Elfbar's Nowhere Because It's Everywhere

At 10:00 a.m. Moscow time on December 10, the first Russian Vape Club Show was officially opened. There were 65 exhibitors at the show. According to the booth floor plan, Chinese brand exhibitors included ICCPP at booth 327, SP2S at booth 116, and WAKA at booth 406. However, according to the live pictures sent back by 2FIRSTS frontline staff, booth 408, the largest booth in the show, is the booth of ELFBAR, which is exhibited by its Russian distributor BABYLON; while booth 410 is the booth of VOZOL, another Chinese brand exhibited by its Russian distributor TRIOM.
 

Booth of Babylon, Elfbar's distributor  source: 2FIRSTS

Booth of TRIOM, the distributor of Vozol  source: 2FIRSTS

In the past, the local penetration of brands was judged by the size of their booths, but nowadays, it seems that whether they are exhibiting on behalf of their dealers or joint exhibitors has become a new criterion for consideration. ELF BAR, for example, did not have a stand at InterTabac Dortmund in September and Vaper Expo UK in Birmingham in October 2022, but its distributors in each region had joint booths for ELFBAR or brought ELFBAR exhibits to the show.

ELFBAR’s exhibits were shown by the large German e-cigarette wholesaler E-ZIGARETTEN-HANDEL.DE, with its logo occupying half of E-ZIGARETTEN's promotional backdrop; the accompanying handbag, a hotcake for visitors, was also printed with E-ZIGARETTEN's logo on one side and ELFBAR's logo on the other.
 

September 2022, Dortmund InterTabac - Elfbar and E-commerce platform E-Zigaretten co-exhibited  source: 2FIRSTS

In October, ELFBAR did not have any separate brand exposure at the UK e-cigarette exhibition in Birmingham, but two sizeable online sales platforms in the UK, KOV and GR8, both brought ELFBAR exhibits to the show. Even in the UK market, it has a good reason not to participate in the show - in the UK, ELFBAR occupies a prominent position in the UK's large and small supermarkets, retail stores, gift stores, and even cell phone repair stores, as long as there is an e-cigarette shelf, and there is no need for brand exposure and promotion through the show.
 

October 2022, Birmingham Vaper Expo UK - Elfbar's products were on the shelves of GR8 and KOV, 2 British distributors  source: 2FIRSTS

Elfbar on the street of UK  source: 2FIRSTS

Similar to the commercial behavior of brand and dealer joint exhibition or through its dealers, it is not only the way and performance of close cooperation between the brand and dealers, but also a symbol of its market share and influence, and the strength of the dealers almost represents the market share of the brand.

It is worth noting that at the IECIE exhibition in Jakarta, Indonesia on October 20 this year, ELF BAR exhibited independently, and its poster reads "ELFBAR THE BEST DISPOSABLE VAPE IN INDONESIA" (the best disposable e-cigarette ELFBAR in Indonesia), but only one e-cigarette product was actually exhibited. How to exhibit really seems to be one of the reference elements to judge the brand's performance in the local market.
 

Elfbar exhibited independently at IECIE Indonesia  source: 2FIRSTS