Spain has never been an easy vape market.

Retailers know their customers well. Local brands have strong recognition. Price matters. Flavour matters. Regulation matters. And simply putting a new e-liquid on a distributor’s catalogue is not enough to create sustainable demand.

For Bar Fuel, that challenge became the strategy.

Rather than approaching Spain as just another export market, we focused on local execution: working closely with distribution partners, visiting specialist retailers, improving the commercial offer and learning which flavours actually performed in-store.

The result has been a growing Bar Fuel presence and a much clearer understanding of what Spanish adult vapers and retailers want from the bar salt category.

Spain Was Always a Strategic Market

Spain has a large and established specialist vape retail network, with hundreds of independent stores and experienced operators.

It is also a market where nic salts play an important role.

That makes Spain particularly relevant for Bar Fuel.

The opportunity was clear: combine bold bar-style flavour with a refillable 10ml nic salt format, then build the range through specialist retailers rather than relying only on online awareness.

But the product alone was never going to be enough.

The real question was:

How do you make Bar Fuel relevant to Spanish vape shops?

The Answer: Go Local

Our approach in Spain has centred on local partnership.

Working with Vaperalia gave Bar Fuel access to local market knowledge, retailer relationships and an established distribution structure.

That allowed the strategy to move beyond simply selling product into the country.

Instead, the focus became:

• Identifying the right stores.

• Presenting the range directly to retailers.

• Supporting stores with merchandising.

• Gathering flavour feedback.

• Adjusting the commercial offer.

• Building repeat orders rather than chasing one-off listings.

This local execution has been one of the most important parts of the Bar Fuel story in Spain.

Starting With Specialist Vape Shops

Rather than trying to be everywhere immediately, Bar Fuel initially focused on selected specialist vape retailers.

This gave us something much more valuable than simple distribution numbers:

Real market feedback.

Store owners could tell us:

• Which flavours customers asked for.

• Which nicotine strengths moved fastest.

• Which price points created resistance.

• Which products needed more explanation.

• Which flavours generated repeat purchase.

This feedback helped shape the next stage of the strategy.

Learning Which Flavours Spain Wants

One of the clearest lessons from the Spanish market has been that not every successful international flavour performs exactly the same way locally.

Spanish retailers helped us understand which profiles were strongest.

Among the flavours that have performed particularly well are:

Menthol Candy

A strong combination of cooling menthol and sweeter bar-style flavour.

Its appeal comes from sitting between two categories: traditional freshness and modern disposable-style sweetness.

Strawberry Kiwi

A familiar fruit pairing with broad appeal.

Strawberry gives sweetness while kiwi adds enough acidity to keep the profile balanced.

These flavours became important because they helped us move from assumptions to evidence.

Instead of deciding what Spain should like, we listened to what retailers were actually selling.

The Importance of Getting the Retail Offer Right

Another lesson was that the initial listing offer matters.

A retailer may like the brand.

They may like the packaging.

They may even like the flavours.

But if the first order feels too large or commercially risky, the answer can still be no.

That led us to rethink how stores could enter the Bar Fuel range.

The objective became simple:

Reduce the barrier to trial.

Smaller, more focused initial orders allow retailers to test the range without committing too much shelf space or working capital.

If the product rotates, the retailer can expand from there.

This approach has helped make the Bar Fuel proposition more practical for independent vape shops.

Building Better In-Store Visibility

Bar Fuel has always been designed as a visually strong brand.

Its identity combines dark packaging, metallic accents, energetic colour and a street-inspired aesthetic built around the idea:

Fuel Your Life.

That visual identity matters particularly in physical retail. BARFUEL VI

A strong product can still disappear if it is placed among dozens of similar 10ml bottles.

For that reason, the Spanish strategy has included retail support such as:

• Counter displays.

• Flavour cards.

• Posters.

• Retail merchandising.

• Branded materials.

• Sales support.

The objective is not simply decoration.

It is to make the range easier to notice, easier to understand and easier for staff to recommend.

Why Field Support Made a Difference

One of the strongest elements of the Spanish rollout has been physical retail contact.

There is a big difference between sending a product catalogue and actually visiting a store.

Store visits allow the team to:

• See how the range is displayed.

• Understand competing products.

• Speak directly with staff.

• Collect customer feedback.

• Identify merchandising problems.

• Follow up after the initial order.

That creates a much stronger feedback loop between the brand, distributor and retailer.

For Bar Fuel, Spain reinforced an important principle:

Retail execution matters as much as distribution.

A bottle sitting in a warehouse is not success.

A bottle being reordered by a retailer is.

From First Listing to Repeat Purchase

The real measure of success is not whether a store buys Bar Fuel once.

It is whether the store buys it again.

That is why our Spanish strategy increasingly focuses on repeat purchase.

The process is straightforward:

• Get the right retailers to try the range.

• Support the launch.

• Watch what sells.

• Identify the strongest flavours.

• Help the retailer restock.

• Then expand the range where demand exists.

This creates healthier growth than simply pushing large initial orders into the channel.

Adapting the Range for Spain

The Spanish experience has also influenced how we think about future Bar Fuel launches.

New flavours are not treated as isolated products.

They are organised into clearer flavour families that are easier for retailers to understand and sell.

For example, newer flavour development includes citrus-led profiles such as:

• Lemon Lime.

• Mango Lemonade.

• Pineapple Lemon.

Alongside smoother or more exotic combinations.

This type of structured range architecture helps both the retailer and the customer navigate the shelf more easily.

More Than Specialist Vape Shops

Specialist stores remain central to the Bar Fuel strategy in Spain, but the market opportunity is broader.

The Spanish tobacco-shop channel is also strategically important.

Estancos offer significant national reach and access to adult nicotine consumers who may not regularly visit specialist vape stores.

Testing new channels carefully allows brands to learn how product education, display and range selection need to change outside traditional vape retail.

The lesson is the same:

Do not assume the same strategy works everywhere.

Adapt the proposition to the channel.

Competing in a Difficult Market

Spain is competitive.

Strong domestic brands already have retailer relationships.

Imported brands compete aggressively.

Taxation has changed pricing.

Longfill and alternative formats remain important.

Illegal and non-compliant products also create pressure on legitimate businesses.

In that environment, growth cannot rely on price alone.

Bar Fuel has focused instead on four things:

• Flavour.

• Brand visibility.

• Retail support.

• Compliance.

That combination gives retailers a more complete reason to stock the range.

Compliance Has Become Part of the Commercial Strategy

Regulation in Spain is becoming increasingly important.

For manufacturers and importers, product notification, labels, reporting requirements and taxation are no longer issues that sit separately from marketing.

They directly affect whether a product can remain on the shelf.

For Bar Fuel and Hangsen, compliance therefore forms part of the commercial proposition.

Retailers need confidence that the brands they invest in are serious about the market.

That means supporting products with the correct documentation, notifications, labels and regulatory processes.

In a more regulated market, compliance is not simply a legal requirement.

It becomes a competitive advantage.

What Spain Has Taught Us

The biggest lesson from Bar Fuel’s Spanish experience is that international brands cannot simply copy and paste a global strategy.

Successful localisation requires listening.

Spain taught us to:

• Reduce the risk of the first retailer order.

• Focus on flavours that demonstrate real rotation.

• Support stores physically.

• Make merchandising easy.

• Work closely with local distribution.

• Treat retailer feedback as market intelligence.

• Build repeat purchase before chasing scale.

Those lessons are now useful well beyond Spain.

A Model for Other European Markets

The Spanish strategy provides a useful blueprint for Bar Fuel expansion elsewhere.

The model is relatively simple:

Step 1: Find the right local partner

Distribution alone is not enough. The partner needs local knowledge and retailer access.

Step 2: Start with selected stores

Use an initial group to understand the market before scaling.

Step 3: Identify hero flavours

Do not push every SKU equally.

Let sell-out determine where the marketing investment goes.

Step 4: Support the retailer

POS, training and field contact increase the chances of successful sell-through.

Step 5: Measure repeat orders

Reorder is the clearest signal that the proposition works.

Step 6: Scale what works

Once the winning products and sales mechanics are clear, expand the programme.

This disciplined approach is slower than simply shipping large quantities into a market.

But it produces much stronger foundations.

Why Bar Fuel Works in Spain

Bar Fuel has several characteristics that fit the Spanish market particularly well.

It combines:

• Bold flavour profiles.

• Refillable nic salt format.

• Strong visual identity.

• Clear flavour naming.

• Retail-focused merchandising.

• Support from an experienced global manufacturer.

The brand identity itself was designed to be energetic, urban and highly visible at point of sale, with a strong emphasis on the Bar Fuel name and the “Fuel Your Life” positioning. BARFUEL VI

That makes the brand distinctive in a category where shelves can quickly become crowded.

The Next Stage

Bar Fuel’s Spanish story is still developing.

The next phase is about taking what has worked and applying it with greater precision.

That means:

Increasing the number of productive retail accounts.

Supporting the strongest flavours.

Launching new SKUs selectively.

Improving in-store execution.

Expanding retailer visibility.

Continuing to work closely with local partners.

The objective is not simply to be available in more stores.

It is to be successful in more stores.

There is a big difference.

Final Thoughts

Bar Fuel’s progress in Spain has not come from one big launch moment.

It has come from dozens of smaller decisions.

• Listening to retailers.

• Changing the offer.

• Identifying the right flavours.

• Supporting stores.

• Following up.

• Learning.

And then doing more of what works.

That is what makes the Spanish story important.

It demonstrates that even in a mature, highly competitive vape market, there is still room for a new brand when product, distribution and retail execution work together.

Spain has become more than another market for Bar Fuel.

It has become a model for how we want to grow:

• Locally relevant.

• Retail focused.

• Compliance driven.

• Built for repeat purchase.

• And most importantly:

• Built one store at a time.