idea for the business was based on her reaction. I thought, ‘These things might actually work’.
“She said it was the closest anything had come to smoking a real cigarette. She got the satisfaction of the inhale and the exhale and the nip at the back of the throat which you crave and you miss as a smoker.”
Allan was a senior manager at the time for a well-known grocery chain. But he saw an opportunity he didn’t want to miss out on.
“It was one of those moments in life – I was mid-forties, and I thought, ‘If I don’t do something about this now I’ll be forever working for someone else.’
“Ecigs-scotland.com was born a on a computer in my living room. It was only ever intended to be a small second income. How things have changed.Allan registered the domain name and contacted a couple of the major suppliers to ask if he could sell their products.
“One saw the value in what I was going to do and they agreed to supply me on a wholesale basis,” he added.
“Initially the plan was to be a small online business. I put the products on the website and started from there.
“The growth of the business has been nothing short of meteoric. Even beyond my wildest expectations. The fact that within two and a half years we went from a standing start of zero to a turnover in excess of one million pounds per annum is pretty good going in anybody’s books.”Ecigs-Scotland now have a shop in Aberdeen market, Schoolhill, Peterhead, and a Franchise in Nairn, with plans to open another store in Elgin.
Public Health England recently published a review that found e-cigarettes to be 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.But a new EU tobacco directive looks set to include nicotine-based vaping products, restricting sizes of bottles of e-liquids, nicotine strengths, advertising and sponsorship, and the sale of refillable products which account for half of the British e-cigs market.It has caused concern among e-cigarette producers and retailers that the planned legislation will damage the emerging industry and see it facing tougher regulations than some tobacco products – a fear that Allan shares.
He said: “The impending EU legislation is the biggest threat to the e-cigarette industry.
“The legislators are finding it hard to categorise where e-cigarettes fit in the spectrum. They’re not tobacco products and they’re not a medicinal product; they need their own classification.”
Allan’s wife and three children now also work for the business. And the family are not only celebrating the astonishing growth of the company, but their own personal success story.
“My wife is a different woman since quitting cigarettes three years ago,” said Allan.
“She started off on a fairly strong nicotine level and it gave her that bite at the back of the throat she was looking for, but she’s reduced the nicotine content in the liquid now down to a very, very low content.
“Laura liked smoking, like a lot of people, so this has been a godsend for her, and for many others.”
Resoucre: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk
Today, that same business has an annual turnover of over £1 million.And even Allan is taken aback by the speed of his company's growth.His lightbulb moment came after buying his wife Laura an e-cigarette in an attempt to persuade her to give up her long-standing smoking habit.The Aberdeen-based businessman recalled: “In late 2012, when the first generation of e-cigarettes were popping up, I bought one for my good lady who was quite a decent smoker shall we say.
“Over the years we’d tried everything to try and get her to stop smoking.
“The idea for the business was based on her reaction. I thought, ‘These things might actually work’.
“She said it was the closest anything had come to smoking a real cigarette. She got the satisfaction of the inhale and the exhale and the nip at the back of the throat which you crave and you miss as a smoker.”
Allan was a senior manager at the time for a well-known grocery chain. But he saw an opportunity he didn’t want to miss out on.
“It was one of those moments in life – I was mid-forties, and I thought, ‘If I don’t do something about this now I’ll be forever working for someone else.’
“Ecigs-scotland.com was born a on a computer in my living room. It was only ever intended to be a small second income. How things have changed.Allan registered the domain name and contacted a couple of the major suppliers to ask if he could sell their products.
“One saw the value in what I was going to do and they agreed to supply me on a wholesale basis,” he added.
“Initially the plan was to be a small online business. I put the products on the website and started from there.
“The growth of the business has been nothing short of meteoric. Even beyond my wildest expectations. The fact that within two and a half years we went from a standing start of zero to a turnover in excess of one million pounds per annum is pretty good going in anybody’s books.”Ecigs-Scotland now have a shop in Aberdeen market, Schoolhill, Peterhead, and a Franchise in Nairn, with plans to open another store in Elgin.
Public Health England recently published a review that found e-cigarettes to be 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.But a new EU tobacco directive looks set to include nicotine-based vaping products, restricting sizes of bottles of e-liquids, nicotine strengths, advertising and sponsorship, and the sale of refillable products which account for half of the British e-cigs market.It has caused concern among e-cigarette producers and retailers that the planned legislation will damage the emerging industry and see it facing tougher regulations than some tobacco products – a fear that Allan shares.
He said: “The impending EU legislation is the biggest threat to the e-cigarette industry.
“The legislators are finding it hard to categorise where e-cigarettes fit in the spectrum. They’re not tobacco products and they’re not a medicinal product; they need their own classification.”
Allan’s wife and three children now also work for the business. And the family are not only celebrating the astonishing growth of the company, but their own personal success story.
“My wife is a different woman since quitting cigarettes three years ago,” said Allan.
“She started off on a fairly strong nicotine level and it gave her that bite at the back of the throat she was looking for, but she’s reduced the nicotine content in the liquid now down to a very, very low content.
“Laura liked smoking, like a lot of people, so this has been a godsend for her, and for many others.”
Resoucre: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk
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