“You wait for me a few minutes, what you need can also look first.”
In Huaqiang North near a complex operating electronic cigarette counter Liang, is busy dismantling the store, the door billboards, banners, has no time to care about the customers who just walked into the store. For him, the business of the store this morning is not important, the most important thing is not to be punished.
Electronic cigarettes, smoking
Similar to him, many of the city’s electronic cigarette counters, franchisees, the last two days have been busy removing electronic cigarette signs, many stores in the removal of advertising signs, consumers from a distance has been difficult to distinguish this is a counter or store operating electronic cigarettes. The reason for this is also very simple: a few days ago the Shenzhen Market Supervision Bureau just issued the first “electronic cigarette advertising fines”.
With the tightening of relevant policies and regulations, e-cigarette operators, including Xiaoliang, are also considering taking a break and transferring their “one meter counter” or store out. The once hot e-cigarette industry, what has been experienced over the past year? So many physical e-cigarette business premises, in the end is making money or losing money?
Offline stores are too “crowded”
“recently because of the violation of tobacco control regulations to be punished for the store is in pingshan side, although far from us, but many e-cigarette counters are feeling the risk, we are in the self-censorship advertising, publicity slogans. “Xiaoliang told understand notes, in order to avoid hitting the wave of punishment wind, he took the initiative to remove the store printed with the propaganda slogan of light signs, posters.
Xiaoliang said that since the release of the “online ban” on e-cigarettes last year, offline store billboards have become the main way for businesses to solicit customers (various groups and circles of friends are mostly acquaintances business). Now, offline advertising and signboards are also at risk, and it has become more difficult for counters to solicit customers. In his opinion, the business of the counter can only rely on buyers who happen to pass by the counter, or they can only find a nearby dealer on the official website of the agent brand.
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What gives him more headache is the “overcrowding” of the offline stores in Shenzhen this year. “Just a year, the neighborhood is everywhere electronic cigarette (stores).”
As early as in the electronic cigarette comprehensive “disconnected” before, Xiaoliang in the building complex under the escalator plate down the counter, joined a head of the electronic cigarette brand to do a retail business. He recalled that there were only four e-cigarette counters in the vicinity of one kilometer, belonging to two different e-cigarette brands, which echoed each other.
After the “disconnection”, e-cigarette products could not be sold through e-commerce, and consumers could only find offline dealers to buy e-cigarette products. Therefore, just “disconnected” when Liang also fished a wave of industry dividends, the counter can have seven or eight thousand dollars a day income, sales are considerable.
“Last fall, there are not many offline stores, plus the uneven distribution of stores, many customers run a long way to buy electronic cigarettes.” Xiaoliang found that soon various electronic cigarette brands began to lower the threshold for stores to join, widely recruiting agents, around the stores all of a sudden more.
Franchise management began to allow only one franchise store to exist in a single business district, and there was only one convenience store in the community to represent the product. But after lowering the threshold, both franchised stores or community agents selling products in the supermarkets and convenience stores, the number has doubled several times.
To Liang’s agent electronic cigarette brand, for example, open the official APP search to find nearby dealer stores, only Huaqiang North business district appeared 21 agents, and the nearest one is less than a hundred meters from Liang’s counter, “just a single brand, if you count other brands, near a kilometer there are hundreds of businesses selling electronic cigarettes. “
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Offline stores pile up, even if consumer demand grows slightly, but each is inevitably facing the situation of monks and porridge sand:According to the forecast data released by Ai Media Consulting, China’s e-cigarette market size may reach 8.38 billion yuan in 2020, compared to 7.86 billion in 2019, a slight increase of 6%.
This slight increase is obviously a drop in the bucket compared to the multiplicative increase in the number of e-cigarette stores. Different brands and a large number of stores are further scrambling for the limited market share.
“October counter sales are only one-sixth of last year. Now I feel more tired than part-time work, and earn less than part-time work.” Xiao Liang refused to disclose the current turnover, just a cry of misery. He revealed that some small and medium-sized brand franchises have been withdrawn from the market, while the strength, financial strength of the head of the brand, will be the first time to open a new franchise to occupy the exit of the “pit” to expand the sales network.
To join his brand, for example, now in the recruitment of agents priority is how to increase market density, rather than the interests of past agents, franchisees, which led to the distribution of sales network is very unscientific and unreasonable, so the same business district electronic cigarette stores pile up serious, “in addition to competition with other brands, we also have to compete with the same brand stores for customers, very miserable oh. .”
Stores fall into the “inward roll”
“The price is not cheap, but you can give you some free gifts.”
In the process of talking with Xiaoliang, a young customer at the counter asked about the price of their cigarettes. Xiaoliang introduced that the price of the cigarette cartridge was asked at the beginning, obviously a regular customer of the brand. In order to buy lower prices and more affordable bombs, these customers will habitually ask the price as long as they pass by the e-cigarette counter and compare the price.
In fact, in terms of price, the brand has unified regulations. Therefore, Xiaoliang can only tell each other if the purchase of three boxes can be sent another cigarette as a gift. Through a simple greeting Xiaoliang learned that the customer lives in Longhua District, today just happened to pass by Huaqiang North, see the electronic cigarette counter by the way to ask a question.
“As long as I give away more than his home near the counter, he will definitely come back to me to buy cigarettes.” Eventually, Xiaoliang promised to give away two bombs after buying three boxes of bombs, and the young customer readily paid for the goods, and when they left Xiaoliang and the other party also added each other WeChat.
Xiao Liang told understand notes, their WeChat friends are mostly old customers of the counter, can contact online to find him to buy cigarettes, and then express delivery. He is also competing for business from all the e-cigarette brand stores in the customer’s area through these friends and circle of friends, “with the fashionable words now, is ‘inside the volume’, everyone does.”
As for his gift out of the smoke, in fact, are the store’s trial supplies, is the brand unified allocation to its franchise merchants, he usually try not to give customers to try, save and save have become the sales of gifts, and sometimes he will even buy some trial supplies out of his own pocket to customers.
“(The store) the profit of the smoke bomb about 40%, excluding the weekday package, out of pocket to buy the cost of gifts, about 25% of the profit can be.” Liang believes that as long as there are enough customers, goods can go, the 25% profit is still relatively substantial, “at least the profit is higher than selling cell phones, barely able to maintain the normal operation of the counter.”
But he is very clear, the current electronic cigarette market has been caught in a disguised price war, who are difficult to do the real sense of “go”. Which store gifts, customers will be in which store to buy e-cigarettes and smoke, some stores are even buy three boxes of smoke to send a box, but also to send electronic cigarette silicone sets, these “tough” is to kill a thousand self-loss eight hundred.
“Even if you do not make money, some businesses also think how to boil peers to death, when you can hold the customer to earn a fortune.” Liang sighed, the biggest value of the counter is to attract passing customers to consult, and then the consumer will develop into friends and group of friends, the store every day from the social network orders (through express delivery), is three or four times the amount of sales at the counter.
In fact, many of the customers who place orders “online” have never met him, and are even consumers of e-cigarettes in other cities in the province. This is interesting, the electronic cigarette has long been “disconnected”, why customers can still buy his electronic cigarette products online?
“Disconnected” left a crack
“Just rely on the nearby old customers and passing smokers, certainly can not support a store.”
Xiao Liang told understand notes, he often and counter customers add each other to add friends, in addition to each other to develop into a fixed user, but also often use some small favors to ask customers to recommend him to the electronic cigarette users around, generally to smoke cartridges, cigarette sticks set as a small gift.
Over time, his WeChat has increased many customers he has never met, often looking for him to place orders to buy electronic cigarettes. In addition, he also often mingled in Zhihu, post, Douban and other social forums to find electronic cigarette users with consumer demand, and the forum users to develop into customers.
“Seriously, since the electronic cigarette can not be sold online, many smokers buy electronic cigarettes is very inconvenient, social networking is still considered a small window.” Because of this, Liang said many smokers he met online, like to place orders with him, not only do not have to spend time and effort to run stores, but also can quickly buy “rations”.
He showed his friends list to understand the notes, in the “network customers” group, there are nearly 200 customers who have never met. The orders from these customers currently account for more than a third of the monthly sales of Xiaoliang’s counter.
In order to further expand the customer network, he also followed the example of some peers, in e-commerce, second-hand e-commerce platform quietly did the electronic cigarette business. Liang revealed that the current electronic cigarette can not be sold openly on the mainstream e-commerce platform, but there are still small tricks that can be adapted.
“I sell in my online store are electronic cigarette rod set, electronic cigarette rod lanyard, similar products do not violate the relevant regulations.” However, knowledgeable smokers know that some of the businesses selling e-cigarette stick sets and e-cigarette stick lanyards are selling e-cigarettes, so they will also try to ask the seller.
He told know notes, if the seller sells electronic cigarette products, certainly not in the e-commerce platform and customer transactions, but will tell each other can talk by phone or add a friend, and eventually reach a deal with the customer, “as long as it is not a bite back, saying there is no sale of electronic cigarettes, let call and add a friend are ok.”
Xiao Liang laughed, online purchase of electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, has become a tacit agreement between the merchant and the user, as to whether the buyer has become an adult, whether to meet the relevant provisions, he often just “follow the example” to ask each other, and will not ask carefully, “now so cruel competition, who cares about those rules I don’t know which day the electronic cigarette is completely banned.”
Obviously, e-cigarettes “off the grid” or some gray area can wander. A large number of e-cigarette smokers can be contacted through a specific tacit agreement to sell e-cigarette-related products on e-commerce platforms and social networks. E-cigarette “disconnected” and the brand’s inordinate development of franchised stores also makes the competition between offline stores more and more intense.
In order to grab customers, the volume, stores to give away, disguised price war between each other to crush, merchants with the electronic cigarette regulations ban at any time tightened the concern, some barely maintain, some clear out of the seat. The upstream manufacturers, brand operators, there are also many in the market fluctuations shaky. Some media have reported that in just two months from early April to the end of May this year, domestic e-cigarette companies in line with the “liquidation, suspension, cancellation, revocation” of the enterprise reached 121, accounting for the first half of 2020 “exit” 197 companies 61%.
Even if a large number of electronic cigarette brands (manufacturers) fall, it does not mean that the industry competition is over, the surviving electronic cigarette brands will continue to expand wildly, a large number of electronic cigarette counters, stores are also involved in the competition between the same brands. It can be said that only more peers fall, the surviving stores will have a chance to strike gold.
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