Zippo enters the electronic cigarette market with VAZO – Where to buy

Holding the endorsement of Zippo, the old brand of lighter, VAZO brand entered the China market before America. Shi Runwei, director of VAZO brand, said, “Under the background of production advantages and huge market, the Chinese market is both a test field and the main battlefield. With the arrival of VAZO, the domestic electronic cigarette market structure will also change.”

An electronic cigarette brand named VAZO has also been launched for the first time on 18th June in the official flagship stores of Tmall, JD and other channels, and VAZO has launched two products, one-off electronic cigarette and pod system. Data from JD show that on the day of the launch of “6.18”, VAZO turnover entered the top 10 of the electronic cigarette category list. Beijing Business Daily reporter saw VAZO is divided into two kinds of electronic cigarette products in the flagship store of VAZO: Pod systems and disposable vapes. The price of VAZO is close to that of earlier electronic cigarette brands such as RELX. And the VAZO price ranges from 69 yuan to 398 yuan.

In fact, VAZO can be listed in the top 10 of the electronic cigarette brand list on the first day of online, which is related to the “Zippo” name behind it. In the past 90 years, more than 500 million cigarette lighters have been produced. Through many cooperative products, Zippo lighters have already broken the attributes of tobacco peripheral products and become a cultural symbol. VAZO, which has Zippo endorsement, is also believed to have its own halo since its birth.

At the same time, unlike many electronic cigarette products currently on the market, VAZO has a unique appearance and a wider product line. On the VAZO disposable electronic cigarette, the air intake holes of general products are also canceled to prevent dust and other pollutants from entering. In response, Shi Runwei said, “VAZO brand has been developed for five years.”

It is understood that in 2014, Zippo Manufacture Company (hereinafter referred to as “ZMC”) established an independent working group on electronic cigarette products, and continued to invest in market research, team formation and product development. In 2018, ZMC registered “VAZO” as a brand trademark for electronic cigarettes and related products. In the same year, ZMC registered in Hong Kong to set up Weizu Science and Technology (China) Co., Ltd. to integrate design, R&D, testing, production and marketing team resources, to provide an integrated service system for VAZO electronic cigarette R&D, production, market operation and sales, and to complete the global integrated layout of production and marketing. Shi Runwei revealed, “At present, the whole VAZO team has more than 100 people, of which more than 40 people are in the front-end of production, R&D team are in the factory production. It has begun to strictly control the quality from the production side.”

At the same time, in order to reflect the difference, VAZO also uses its own design scheme in the appearance of electronic cigarettes. In the case of VAZO refill electronic cigarette, the aluminium alloy frame comes from Foxconn with the same material as the iPhone XR, while the “Sky Land” color matching panel similar to “Aurora” comes from Huawei OEM Factory.” Shi Runwei said.

It is understood that, after five years of polishing products, Zippo missed the blue sea market; in the face of capital accumulation in the electronic cigarette market, VAZO wants to use Zippo brand channel advantages to outrace from behind. Shi Runwei said that after taking the lead in the distribution of online channels, VAZO will take advantage of Zippo’s advantages in more than 1500 Direct stores nationwide, upgrade existing stores and launch a new Zippo collection store, which will not only sell Zippo and VAZO, but also launch its surrounding products one after another. “In the future, VAZO products will penetrate into various terminals, constantly expand market share, and the target growth rate of monthly sales will be more than 35%.” He said.

Wang Shanhong, the chief researcher of Shanghai Luxin New Tobacco Research Institute, believes that Zippo lighter has made the product a cultural symbol by creating different shells. Under the impact of new types of tobacco such as electronic cigarettes, this field has also become a breakthrough for Zippo to find new profit growth points.

Where to buy

VAZO JD online store