The top vape brands will enter a new era in the development pattern of the vape industry. The products and development strategies of top companies have gradually become clear, and the differentiated development of major brands has gradually begun to manifest. How does the new era of vapes keep moving forward?
1. The accumulation of “industry veterans”
MOTI (Company Name: Leiyan Technology) was founded at the end of 2018. Although the company registration time is later than that of some “new cigarette brands”, the core team is all “industry veterans”. Founder MG joined the vape industry in 2010, and as a core member participated in the “21st Century Smoke”- the American veteran head brand. Subsequently, MG joined the “VAPORESSO” brand of Smoore and the representative “Geekvape” of outdoor smoke as a joint creation, and its market share has reached the top two and three in the world. In 2017, MG, as the co-founder, brought the pod vape products MT and PHIX into the Chinese market. From the perspective of industry development, these two products at that time were important popularizers and evangelists in China’s pod vape market. “Most of the global vape industry supply chain is concentrated in China. From the perspective of historical development, this industry has gone through four major cycles.” MG said in an interview. “From the CIG-LIKE era, the APV era, the rise of China’s pod vape, to the standardized development of the industry brought about by regulatory intervention, the core team and I have completely experienced four cycles.” In fact, since the rise of China’s pod vape industry, The market has never stopped discussing “what kind of team and brand can be successful”. Among them, it has been less than three years since MOTI was founded. The reason why it can become a leading brand in the industry and has a high reputation without relying mainly on capital overweight is its development of “success every day, accumulation and development”. idea.
First of all, in terms of technical products, the core team of MOTI has explored countless innovative functions of box mods and pod vapes in the past ten years, but consumers who do not understand the industry still seem to be unable to distinguish the product differentiation on the market today.
“Every experience point, including heating system, temperature control system, e-liquid blending, etc., is part of the product’s strength. Of course, the homogenization of consumer products is the norm. MOTI also conducts research on various possible technical directions. We firmly believe that this category needs time to continuously meet the various needs of consumers.”
Based on this product concept, MOTI launched the cross-age product MOTI·MEGA PRO in the Chinese market in the middle of 2021. This new product equipped with “Direct-to-lung and Mouth-to-lung mode” and “exclusive heating solution for taste” is a new product that satisfies and improves the experience habits of most pod vaper, and also brings additional mode choices for a small number of users who are accustomed to the Direct-to-lung vaping mode.
In today’s homogeneous pod market competition swamp, a differentiated experience that meets the needs may mean more costs and longer development time, but such products are exactly what users need.
MG said that the design and adjustment of the oil tank chip and MCU chip is a work that the team started a long time ago, and it has spent a lot of time making progress together with the supporting supply chain. “The product must be ‘infinitely close to 100%’ before it can be brought to consumers. Any product loopholes are irresponsible to consumers.”
Secondly, The self-owned factory of MOTI outperforms the international standards and industry standards with well-rounded ISO and GMP certificates. It has reached long-term strategic cooperation with BOTON, ENERGY VERY ENDURE and many other well-known brands to provide the market with a flexible and stable supply chain.
In terms of offline sales, MOTI does not use traditional dealer screening methods such as bidding and shipment matching. Instead, it selects mature dealers with long-term terminal store management capabilities as regional agents based on the concept of long-termism and responsibility to users.
“MOTI uses the long-term terminal store management capability as the criterion, and the breadth replication capability as the auxiliary criterion. It adopts a two-level dealer system. The first-level dealers usually have a large amount of store management and operation experience and capabilities; the second-level dealers are in refined management and operation in some markets.” MG said.
The positioning and hierarchical management of dealers makes MOTI’s dealers generally higher in quality than the industry level, which brings lower mid- and downstream risks. It also makes MOTI not so fast in expanding stores, but terminal brand franchise stores. The stability is also higher, and the “closed store rate” is also at a relatively low level in the industry.
As the brand that owns and continues to operate the most direct stores in the industry, it is also one of the earliest brands to operate direct stores. Its strategy is to maintain close contact with dealers, new and old store owners through the store operation team, and proceed according to different regions or attributes. Customized operation guidelines and professional training can enable the brand owner to maintain a long-term and close trust relationship with the distributor, and at the same time reflect the team’s emphasis on refined management.
2. The homogeneity of the industry is serious, how can the top brands keep moving forward?
It has been nearly 20 years since the vape was invented, and the industry has been experiencing peaks and valleys, and countless entrepreneurs have fallen into the trough of the industry.
Throughout the industry, there are only a few companies that can travel through the cycle and gain a firm foothold. The key to the success of Smoore is the accumulated technology, products and core concepts of manufacturing.
MG said that it was its original intention to establish a company that can adhere to the long-term principle. Reflected in the products and channels, it is based on the two-way concept of technological breakthroughs, product innovations, and channel service quality management. This is also the same as the company’s core value of “success every day, accumulate and develop.”
In addition to the Chinese market, MOTI will also invest more energy in overseas markets.
MG said that when the brand was founded, it considered going overseas, and has invested a lot of resources and manpower to promote overseas business. “Overseas trade and overseas brands should not be confused. There are many companies that trade as brands. We have done these before when we made box mods. But to make brand power requires more investment. Based on the local market’s research and development mechanism, we should establish a good retail sale position.”
Official data show that as of September 2021, MOTI has established more than 8,000 offline stores in 35 countries around the world, and plans to grow the offline outlets (including specialty stores and various collection stores) in the next 1-2 years, making the doubled growth to cover more markets around the world. At the same time, it has established large-scale specialty stores and retail systems in Southeast Asia, North America, South America, Europe and other places, and through key investments in terminal discounts, retail subsidies, membership services, sales training, integrated marketing, and consumer scenarios. MOTI will bring new consumer experience and business services to consumers and partners in these regions.
With the rise and fall of the “new vapes” forces, the companies that can successfully survive and maintain a good development trend have their own core competitiveness. Of course, if you want to follow the industry’s leading brands, only the following MOTI and other manufacturers still need to continue to strengthen their own comprehensive capabilities, while ensuring product experience, improving the supply chain, downstream agents, brand influence, etc. so as to affect the end user experience and comprehensive capabilities.
For new vape manufacturers, it is important to maintain their original intentions. MG said, “MOTI is still a startup company, and there are many shortcomings that need to be added. In the future, while enriching ourselves and serving users, we will actively embrace regulation and make MOTI a compliant, legal, and positive company.”
Since 2019, MOTI has successively launched 10 products in the international market, MOTI Classic opened the door to the international market; MOTI PIIN brought high-quality e-liquid to disposable products for the first time; MOTI S Lite used its own unique taste and the design has been recognized by consumers around the world…
Today’s vape industry has completed the journey from zero to one. Brands that stand at the forefront of the industry, such as Smoore, RELX, and MOTI, have also established their core advantages and continue to move forward. In the future, it is believed that MOTI, which has advantages in technological products and supply chain management and control, will further expand its position and enter a new stage of internationalization.
