Too many suppliers? Discuss...

[bel]

Thats why its great to have a choice.

[hissie]

In my opinion, & obviously this isn't fact, people who try these e-cigs that are advertised in magazines, use them & dump them because they are expensive rubbish & in no way compare to the e-cigs people use on forums such as this.

I really don't believe that the mass manufactured, magazine e-cigs even come close to e-cigs we all know & love. I think if I'd of had the misfortune of buying one, I would have binned it & never turned to being a full time vaper.

[Gordy]

i agree the majority may not join the forums but when searching the net for e-cigs they may come across a forum and gain information and advice that someone else has asked ...well thats how i started at least

the guests to the forum far outweigh the members... right this minute there are more guests on this forum than members
over the last 24hours we've had nearly 1000 guests visit here

[CAM-VIP]

The products may not come close to what we use Hissie but they satisfy thousands and thousands of people.

I'll give you some examples from my own experience. My local pub is a vaping pub and the landlady has recently started to stock few disposables and look-a-like rechargeables behind the bar as well as a few more exotic kits (on CAM-VIP's behalf). The ones that sell are the look-a-likes and the people who buy them keep coming back for cartomisers. At the last count, 8 people have bought Trog's social smokers and are quite happy with them.

One of the more adventurous regulars bought an eGo tank kit on World Vaping Day from Tony2Stix as he was told that it would work better for him - he has since sold it on and gone back to the social smoker.

At work, I have sold 9 SDKs on behalf of CAM-VIP and the people who I sold them to are still using them and buy 510 cartomisers from the vendors we recommend (cos they are cheap) - they have no interest in buying eliquid or upgrading etc - they are happy with what they have got.

Another example is the manager of another pub in my town, she just buys disposables and is quite happy doing so.

A supporting vendor of CAM-VIP (they donate kits to us) have thousands of satisfied customers that just use their Halo look-a-likes and keep returning to buy their non-standard cartomisers.

Us enthusiasts have an overly inflated idea of what impact we have on getting smokers to vape - our input really is negligible. Forums come into their own with those new vapers that are not happy with their look-a-likes. Then we come into our own

Russell

[hissie]

To be brutally honest, I have no interest in getting smokers off cigarettes.

I have tried to encourage friends & family to vape, but they ain't interested. They much prefer their packets of fags.

[CAM-VIP]

That is why planting a seed and buggering off works - a smoker will only try theem when or if they want to. Promoting ecigs in pubs, increases awareness and makes them think that they might give it a go because the weather is awful - some do and secretly enjoy the experience, but they only use it in the pub

most smokers are not interested until they are interested (on their own terms), they prefer fags ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and between us Hissie - since I became ill, so do I!!!,,,,sssshhhhh

Russell

[vereybowring]

I want a wide variety of vendors even if I don't always use them. I might use a new vendor if they have something I want to try. As has been said the bigger the market, the harder it will be to bring in draconian measures to curb it.
That said much of what is happening in the industry is out with the control of us or the vendors and suppliers. I hope we can maintain a variety of vendors in the coming years so we can continue to get the choices we want.
I would also like to see more from the trade association ECITA who seem to be failing to get too many vendors interested, the members list still seems to be the same as months ago. They are trying to bring voluntary regulation before any meddling brings in enforced regulation and we should support them, as well as pushing them to adopt regulations we support.

As to our community spreading the word or being insular.
We vary, most do very little to promote vaping other than in their own circle of friends, some do more and try to educate and even entertain to attract new users. Any spread of the positives is better than nothing, more would be nice but people are who they are. Rusty has done much and should be applauded for his efforts with CAM-VIP. So should our VTTV and ry4radio crews. ECCAUK is trying to get going but yes apathy lives in most of us to varying degrees.
Yes, the best case scenario is every vaper spreading the word as far as they can.

Like any new trend, our community is growing and as it does more public exposure will happen organically - we just need to keep watering and feeding it.

[Gordy]

i have no problem with cig-e-likes as a product and they do work well and many people are very happy with them ...i have a problem with the totally inflated prices the vendors are asking for a prefilled carto ...its daylight robbery

e-lites for example
5 x disposables for £40
5 x prefilled cartos for £20

its cheaper to smoke !!!!

[CAM-VIP]

I agree about the prices Gordy - that is where forums come into their own though, when that vaper looks for alternatives However many people are willing to pay that!

[Gordy]

theres probably three main reasons to quite smoking sorry i mean change 'brand' to e-cigs

health benefits
saving money
avoid smoking ban

[samuelmunro]

There's a saying "variety is the spice of life", I do agree with some of the comments though. If we have say 20 UK vendors all selling the same stuff, is this really variety. All that would appear to become is a price battle (which in some respect is also good for the consumer).

IMHO looking to the future, I'd like to see vaping expand more within the brick and mortar sector. then the question of how many vendors/retailers are stocking the products becomes redundant, the question will be who will corner the market as the distributors and manufacturers. Big Pharma (They'll want a piece of the pie, and a bland single flavour pie it'll be) The tobacco giants too are getting in on the action. If the vendors that are already here and those that were there in the beginning "the early adopters" don't band together (like ECITA have been trying to affect) then they will be squashed and priced out of the industry, obviously with a few exceptions.

If that happens there will be too few vendors and too little choice.

[hissie]

It doesn't avoid the smoking ban were I live

[Gordy]

sorry Hissie i realise this thread has gone a little off topic but its an interesting subject

i think more vendors can only be a good thing....i guess in real terms it means there is greater demand and hence the need for greater supply

personally i would love more physical shops or outlets
imagine popping in to a petrol station to fill up, grabing a coke, a chocky bar and a couple of flavoured cartos now that would be a good progression

[hissie]

It hasn't gone off topic gordy. All input is a bonus.

[CAM-VIP]

I know of 4 major vendors that are expanding their presence into physical shops over the next few months and also CAM-VIP is piloting stocking pubs with 'all the essential consumables' for vapers as well as 'cheap intro kits' for smokers.

The future is looking bright