The vape e-commerce climate is changing, and for the better
If you are in the vaping/e-cig market or interested in entering it, there are some recent developments you should know. If used correctly, this information could help push your e-commerce site to a higher level as many of your potential competitors are still being scared off by what they feel is an unstable regulatory climate.
According to this article from CSP Daily News, there are many regulatory changes on the way for all tobacco products, but it’s not as bad as it sounds, and it is definitely not as bad as it was before the November 2016 election. The first change is the pushing back of product manufacturing plan deadlines for all vape and e-cig products. This means that anyone who was worried about spending money redesigning or developing products by August of 2018 now has until August of 2022 (pipe and hookah tobacco, as well as cigars, must be submitted in 2021). That gives the industry time to take a deep breath and make some money without any need for immediate change. According to the new head of the FDA, one reason for this change is to allow time for scientific and economic understanding of how to go about changing this industry to keep Americans healthier and not create a financial crisis in a major market. This comes after the confirmation of new Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is very focused on lowering the dangers of nicotine by making tobacco products less addictive and harmful. One method of achieving this is by developing and growing low nicotine tobacco, which is obtained through genetic manipulation.
What’s Gottlieb’s motive?
Worry not, Gottlieb has been very outspoken about his desire for a transparent and scientific study that digs deeply into the best options and methods for moving forward. These options include vape products, which was the major motivation to push the manufacturing update deadline back several years.
The response to Gottlieb has not been favorable from all sides of the issue, with some substantial reservation and skepticism from the left, from consumer advocacy groups, and from some health and wellness groups. Alternatively, the reaction from the vape and tobacco industry, right and libertarian-leaning politicians, and from those bold health advocates who feel that e-cigs are a terrific, less harmful advance in nicotine delivery has been more than positive.
The most vocal and broad concerns come from those who want regulation to make it more difficult for children to gain access to or become interested in tobacco products, taking issue with vaping flavors like gummy bear and other candy centered flavors children would take to. These are issues that have broad support on both sides of the aisle.
Why start selling vape products and e-juice online now?
Now, let’s discuss how you can take advantage of this new vape climate. First of all, if you are selling vape or e-cig products, you can continue to do so without worry about finding a manufacturer that will still be manufacturing after the 2018 deadline. However, there are a lot of people still speculating, and therefore you might want to up your marketing game. Get the message out there that you’re selling quality products and the market isn’t going anywhere yet. It may also be possible to steal customers from other sites that are slacking because they haven’t heard the news and are pulling back. If you are just getting started or are interested in doing so here is an article we wrote a while back on how we can help you get up and running accepting payments for your new vape or e-liquid business. The first step is to get you set up with a payment gateway and a merchant account to take payments for your vape related products. Vape products are technically “high-risk” as far as online transactions go. Due to this fact, the credit card processors require that you sign up for a high-risk merchant account, (we can recommend one that fits your business) and a payment gateway that allows you to not only charge your customer’s credit cards but do so from the platform of your choice. Whether it be Shopify, WooCommerce, or any one of the hundreds of popular carts out there we can find a solution that fits your business. This may sound complicated, but we will be here to help you through the whole process, and there is no obligation to sign up for our services or pay us in any way should you just want a little free, friendly advice.
Have a question about selling vape products online? Need advice on accepting payments?
Take your online vape shop to the next level
Once you are up and running, and you have refined your marketing, the next step is to focus on the industry’s development of these new nicotine products. If Gottlieb stays true to his word and pushes for these studies and research, there should be a lot of information coming in the next few months about which direction the FDA and therefore the industry might go. We know the FDA is already looking into genetically engineering low nicotine tobacco plants. According to the recent CSP daily news article referenced in paragraph one, industry leaders are in the process of unveiling a product that they claim has a 95% reduced nicotine compared to the average cigarette. How might that transfer to the vaping industry? We do not yet know, so keeping up with those possibilities is important. There is also reason to believe that this research might discover a better way to ingest the product. Currently, there are several options for nicotine products, but it’s possible through this research new information might lead us to develop new safer products. Should this happen, you will want to be in the front of the line to start selling what might be the hot new trend. We will certainly be keeping an eye on these developments, so stay tuned for more updates like this!