On July 22, the veteran pharmaceutical company Sinopharm Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with E-cigarette brand ICE Blizzard. The agreement discloses that Sinopharm Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will make a strategic investment in ICE Blizzard and become one of the new shareholders, and the two sides will also give full play to their respective advantages in raw material supply, product research and development, terminal channels, industrial aggregation and other aspects, and carry out all-round strategic cooperation.
Chen Yanlin, chairman of Sinopharm, said at the signing ceremony: "The new atomization technology can help traditional Chinese medicine revitalize in a larger field. The cooperation between Sinopharm and ICE Blizzard hopes to promote the application of atomization technology in the field of health, making it a new way of applying medicine and treatment. ”
Promote the application of atomization technology in the field of health
As an emerging brand in the field of atomization, ICE Blizzard was established in 2019, focusing on the research and development, application and promotion of atomization technology in electronic atomization products and the big health industry, and its core team comes from tobacco, big health, electronic technology, fast consumption, investment and other fields.
In the context of increasingly perfect domestic regulation, ICE Blizzard is also thinking about the road to transformation. In June this year, ICE Blizzard invested 25 million yuan in the field of atomization applied to the medical field of technology and product research and development, and by the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences to promote the research and development project, its research and development purpose is to combine traditional Chinese medicine and electronic atomization, the use of pure plant extraction method, the extraction and purification of Chinese herbal medicine, and the active ingredients into the electronic atomization liquid, the formation of a new type of herbal atomization liquid, so that consumers can get the experience of traditional atomization medical treatment in daily life.
Zhang Qi, chairman of ICE Blizzard, said: "As a platform technology, atomization can be applied to e-cigarettes and open up a wider range of application scenarios. Sinopharm is rich in medicinal resources, and has deep accumulation and strong strength in the pharmaceutical retail industry and the Materia Medica health industry, and the cooperation between the two sides can integrate their respective advantages and resources to explore the new field of atomized health. ”
Promote standardized operations
In addition to external link cooperation and scenario exploration in the field of big health, ICE Blizzard is also promoting standardized operations in policy supervision.
In June this year, the new version of the "Law on the Protection of Minors" clearly stipulates that "the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors is prohibited", and in the same month, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration of Market Supervision issued the "Special Action Plan for Protecting Minors from Tobacco", indicating that they will comprehensively and strictly supervise the business behavior of electronic cigarettes, gradually establish and improve the electronic cigarette supervision work system, and regulate the production and operation activities of electronic cigarettes.
Policies and regulations have been refined, for the e-cigarette industry, perhaps indicating a clearer development direction, ICE Blizzard Chairman Zhang Qi believes: "The regulations and policies of the e-cigarette industry have gradually begun to improve, it is precisely because the e-cigarette industry has regulations and regulations, let me see the future." Responsibility can create value, and compliance can drive development. ”
In July this year, at the request of the Bao'an Supervision Bureau of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Administration and the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau of Bao'an District of Shenzhen Municipality, the E-cigarette Industry Committee organized e-cigarette enterprises to implement and learn the spirit of the special action of "guarding growth" jointly carried out by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration of Market Supervision to protect minors from tobacco, and signed the "Commitment not to Sell E-cigarettes to Minors" to further implement the protection of minors from e-cigarettes and legally regulate their business. As a well-known brand in the e-cigarette industry, ICE Blizzard participated in the study and signed a letter of commitment.
According to the relevant person in charge of ICE Blizzard, in the national business areas, ICE Blizzard has also implemented the specifications of the details of the sales end, such as the specifications for the outer packaging of the product, and the relevant warning statements such as "do not sell this product to minors" and "minors are prohibited from using this product" in the store, and emphasize the protection of minors in the product or store promotional materials.
At the same time, at the company level, strengthen the training of shop owners, strengthen store patrols, strengthen the production and publicity of materials, and require the majority of front-line personnel who are in direct contact with consumers to keep in mind the bottom line of protecting minors and standardize operations from the source.
In addition, ICE Blizzard said that it is currently developing a product to verify the first consumption link through smart locks to supplement the lack of protection measures for minors in the sales link.
According to statistics, ICE Blizzard currently has nearly 1,000 stores. The company's implementation of the management of nearly a thousand store owners has become an operational difficulty, how to let the scattered individual shopkeepers in accordance with the company's requirements to sell, not in violation, have made a high demand for the latter's management system has made a high demand and high challenge.
In this regard, ICE Blizzard said that the company adopts strict restrictions on the management of the sales end from the institutional level, including taking standardized training for employees, emphasizing compliance with store location, sales, etc., or setting up supervision mechanisms such as store patrols, complaints and reports, and code sanctions to strengthen the protection of minors in stores.
At the same time, in response to the problem of online sales, Blizzard said that e-cigarette merchants trading online will increase public unrest and eventually hurt all brands in the industry that operate in a standardized manner. ICE Blizzard strictly prohibits sales through online channels such as e-commerce platforms, and does not allow stores to sell directly through WeChat.
For more coverage, see Feature: Feature | E-cigarette industry observation