Former OPPO Retail Head Duan Fei Joins Bode

As the e-cigarette market continues to mature, offline channels have become the battleground for various brands.
 

Recently, Duan Fei, the former retail head of OPPO, joined the high-end e-cigarette brand Bode as the national retail director. Bode partner and CMO Fang Hui stated: "With Mr. Duan Fei's joining, Bode will have more products fully rolled out in the national 3C channels in the future."

It is reported that before joining Bode, Duan Fei was responsible for OPPO's retail business for a long time, overseeing product lines including mobile phones, accessories, and smart peripherals. He is familiar with the ecosystem of 3C digital products and supply chain services, especially in retail system expansion, brand exposure, and store promotions, possessing rich experience and management capabilities. Meanwhile, Cheng Yuncai, the former national channel manager of Duowei Mobile, has also joined Bode as the national channel director. It is believed that Bode will make significant moves in the offline market with the addition of these two individuals.

In fact, the e-cigarette industry has always maintained a high level of attention on offline channels.

The United States, as the largest e-cigarette market in the world, sees the vast majority of products sold through offline channels. For example, with JUUL, the largest e-cigarette brand in the U.S.: 41% of users choose to purchase from e-cigarette stores, while 29% purchase from convenience stores, and 9% purchase from pharmacies and newsstands.

Offline channels account for a significant share of JUUL's sales, which provides high reference value for domestic e-cigarette brands looking to expand their sales channels.

Turning back to the domestic market, offline channels still hold considerable competitiveness in the consumer sector. The user demand and usage scenarios for e-cigarettes are remarkably similar to those of power banks; we can take Street Power as an example to see its market share in the shared power bank sector.

According to a report released by iiMedia Consulting titled "2019 Half-Year Research Report on China's Shared Power Bank Industry," in the first half of 2019, "Street Power" occupied 40.5% of the shared power bank market, with a cumulative user base reaching 107 million.

Even a small segment of power banks has such a share; for the future e-cigarette market with a large market share, the offline market is definitely a piece of cake that cannot be overlooked.

Additionally, the introduction of national standards will have some impact on online sales, which will further strengthen major brands' efforts in offline channels. The current focus of public opinion is on the ease with which young people can purchase e-cigarettes through online channels, leading to nicotine addiction. Based on the product definition of e-cigarettes as "smoking alternatives," online channels will be further tightened, while the expansion of offline channels will help control the purchase of e-cigarettes by young people, reducing their accessibility to the products.

Currently, the vast majority of e-cigarette brands adopt a marketing model of online brand promotion and offline distribution through agents. They establish provincial and municipal-level agents to develop the offline market. Some smaller brands place their products alongside traditional cigarettes in private convenience stores.

On July 30, Fulu E-cigarettes announced a partnership with Alibaba Retail to lay out offline stores in a million locations, seeking to explore the new retail market. The established e-cigarette brand Bode announced that its new product, the new Bling, achieved over a million in offline retail sales in its first month, with retail revenue nearing 60 million yuan. Industry insiders reveal that various brands are laying out new offline marketing channels, and soon the offline market will be as vigorous as the online market.

As a fast-moving consumer product, the proximity to consumers determines the success or failure of its marketing. With various e-cigarette brands continuously ramping up their efforts, the curtain is slowly rising on the battle for the offline e-cigarette market.