As Tobacco Control Tightens in China, Overseas Vaping Companies Rush In

According to China News Service in Beijing on September 20 (Wu Tao), since the implementation of Beijing's "strictest smoking ban" in June last year, the "smoking control map" of Beijing has passed inspection and is now operational. Citizens can view the complaint and rectification status of various units in real-time, and can report illegal smoking behavior via WeChat.

As domestic smoking control tightens, many "smokers" are turning their attention to e-cigarettes, and this business opportunity is being seized by keen overseas merchants rushing to "mine gold" in China.

On the 20th, the foreign e-cigarette brand Pod announced the official launch of its self-operated store on JD.com. Earlier, in June this year, Pod's flagship store on JD.com had already gone live. Bob, the president of Pod Greater China, revealed that since the launch of the Pod flagship store, e-cigarette sales have been increasing daily, making it the second best-selling brand in this category on JD.com.

Pod is a company primarily engaged in the research, design, production, and sales of e-cigarettes, established in Pennsylvania, USA in 2013, and now has over 7,000 retail stores. At the end of 2015, Pod decided to enter the Chinese market, conducting market tests in two cities in Guangdong from January to May 2016, and officially entering the Chinese market at the end of May.

In fact, Pod is not the only one; many foreign e-cigarette companies are accelerating their layout in the Chinese market. For example, on the 19th, South Korean e-cigarette giant Green Yunda Group officially invested in Hunan Shushi Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which entered the domestic e-cigarette market in October 2015 and has now emerged prominently.

In April this year, a report from the Royal College of Physicians in the UK pointed out that e-cigarettes are at least 95% safer than traditional cigarettes. Moreover, last year's "strictest smoking ban" in Beijing did not include e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular among "smokers".

Regarding the development prospects of e-cigarettes, a research report from the American think tank Reason Foundation this year indicated that e-cigarettes will gradually replace traditional cigarettes in the next two to three decades, potentially saving nearly 1 billion lives, which is more than half of the population in Asia. (End)