Maison de Vapotage partners to roll out AgeAI in France

Maison de Vapotage has partnered with Privately SA to implement Ageai, an AI-powered age verification technology, across tobacconists in France.

This development will aid retailers in complying with strict age-restriction laws on products including vapes, tobacco, alcohol, and gaming scratch cards. AgeAI is already operational in over 40 stores in France and performs more than 10,000 age checks daily.

Maison de Vapotage plans to immediately extend the current usage to hundreds of tobacconists and eventually deploy the system in thousands of outlets by the end of 2025, leveraging its expansive network of over 9,000 tobacconists.

Vincent Durieux, Founder of Maison de Vapotage, addressed the challenges tobacconists face: "Tabacs are facing immense pressure to ensure age-restricted products are not sold to minors. However, with individual shops serving up to 2,000 customers daily, visual age checks are neither realistic nor effective. AgeAI gives our clients a simple, fast and accurate way to verify age and stay compliant – without the risk or conflict resulting from unnecessary age checks."

Predominantly independent, France's 22,000-plus tobacconists operate under a distribution monopoly. Maison de Vapotage has supported these retailers since 2010, initially focusing on e-liquids before expanding to shop design and retail solutions.

Maison de Vapotage acts as a value-added distributor in this partnership, integrating Privately's software with essential services, such as hardware, staff training, and frontline customer support to ensure a consistent in-store experience.

Durieux emphasised the adaptability and consumer acceptance of AgeAI in stores, "We've worked closely with the Privately team to ensure AgeAI meets the day-to-day needs of tabacs. Their willingness to adapt the product based on feedback from our field teams and retailers has been key to the partnership. Like most countries, there is concern in France about the use of AI, especially from consumers. But we've found that the value of AgeAI far outweighs any doubts – it's fast, non-intrusive, and relieves pressure on staff."

AgeAI provides quick and anonymous age estimation through facial analysis. By not storing or transmitting images, it ensures GDPR compliance and alignment with Europe's AI regulations. Besides age estimation, it also maintains a secure anonymous log for audit purposes, safeguarding store owners and personnel.

Failure to adhere to age-restriction laws in France might result in warnings, fines, or shop closures. AgeAI's feature set mitigates this risk by providing assurance and confidence to store owners and employees.

Deepak Tewari, CEO of Privately SA, remarked on the partnership's objectives and progress. "We are very excited about partnering with MdV to bring automated and privacy-preserving age checks to France. "We have worked together closely for the last six months to accommodate store owner's feedback into the product, enhancing features such as the automation of refusal registry. This helps stores demonstrate compliance better and make key business decisions like where to deploy mystery shoppers."

Tewari expressed his enthusiasm for the system's rapid adoption, stating, "It's incredible that we are already performing 10,000 daily age checks within two weeks of launching, and by summer, we should be conducting one million checks every month."