Boulder vape company held a one-off vape Bling product launch and media experiencing conference in Beijing on July 4.
It is understood that Bling vape comes with a 330 mA Battery and a 2.5 ml pod. Compared with other brands of electronic cigarettes in the market, Bling battery endurance and pod capacity have a lot of advantages, especially in pod capacity, which is much bigger than other brands. According to Boulder, 2.5mL pod capacity is at least 67% higher than the mainstream products in the market, which can effectively solve users’ anxiety about battery life and pod consumption.
Some e-cigarette practitioners believe that the emergence of 2.5ml products may trigger a technical competition in the industry. E-cigarettes are real consumer goods, and most consumers end up paying only for products and experiences.
Another industry insider said that 2.5ml ready-to-use products should be the world’s first, exceeding industry expectations. But the product needs to break through some technical bottlenecks, the first one is the e-juice leakage problem.
In the past two years, various electronic cigarette products have been on the market, especially disposable products, which mainly focus on the channel of off-line convenience stores. They have sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain. However, previous competitions focused on appearance and marketing means, rarely on breakthroughs in products and technology, and e-liquid leakage occurred from time to time like RELX.
Aiming at the problem of e-juice leakage, Wang Zeqi, chairman and CEO of Boulder, introduced at the press conference that Bling’s new series of disposable vapes used integrated cotton to store e-juice, and the effect of e-juice lock was 1.5 times higher than the old one, which could effectively avoid vape juice leakage.
In terms of appearance and technology, the shell of Bling products is made of anodic oxide alloy, and the suction nozzle and tail cover are matched with PC engineering plastics. Ergonomic design is adopted in the design. The device length is 105mm and the width is 18mm. It is suitable for holding. The whole vape device has a rounded feel, good heat insulation and heat dissipation effect, and comfortable entrance of flavor.
In terms of flavor richness, Bling series is moderate, not too many, and not too few. There are six kinds, namely: mint tobacco, Tainan pineapple, blueberry popcorn, passion energy, terol flue-cured tobacco, mango ice.
Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that the nicotine salts used in these six flavor products are independently developed by Boulder headquarters in the United States, which can guarantee the purity of each pod.
In terms of purchasing, Bling’s disposable cigarettes are priced at 49 yuan per vape. It has been sold online and offline simultaneously. You can purchase it from dozens of flagships and more than 3000 convenience stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Nanjing .
According to Wang Zeqi, after the first quarter’s pod system Amber and the Bling series vapes launched on July 4, Boulder will continue to increase product development efforts for young consumers and release its annual flagship products in the second half of the year.
Visit Boulder official site: http://boulder-international.com/
July 15th, 2019 Update:
Q: What is the percentage of Boulder online and offline channels?
Wang Zeqi: Boulder’s sales channels are divided into offline channels and e-commerce channels. Boulder sells mainly in more than 20,000 convenience stores in the United States. Offline channels are also being built in China, where Boulder sells offline through automobile-related channels traditionally, accounting for the majority of sales in China. Other offline channels are being developed. We will learn from various marketing models of online influencer products and electronic sales products, and innovate the marketing methods of electronic cigarettes.
Our online to offline ratio is 3:7, online is mainly e-commerce channels, offline is mainly Yintaiwanda inside the direct stores, as well as luxury car dealer system, used car dealers, etc., we will expand to more popular consumer channels.
Question: Is Boulder launching a new Bling in an invisible price war?
Wang Zeqi: Boulder’s technology and cost control are very good. We think we can develop products with higher cost performance for consumers. We hope that Boulder’s market share will be the top three and the unit price will be the first. These two goals are somewhat twisted, but we will strive to achieve them.
Challenges and Opportunities for Boulder
1. As an electronic cigarette brand with independent research and development products and e-liquids, it has the control of the whole industry chain. In addition, American descent identity will enhance the endorsement of Boulder’s brand, but it will also make Boulder face some resistance in the high-end circle of the masses to enter the mass consumer market. It may be manifested in the twisting of product and pricing strategies, restraining from developing bravely, and the inability to let go of the original advantages.
2. Boulder is strong in technology and product research and development, but in the mass consumer side, its brand voice needs to learn more from online influencer e-cigarettes. This is a lesson that Boulder needs to make up. How to tell good stories to the public is a difficult problem. We also see that Boulder has dug up former staff from JD, Pitfish Company, who’s familiar with Internet public relations and the market. Fang Hui acts as a partner and CMO in marketing, which is a positive signal to communicate with the market.
3. Wang Ze said he was not short of money and Boulder did not want to raise funds. But when rivals in the market are threatening with capital to roll forward, other brands will be braver when spending other people’s money rather than their own money. Obviously, burning other people’s cash will be more liberal. So we suggest that Boulder should consider introducing external capital, sharing profits and sharing risks.
4. Boulder’s opportunity is to take full control of the whole industry, such as electronic cigarette products, e-juice and so on, which has a strong full supply chain advantage for future product competition. Influencer e-cigarette brand are now highly dependent on the supply chain, but also making up the supply chain shortage. In the long run, stronger brands than products will have more stable users. Electronic cigarettes are just at the beginning, stable products and offline channels will be the first choice in cooperation.
Vape.hk will also bring Boulder into the focus of observation and research, in order to provide more learning and reference opportunities for practitioners in the electronic cigarette industry.
