A survey on the tobacco industry's strategies at tobacco retail shops in Thailand

Abstract

This cross-sectional descriptive research examined tobacco industry’s strategies and supports aims at retailers that sell tobacco products and assessed awareness of tobacco product control laws among retail shops. A sample of retail shops selling tobacco products from 12 health regions and Bangkok was recruited through multi-stage random sampling, with a total of 1,360 retail shops. We collected data using an interview form and analyzed data using descriptive statistics. The research results revealed that tobacco industry strategies found in retail shops that sell tobacco products were as follows: place strategies, 5.7 percent having tobacco product packets clearly displayed for customers to see; promotional strategies, 2.3 percent advertising tobacco products including placing a label that shows the name or brand and the price in large letters; product strategy, 1.8 % had tobacco products that did not have labels or warning pictures as required by law; and price strategy, 3.4 percent selling tobacco products at a cheaper price than nearby stores. The most common type of support is a cabinet for displaying tobacco products, followed by labels or stickers of “This place sells cigarettes” and prizes when the specified amount is sold. For the awareness of the laws among retail shops, it was found that 88.5 percent were aware of the laws on tobacco products related to retail shops that sell tobacco products. However, some points were acknowledged in a small proportion with 39.3 percent. For example, sellers can request for identification card or other evidence of the buyer's age when a buyer is suspected to be under 20 years of age.