Further to its meeting with the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) to discuss the Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG)’s Challenge 25 retailing strategy, BHETA has confirmed to members that Challenge 25 can now be extended to cover the sale of other aged related goods, specifically the responsible retailing of kitchen knives.
Challenge 25 was originally developed for use in alcohol sales and its extension will for the first time ever, not only include point of sale items as in the RASG campaign, but also supplier packaging which can now carry the Challenge 25 graphics as well. The development is the outcome of BHETA’s consultative retailer and supplier workshop on knife retailing, attended by most of the top retail and supplier brands.
Challenge 25 is a retailing strategy that encourages anyone who is over 18 but looks under 25 to carry acceptable ID (a card bearing the PASS hologram, a photographic driving license or a passport) if they wish to buy alcohol. It has proved successful both in terms of awareness among young people and as an aid to retail staff involved in the sale of age-sensitive products.
There is a suite of designs, from posters to shelf barkers to badges, for use in reinforcing the Challenge 25 message throughout the retail environment. The signage in red and black makes it clear that under 25s must now expect to be challenged to prove their age. It also spells out the heavy fines which could follow for those caught breaking the law.
Commenting on the news, BHETA’s Chief Operating Officer, Will Jones said, “With the personal consequences of illegal sales for the member of shop staff becoming more severe – and more widely applicable as we have seen with the retail of kitchen knives – it is vital that retailers get every assistance in their area of responsibility.
“One of the areas of consensus in BHETA’s supplier / retailer workshop was that a standardised system of knife labelling which could be adopted universally by knife suppliers could be of considerable help to knife retailers. We therefore approached RASG to investigate the potential for using the existing Challenge 25 concept and I am delighted to be able to confirm that RASG felt that this was a good idea.”
Kelly Moss from WSTA added, “I will now create the necessary artwork and make it available on the RASG website for use with specific, age related goods beyond alcohol and including bladed articles. As a body, RASG wants to promote responsible retailing, and inclusion of Challenge 25 on knives/bladed article packaging acts as an additional measure to ensure that both consumers and retail staff are aware of the age restrictions for those goods.”
The consultative workshop which led to this latest development was BHETA’s opening move in its responsible knife retailing campaign, a proactive initiative agreed with members following an initial consultation on March 25. Retailers representative of all styles of kitchen selling from premium to mass market to discounter attended including John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Dunelm, Steamer Trading, T K Maxx, Elys of Wimbledon and Harts of Stur. They joined BIRA, BHETA and leading knife suppliers, Taylor’s Eye Witness, Amefa, Fiskars, Meyer, Haus, Burton McCall, Kuhn Rikon and Robert Welch. The agenda covered all supplier and retailer aspects of the issue including product design, packaging and merchandising, point of sale and checkout procedure, consumer education and lobbying.
Will Jones concluded, “This is a first in a series of initiatives we hope to take to help retailers address this complex issue with positive measures and we will be working with WSTA and RASG to get all the relevant retail materials to the suppliers and retailers concerned.”
For more information about BHETA and BHETA lobbying, contact the Member Services Team on 0121 237 1130
Source: BHETA
July 29th 2019