"Soft cucumber aroma, sweet bean aroma, red date yogurt aroma, sweet berry fruit. During the Spring Festival, the reporter visited a number of e-cigarette stores and found that the "near fruity" cigarette cartridges on the market gradually increased, although the product name is still such as "Forget the River with a Path, Landscape and Style, Breeze and Elegance" and other poetic and have nothing to do with fruit flavor, but the taste label is still full of reverie.
Zhao Yangbo, co-founder of the e-cigarette brand Shiwu, told reporters that with the recovery of market supervision and R&D iteration, there will be some flavors with added fruit and other flavors. "But the whole should still be within the scope of the national standard, and it is unlikely that the pure fruit flavor like before will be. Fang Hui, former partner of the Bode e-cigarette brand, also said that the Tobacco Bureau still has not let go of the substantive formula.
A number of e-cigarette practitioners told reporters that these cartridges with a little sweet taste will sell better than the previous pure tobacco flavor. However, compared to the fruity era, "it is still much worse". Many e-cigarette companies or practitioners are still transforming or exploring new businesses. Li Jie, a former e-cigarette practitioner, said, "There are only a few additives allowed by the national standard, and the 'domestic market' cannot return to the glory before 2022." ”
There are more and more fruity e-cigarette cartridges.
During the Spring Festival holiday, the reporter visited a number of e-cigarette stores and found that many e-cigarette companies such as RELX, Yuzu, Bode, and Miwo have launched a variety of e-cigarette cartridges with more diverse flavors.
Taking RELX as an example, the flavor list provided by several stores shows that the flavors recently launched by RELX are based on the national standard tobacco flavor, and the flavors added include cucumber sweetness, honey flowers, longan fruit, caramel cocoa, green tea, toast, plum, slightly sweet jujube and other flavors. The Jiaodong tobacco launched by Bode e-cigarette has a "natural nut flavor", and its newly launched third-generation national standard cartridge has a "refreshing hawthorn, sweet honey" flavor. A staff member at a RELX counter in a shopping mall in Beijing said that the best sales at her retail outlet were blueberry and chestnut.
The latest flavor type of e-cigarette provided by a distributor that meets the new national standard.
In the case that fruit-flavored cartridges have been banned by the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, what is the difference between this near-fruity flavor and the original pure fruity flavor? An e-cigarette store dealer explained that taking RELX's mung bean-flavored cartridges as an example, it is a mung bean flavor based on tobacco flavor, while the original one is "pure mung bean flavor": "For example, if it was 100% pure fruit flavor, now there is a 2% or 3% fruit flavor." It is based on the national standard tobacco, with a slight sweetness. ”
Zhao Yangbo, the former co-founder of the e-cigarette brand Shiwu, once told reporters about the blending of national standard tobacco flavors: the flavors and fragrances used in traditional fruit-flavored e-cigarettes can be hundreds to 1,000 kinds, and the white list in the national standard is limited to more than 100 kinds of raw materials, which limits the possibility of flavor blending. However, he also mentioned that in this range of raw materials, e-liquid companies, including e-cigarette companies, are also further developing and striving to make better products, which requires a gradual process.
In response to the recent near-fruity situation, Zhao Yangbo told reporters that with the recovery of supervision in this area in the market, coupled with the iteration of research and development, there will be some flavors with added fruit and other flavors. "But the whole should still be within the scope of the national standard, and it is unlikely that the pure fruit flavor like before will be. ”
What about near-fruity sales? Fan Yu, an e-cigarette practitioner, told reporters that at present, the sales of these cartridges with some sweet flavor will be better than the previous pure tobacco flavor, "because there are still more product categories." However, compared to the fruity era, "it is still much worse".
There are also some new products that have been discontinued because they are "too fruity". The above-mentioned distributor mentioned that one "caramel fragrant chocolate" cartridge has been discontinued, mainly because of the "high sweetness", and there are more than 10 boxes left in the store. "This flavor was previously approved and approved by the Tobacco Bureau, but when it was inspected again, it was found that its sweetness was too high, so it was not allowed to continue production. She estimates that the flavored pods have been sold for more than a month in total.
Business transformation and way out.
Under the new national standard flavor restrictions, some e-cigarette companies are also trying to expand or innovate categories. For example, HQD (Shenzhen Hanqingda Technology*** has launched a variety of disposable products and sold well in many countries. The ceramic heart disposable e-cigarette launched by the Miwo brand also has more innovations in taste. There are also e-cigarette companies that have launched more similar products in different forms.
There are also brands that have opened up new product lines. The reporter saw the oral care products launched by RELX in an e-cigarette store. This leading e-cigarette company has also launched an oral recommendation platform. Weiit e-cigarette previously launched a new betel nut chewing gum [betel gas]. The reporter learned that at this stage, the company has been fully transformed.
Betel nut chewing gum and other products sold in an e-cigarette store in Henan. Photo by reporter Sun Wenxuan.
Talking about the reason for the transformation of the betel nut chewing gum track, an insider of the betel gas products company told reporters, "The company has technical reserves in the era of e-cigarettes, betel nut extract, and betel gas, as an internal incubation project, has temporarily run to the first place in the new betel nut chewing gum track, so it is necessary to maintain and expand this advantage in 2024." ”
The scale of sales of betel gas is growing every month. The above-mentioned insiders said that the ceiling of this track is very high, and there are many companies that want to enter, and traditional betel nut companies are also being developed. "The product logic of chewing gum betel nut and e-cigarette is similar, and chewing gum betel nut is more effective in replacing traditional betel nut. ”
Li Jie, a former e-cigarette practitioner, mentioned that the transformation of companies in the domestic market in the field of e-cigarettes is a very common phenomenon, "RELX has made Mars nut, grapefruit has the power to be the master, water betel nut has combat effectiveness, and there are some who have tested the water but there is no splash." He emphasized, "The technical content of betel nut chewing gum is no lower than that of electronics. ”
The transformation of e-cigarette companies or the exploration of new products has already begun, taking RELX as an example, it launched the coffee sub-brand "Xingke On" in 2022, and as of February 2023, the brand has settled in 5 stores in Chengdu. In 2022, Shiwu will develop a live clothing business and a corporate ** business (fruit cooked food). The Magic Flute also has a layout in the coffee and craft brewery.
RELX has incubated many new projects. [The industry] is figuring out its way. Li Jie said. However, this kind of exploration is not completely smooth, and at present, the small program of RELX's oral recommendation platform can no longer be opened normally, and the official service has also been suspended. According to information on Meituan and the map platform, there is only one Xingke Coffee in Chengdu that is currently in business. A person close to RELX said that RELX's business focus is still on e-cigarettes.
Zhao Yangbo told reporters that Shiwu's e-cigarette business has also ceased to be carried out, and the team is currently focusing on the pension and cultural tourism sectors, and he has begun a new entrepreneurial journey.
Is it difficult for the market to regain its glory?
The overall development trend of the industry can also be glimpsed from the performance of leading enterprises. According to the previous financial report of RELX's parent company, Wuxin Technology, the company's net revenue in the third quarter of 2023 was 42.8 billion yuan (RMB), a year-on-year decrease of 590%。Non-GAAP adjusted net income for the third quarter was 19.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 399%。
Wang Ying, founder, chairman and CEO of Wuxin Technology, said: The company still faces external challenges, especially the impact of illegal e-cigarettes. "Many users are still unaware of these new regulations, such as taste restrictions, which has slowed down their adoption of new GB products. ”
An e-cigarette retail outlet in a shopping mall in Beijing. Photo by reporter Sun Wenxuan.
Li Jie is not very optimistic about the newly appeared near-fruity cigarette cartridges, he mentioned that it is not easy to evaluate the taste, but "there are only a few additives allowed by the national standard, and it is impossible to return to the glory before 2022." ”
It is true that quite a few e-cigarette stores have closed. A sales staff of an e-cigarette store in a region in eastern Henan told reporters that there were more than a dozen e-cigarette shops in the area before, but since the ban on fruit flavors, the business has deteriorated, and there are only 3 stores left in this area today. "[Constantly innovating flavors on the basis of meeting the national standard] may make the market better, but it will be difficult to quickly return to the original state. Zhao Yangbo said.
However, it is worth noting that China's e-cigarette exports are strong, and technology leads the world. According to iiMedia Consulting, the domestic market size of China's e-cigarette industry in 2021 will be 145000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 billion yuan. As of 2021, Chinese enterprises accounted for more than 95% of the world's e-cigarette production capacity, which was sold to more than 200 countries and regions. Ao Weinuo, Secretary-General of the Electronic Cigarette Professional Committee of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, also told reporters that China's electronic cigarette industry is an emerging industry dominated by exports. The state's policy of encouraging exports will not change.
Fang Hui was the former partner of the Bode e-cigarette brand, but during the Spring Festival, he told reporters that he had left the original company and was making an e-cigarette brand focusing on overseas markets, "The domestic e-cigarette market is now shrinking very much, exceeding the expectations of all parties, and the overseas market is still growing rapidly." ”
Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Sun Wenxuan.
Edited by Bai Haotian.
Proofreading by Li Lijun.