In a Chaotic Vape Market, How Can Newcomers Hold the Line?

"Are you over 18 years old? If not, please leave."

This is a prompt on the login page of an American porn website, and the prompt to log in to an American e-cigarette retail website is: "Are you over 21 years old?"

What pornographic websites and e-cigarettes have in common is that they target young people. But in the United States, the threshold for buying e-cigarettes is higher than for viewing pornographic websites. In criminal laws and related laws in California and other places, it is clearly illegal to sell tobacco products or paraphernalia, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under the age of 21.

The bottom line for sex is 18, and the bottom line for the international tobacco industry is 21.

Internationally, such reminders are no longer news. In China, e-cigarette brand websites that mainly do overseas export business, such as McGill's own brand vaporesso, also set thresholds.

But since last year, many e-cigarette upstarts such as RELAX, YOOZ, and Magic Flute, who have been favored by capital, have exported radical agency models and Internet-based marketing, causing chaos in the industry.

Just half a year ago, Yue Shi tried to enter campus. In the low-price war and cross-shipment, the profit of portable e-cigarettes is ten times that of mobile phone hardware, which has long become an open secret of the industry.

In the process, the bottom line is blurring.

#p#Pagination Title #e#An aborted lie

At the Shenzhen press conference on March 31, Yueshi released new equipment. In his press release, he did not forget to mention the "Guardian Plan" at the end: the sale and marketing of e-cigarette products to minors is resolutely prohibited, and adults should avoid using e-cigarettes in front of minors.

Previously, in January 2019, Yueshi officially announced this plan to protect minors. Although the outer packaging of Yueshi e-cigarettes contained small words warning: "Alcohol allergies, heart disease... minors" and other people "Do not use it", but the copy of the instructions is extremely provocative.

Wang Ying, CEO of Yuexie, explained this protection plan during an interview. The first step is to start with the people around you,"for example, not using e-cigarettes in front of minors and not setting examples." Secondly, it is to use publicity methods to radiate cooperation channels.

Wang Ying's concluding remarks were meaningful,"This is not just something that one company can promote the entire industry. It needs everyone to consider together."

But just half a year ago, Yue Shi tried to squeeze into the campus.

On August 29, 2018, the marketing consultant of RELX e-cigarettes posted on a website saying that if you seek campus agents, the maximum rebate will be 35%. Its certification information is Shenzhen Wuxin Technology Co., Ltd., the cooperation location is Beijing, and the validity period is until December 31, 2018.

Yueshi will provide campus agents with a 30-yuan discount coupon (used for campus promotion); campus local promotion execution resources and fees (campus agents are responsible for coordinating); complete sets of campus marketing materials; and necessary campus sponsorships.# p#pagination title #e#

The requirements of campus agents are: having certain campus connections in Beijing; having good cooperative relationships with associations in various universities; and having a certain understanding of the spending power of students on campus.

Finally, it was noted,"If you are satisfied with all the above, don't worry about the reward, it will definitely be enough."

This message has 24359 browsing records and 8 replies. Although the poster did not undergo professional certification on the website, after "Blue Hole Business" contacted the poster, the other party stated that he did work for Yuexie Electronic Cigarette Company, but campus agency activities had been suspended. However, the other party did not respond to the effects of the previous activities.

This is very similar to the social marketing of JUUL, the American e-cigarette company, targeting young people, not just cigarette substitutes.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report, the proportion of high school students across the United States using e-cigarettes has soared from 1.5% in 2011 to 15% in 2015. This number soared in the following years, and the FDA once blamed e-cigarette startups such as JUUL.

In fact, the release time of the above-mentioned campus agent's posts is a delicate node. The day before the post was sent (August 28, 2018), the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration issued an official notice on banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. A few days later, the content of the notice quickly spread through the media.

There is a lesson from "campus loans". The introduction of e-cigarettes into campuses is obviously a form of local promotion that plays with fire and burns itself. In a regulatory vacuum, how to protect minors currently only relies on self-discipline of e-cigarette companies.

#p#Pagination Title #e#chaos of goods

In 2018, McWeir's operating income was 3.433 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 119.33%.

On March 29, domestic e-cigarette industry giant McQuell presented a beautiful 2018 annual report. The total profits for the four quarters of 2018 were: 110 million, 123 million, 268 million, and 283 million respectively, and the net profit was 785 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 257%. What is eye-catching is that the ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) business achieved operating income of 2,491.9897 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 148.28% over the previous year.

The main authorized production supplier of currently popular small cigarette brands such as Yueshi and YOOZ is McWare.

McWeir, who started his career based on Feelm ceramic atomizing core technology, has long realized the limitations of ODM and has long begun to build his own brand Vaporesso. Vaporesso launched its own small cigarette "zero" last year, but its market awareness is still slightly inferior to that of Internet e-cigarette brands such as Yueshi.

Why is my own son no match for my god-grandson?