F E AT U R E
can come back to time and time again.
Last but not least there’s the 60
mL…. what’s wrong with more juice?
Nothing…. Until you lower the margins
on that bottle of juice so that they are
almost identical to your 30 mL margins.
Like I said earlier, there is a place for
bigger bottles at a cheaper price… the
tiering system I talked about earlier. Let’s
get some perspective… you normally
get drink deals at a bar anytime on “well”
drinks which is the lowest you can go
for what the bar carries or you can get
“happy hour” specials on mid-level spirits
during certain times of the day. There’s
not really a time when you are going to
see top shelf alcohol go for less than
top shelf prices. If you want premium,
you pay for premium. It’s that simple.
However, the Vape Industry has proven
once again, they will not follow trends
and Premium E-Liquid is now being sold
in some cases for double the quantity for
about the same price as a much smaller
customers? Your brand is still being sold
at the highest price in the store if you are
a Premium E-Liquid as it should… you
have more overhead, you have more
employees, you use better materials…
you are funding lawsuits against the
FDA that other people can’t, donating to
Advocacy groups who support lobbying
efforts and dancing between multimillion dollar contracts to begin your
PMTA process so vapers hopefully have
products to vape in 2 years and Vape
Shops have products to sell then! If none
of you are making the money to stay
in business because you are dropping
your pricing to compete with One-Off
brands and Mid-Level E-Liquid lines
who do not put out the same amount,
you won’t be able to get through the
regulations (whether or not ANYONE
can make it through is a whole different
rant…. This is purely based on the cost
don’t email me with hate crime promises
because you assume I don’t know the
through the PMTA, I get it.) or pay for
your monthly operating costs unless you
do some serious trimming of fat from
every aspect of your budget.
So okay… you don’t lower your prices…
you just release a few (or twenty) OneOff Brands. Isn’t it a damn shame when
50 other companies just spring up like
mushrooms on your lawn overnight? Oh
42 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE USA
and how about when your One-Off line
is actually a better product than your
original line? Way to cannabilize your
own market buddy! Why would anyone
shelves? Does anyone know how long
talking to my own Distro’s and Shops,
for about the time it takes you to spend
the money you made on the initial orders
that everyone placed. Yes, there are
exceptions, I won’t mention names in
particular because I am not going to sit
direction but there are some who did
the One-Off right. Those are mainly the
people who were responsible for starting
the craze… the problem is, not everyone
followed in those footsteps of having an
original and highly effective marketing
plan from their packaging to their media,
and strategic launches…. Most One-Off’s
are mixed quick, have a lot of that really
delicious stuff that will soon be regulated
out of the market and a marketing
strategy that took as much time to come
Throw it in a box and call it a day right?
Shelf space in shops and online is now a
revolving door of trademark infringement
and gimmicks that don’t stick leaving less
room for the lines that came up with their
own branding and spent the time and
money to make a product that customers
regulation deadlines has begun people
and no matter the logic behind not
joining, it seems like plenty of brands
can’t wait to discount themselves from
the start, right into the irrelevant blowout
bin to make some quick initial money.
The lower pricing doesn’t just affect the
manufacturer on this one… it affects the
stores too. The whole appeal of a bigger
bottle at a lesser price is more bang for
your buck! Appropriate to offer as an
option for customers, yes…. Appropriate
to base your store and all new inventory
on this model?… If you would like to
close your doors sooner than later, by all
means drop all your premiums and just
slang those big bottles.
Moral of the story, in every industry, even
regulated industries, there are bottom,
mid and top level products. There will
always be a place for and a taste for the
best of the best and there will always be
a product that is clearly made with the
bargain shopper in mind. So why is the
entire industry acting like we need to blur
those lines? We don’t… and as a Vaper
who works in the industry, I can only
the balance of the economics in our
own market to survive. Things are going
to continue to change as regulation
deadlines approach and as they always
have in our industry. We are an industry
born of innovation. We should be
focusing on how to innovate to keep our
industry alive, not supporting the race
for the bottom. But hey, I’m just a Vap e
Model… who cares what I think.