WIPO Russia Market Manager Shares Insights at Vape Expo

The Vape Club Show Moscow, an e-cigarette exhibition, was held on June 17th and 18th at the Crocus Expo exhibition center in Moscow. As the official media partner, 2FIRSTS provided comprehensive live coverage of the event.

At the exhibition, 2FIRSTS interviewed the WIPO Russian market manager for e-cigarette brand, Daria. She stated that the offline ban on displaying e-cigarettes in Russia, which came into effect on June 1st, has little impact on them, but the online ban on sales and marketing has a greater impact.

Daria stated that although the display of e-cigarettes is banned offline, it does not affect orders from major clients. However, the online prohibition of sales and marketing has made it difficult for them to expand their customer base, as they can only promote their products through phone calls to customers.

Dalia holds a positive outlook on Russia's proposed e-cigarette regulation measures, which are currently a topic of discussion. Though the effects remain uncertain, she believes that the changes will likely be minimal.

Dalia explained that the majority of products produced by WIPO are disposable, as consumers find refillable products to be inconvenient and prefer using disposable ones. Therefore, the market for disposable products is larger compared to refillable ones.

When discussing the issue of illegal products in the Russian market, Daria stated that it is difficult for brand owners to avoid the problem of counterfeit goods. Head brands such as HQD and ELFBAR have also been deeply affected by fake and inferior products.