电子烟龙头试水中国市场，数天后产品下架

电子烟公司Juul Labs的线上销售在中国刚刚起步几天就停止了。

Juul的笔式电子烟和烟弹上周在中国两家最大的电子商务网站阿里巴巴旗下的天猫和京东上的官方网店开始销售。周末这些产品就销声匿迹了。Juul没有对下架做出解释，也没有说明何时会重新上架。

公司发言人说：“虽然Juul的产品目前未在中国电商网站上销售，但我们期待与利益相关者继续对话，从而可以再次上线我们的产品。”

Juul是美国最畅销的电子烟，在华盛顿的游说力量很强大。但发生了几起与电子烟有关的死亡事件后（最近一起是周一），Juul和其他品牌的电子烟在美国可能面临禁令。

该公司被批评向青少年营销，引发了青少年吸电子烟的“风潮”，其首席执行官已向广大家长道歉。最近，特朗普政府提出的一项电子烟政策将禁止销售水果、薄荷和薄荷醇等口味的电子烟产品，正是这些产品构成了Juul80%的销售额。但这不是该公司曾面临的最大威胁——2018年，美国食品和药物管理局威胁要将所有电子烟产品从市场上下架，以阻击未成年人使用电子烟的“流行病”。

由于在国内面临越来越多的监管，Juul正在向国际市场扩张。如果Juul的产品在美国被取缔，那么拥有3.15亿烟民（和美国总人口差不多一样）的中国可能会成为一个重要的市场。不过，它将不得不与众多中国电子烟品牌竞争，比如雪加（Snow+）和悦刻（Relx）。

与美国和其他国家相比，中国对吸烟的法律管制比较宽松。在中国，针对在公共场所吸烟的限制不多，执行力度也不严格，烟盒上也不像韩国、马来西亚、泰国等其他亚洲国家那样，印有用来阻止人们抽烟的图案。

Juul的产品在天猫和京东下架之前，一支电子烟和两个烟弹的售价为42美元。在Juul自己的网站上，一支电子烟加四个烟弹的入门套装标价49.99美元，但目前的售价为19.99美元。

在天猫和京东上搜索Juul，可以看到有第三方卖家出售充电器和电子烟保护套，但该品牌的官方商店里已空空如也。（财富中文网）

译者：Agatha

Online sales of products from e-cigarette company Juul Labs, Inc. have halted in China just days after the company launched there.

Juul vape pens and refill pods went on sale in the company's official stores on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Tmall.com and JD.com Inc.'s eponymous website, China's largest e-commerce sites, last week. The products disappeared by the end of the week. Juul did not give an explanation for the delisting or say when the products would return.

"While Juul products are not currently available on e-commerce Web sites in China, we look forward to continued dialogue with stakeholders so that we can make our products available again," a company spokesperson said.

Juul is the bestselling e-cigarette in the U.S. and has a significant lobbying presence in Washington D.C. But it is facing a potential ban in the U.S. along with other e-cigarette brands after several vaping-related deaths, the most recent on Monday.

The company has faced criticism for marketing to teenagers and spurring a teen vaping " epidemic," and its CEO has apologized to parents. A vaping policy recently proposed by the Trump administration would ban flavored fruit, mint, and menthol vaping products—the exact merchandise that provides Juul with 80% of its sales. The policy would not be as damaging to the startup as the Food and Drug Administration's 2018 threat to pull all vaping products from the market to fight the "epidemic" of use by minors.

In the face of increased domestic scrutiny, Juul is expanding into international markets, and China, home to 315 million smokers—about as many as the entire U.S. population—could be a critical market if its products are outlawed in the U.S., though it would have to compete with numerous Chinese vape brands like Snow+ and Relx.

China's smoking laws are lax compared to the U.S. and other countries. Restrictions on smoking in public places in China are uncommon and loosely enforced, and cigarette packets are bereft of the graphic images designed to discourage smokers as seen in other Asian countries like South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Before its products were taken off Tmall and JD.com, a vape pen and two flavor pods were selling for $42. On its own website, a "Juul Starter Kit" with one pen and four pods is priced at $49.99 but is currently selling at $19.99.

Searches for Juul on Tmall.com and JD.com show charging devices and Juul pen cases for sale from third-party sellers, but nothing from the brand's official store.