E-cigarette company RELX Technology has opened its first RELX China flagship, and says it aims to have 10,000 stores globally within three years.

Located in Shanghai’s CBD, the RELX China flagship occupies a 140sqm area, creating a space to educate existing adult smokers and vapers on RELX vapour products.

“Consumers nowadays prefer immersive shopping experiences, and we want to make this flagship a place where we can not only better communicate with them about our product and values but also better understand their needs,” said Wang Tao, head of RELX’s new retail business.

According to Wang, RELX will launch stores in various cities, such as Beijing’s 798 art hub and Shenzhen’s Hai Gang Cheng, to provide what he describes as “avant-garde experiences” to consumers.

The RELX flagship features four zones including a brand experience area, a consumer education area, an interactive zone, and device-engraving service. The store uses a facial-recognition technology called Project Sunflower to identify minors attempting to enter the store. Customers also have to undergo another layer of verification to ensure their ID matches before making a purchase.

RELX says it plans to invest RMB 500 million in establishing 10,000 stores globally over the next three years.

“RELX is investing heavily in breakthrough technologies to enhance franchisees’ profit margins and increase consumer loyalty during the course of its brick-and-mortar expansion,” said Jiang Long, co-founder and head of sales at RELX. “As always, our focus will remain on preventing minors from using e-cigarette products and leading the path of innovation for the entire industry by developing advanced retail technology.”

Launching its first retail store last January, RELX China operates more than 1400 outlets across 300 cities.