On February 18, the domestic e-cigarette brand “Boulder” announced its second-quarter 2020 recruitment plan on its official Microblog, involving sales, operations, research and development, products, technology, investment promotion, human resources, back-office support and other departments. More than 100 talents are needed for the posts.
The news was released at a somewhat surprising time. Affected by the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, the upstream factories were delayed to get back to work, and most of the downstream sales shops were closed. At present, the entire electronic cigarette supply chain is basically in a dormant state. Most companies are suffering huge losses and pressure. Why does this company choose to wake up at this time?
So a reporter from China Times recently interviewed several domestic e-cigarette companies to learn about their breakout plans under the cold winter of the industry.
Offline sales channel becomes a land of war
As the shared power bank and new retail coffees that have a fiery market have changed their own industries, domestic e-cigarette companies are also rapidly testing new retail and restructuring the people, goods and markets of the e-cigarette industry. Today, there are already smart retail terminal companies that regard e-cigarettes as important sales products.
According to the 2019 annual data report released by Youpeng intelligent retail terminal vendor machine, RELX, SNOWPLUS, MOTI and Thinkr are the top four brands of e-cigarettes sold through Youpeng(Yopoint) vending machine, accounting for 78% of the total sales. Wuhan, Jinan and Shenzhen are the cities with the largest purchase volume of e-cigarettes. Game venues, KTV and catering are the best sales points of e-cigarettes.
After seeing the opportunities brought by the vending machine to the electronic cigarette industry, some electronic cigarette enterprises have made innovations in intelligent sales. Thinkr that has entered into strategic cooperation with Thunder group has realized the application of the Thunder block chain technology in the vending machine industry, and then launched the Thinkr Power Box project, exploring the “Consumer Mobile Internet + Thunder Chain + New Retail” mode.
At present, alleviating the operational pressure brought by the epidemic situation has become one of the business priorities of various enterprises, and it has brought new thinking on how to optimize and consolidate themselves.
Boulder chose to start the recruitment plan for the second quarter of 2020. “Although the industry has experienced the impact of strong supervision and the new epidemic, Boulder will continue to advance in accordance with its own strategic plan, continue to cultivate the two major markets of China and the United States, increase technology and product research and development, expand offline sales channels and more overseas markets. ” Boulder head of public relations said.
A person in charge of ammo revealed to reporters that after the epidemic, the company will optimize and refine its “hundreds of people quality supervision” process, and wait for the right time, “to launch new products unique in the industry.”
“Thinkr launched the 300-store counter program ahead of schedule.” Achieved accelerated growth with a path of least resistance, while using product differentiation to enter the KA channel (hypermarket). “The person in charge of public relations told reporters.” Boulder “also launched” 10k stores in 1k cities ” program to open stores with a subsidy of 300 million yuan.
This shows that in the future, offline resources will continue to cause competition in the industry. Coincidentally, in the course of answering the reporter’s interview, the e-cigarette company side said invariably, “We have full confidence in the vape industry.”
“Thunder Block Chain reliably records the information of each vending machine, including sales data. Participants can invest in vending machines and obtain due operating profit dividends according to their own capabilities, and participate in the construction of ‘Shenzhen Power Box’ together.” The person in charge of Thinkr’s public relations introduced to the “China Times” reporter.
At present, the core technology research and development of the establishment of “Thinkr Power Box” general has been basically completed, and the comprehensive commissioning work is in progress. The first generation will lay experimental networks in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Smart vending machines have also become a key sales channel for e-cigarette companies during the new coronavirus epidemic. Taking RELX as an example, during the outbreak, 500 smart vending machines were urgently allocated to stores and successfully provided contactless services to consumers. In order to prevent minors from buying products, the RELX smart vending machine can achieve age verification through the triple checkpoint of “name-document number-face recognition”.
Business owners are confident in the industry
Thinkr’s public relations official said,“ With the improvement of the overall quality of the industry, technology, market awareness and other related regulatory measures, it is expected that in the next three years, the electronic cigarette industry will achieve a steady recover and rise against the trend. We’re also full of confidence in profoundly realizing overtaking in corners and initiating the brand successfully. ”
“We believe that 2020 is the year when the electronic cigarette industry returns to rationality. The market’s survival of the fittest mechanism will show results. More outstanding talents will be concentrated in companies with real strength. We are confident in recruitment.” Boulder told the reporter of the China Times.
The person in charge of promotion of ammo said, “When the epidemic is over, the most important area for development is the economic sector, and new consumer opportunities will emerge at that time.”
It is foreseeable that after the epidemic big test, the electronic cigarette industry will complete the survival of the fittest, and will become more stable and usher in the spring.
