The dilemma of today's e-cigarette companies needs to be solved by a thorough industry value revolution

The e-cigarette industry is experiencing an unprecedented dark moment, with high policy pressure, shrinking market, and a crisis of public trust... The "hot spot" that was once sought after by capital is now in deep trouble.

The root cause is not a sudden change in the external environment, but the inevitable result of the industry's own long-term deviation from its original intention and the collapse of its value system.

As a deep participant in the e-cigarette industry, I think the main reason is the problem of product positioning. The constant pursuit of repurchase rate and stimulation of young people's consumption have deviated from the social value of the original intention of the birth of e-cigarettes: quitting smoking and reducing harm for traditional smokers. Therefore, the development of e-cigarettes today has lost the social value of the product itself, which has led to the control of its development by governments of various countries. To change the plight of the e-cigarette industry and to truly break through, I believe that e-cigarette companies urgently need to launch an industry value revolution from "profit-seeking tool to health partner".

I. Global Policy Siege: The Root of Survival Dilemma

Since 2024, the global e-cigarette market has been experiencing an unprecedented policy storm. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia have all introduced strict policies; Russia has imposed high consumption taxes on nicotine raw materials; some European countries such as the United Kingdom and France have begun to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes; and many states in the United States have pushed e-cigarettes into a strict compliance quagmire through flavoring bans, age restrictions, and tax policies. The core demands of these policies directly point to two contradictions: public health protection and the risk of youth addiction.

Data shows that more than 2 million middle school students in the United States use e-cigarettes, and nearly 40% of high school students have become dependent on them; the British public health department emphasizes that "the harm of e-cigarettes is 95% lower than that of traditional cigarettes", but the premise is to "prevent minors from contacting them". The essence of the regulatory differences among countries is the disagreement on the social value positioning of e-cigarettes : is it a harm reduction tool for traditional smokers, or has it become a fast-moving consumer product that attracts teenagers ? This is a key point that industry practitioners must be aware of.

II．The lost original intention of the industry: the alienation from "harm reduction" to "fast-moving consumption"

The birth of e-cigarettes was originally a public health revolution. In 2003, Chinese pharmacist Han Li invented the modern e-cigarette with the original intention of "helping smokers quit smoking" and reducing harm for traditional smokers, but the subsequent wave of commercialization completely changed the trajectory of the industry. In order to pursue repurchase rates, companies competed to develop fruit-flavored and dessert-flavored cartridges, attracting non-smokers through nicotine addiction, causing the user group to spread from "smokers who replaced smokers" to teenagers. The extreme repurchase rate strategy has put the industry into a vicious cycle of "stimulating consumption-tightening policies-market shrinkage". This business model of "using the name of health to create addiction" completely deviates from social values and has attracted global policy crackdowns.

The industry's technical focus has been excessively tilted towards optimizing taste rather than breakthroughs in harm reduction technology. The nicotine content of a single cartridge of some brands is equivalent to that of 20 traditional cigarettes, creating a "super addictive product" that is even harder to quit. This trend of "technological evil" has not only intensified public doubts, but has also turned e-cigarettes into a public health burden.

When the industry cannot prove its "net health benefits" (i.e. helping people quit smoking > adding new nicotine-dependent people), regulatory policies will inevitably choose the "minimize risk" strategy. China's ban on non-tobacco flavors, the EU's restrictions on nicotine concentrations, and India's comprehensive ban on e-cigarettes are essentially punishments for the industry's loss of value .

III．Breaking the ice in the dilemma: Three revolutions to reconstruct social values

We should see that the current predicament reflects the imbalance between capital pursuit and social responsibility, the rupture between short-term growth and long-term value, and other issues at a deeper level. The abnormal development of the industry is essentially a collective loss of value. To break out of the policy siege and get out of the predicament, what is needed is not the current technological micro-innovation, the market's bottom-line struggle or policy game, but a thorough industry value revolution and the adjustment of product value direction. The e-cigarette industry must return to the essence of "harm reduction service", and technology, products, and markets serve this purpose, launching a deep revolution covering product positioning, technical paths, and social responsibility.

1. Revolution in product positioning: from "pan-entertainment" to "health tool" Core function upgrade: from "sensory stimulation" to "health intervention"; Additional function extension: environmental health management and social responsibility binding, etc.

2. Revolution in technological path: from "flavor innovation" to "health empowerment" through the upgrade of atomization technology and intelligent health management: reconstruction of raw material standards to achieve harm reduction services and health empowerment .

3. Social responsibility revolution: from "compliance response" to "active co-governance", actively participate in the co-construction of supervision through youth protection system, industry self-discipline convention and policy coordination mechanism .

IV．Future vision: the ultimate direction of industry value revolution

The ultimate mission of the development of e-cigarettes should be to "eliminate themselves" - by helping smokers to quit smoking completely, and eventually become a transitional tool for a smoke-free society. This requires the industry to complete a triple transition:

1. The business model transformation from "addiction consumption" to "health services";

2. Upgrading governance thinking from “compliance response” to “co-building standards”;

3. Reshaping of cultural genes from "capital-driven" to "social value-driven".

This revolution is destined to be difficult, but as the World Health Organization said: "Regulating e-cigarettes should not be done in the same way as traditional cigarettes, it should be seen as a new opportunity for tobacco control." Only by returning to the original intention can e-cigarettes transform from "problem makers" to "solution providers." If industry practitioners continue to indulge in the "repurchase rate myth", they will eventually become eliminated under the policy iron curtain; and companies that dare to embrace the value revolution may lead a great change that rewrites the history of global public health. "Returning to the original intention of health" is the key to breaking the industry.

Looking back at the development of many industries in the past, they have all experienced a period of wild growth, from chaos to standardization, from deviation to return to the right track. This process is a process of self-reflection, self-realization, self-salvation, and rebirth. History is a mirror that any industry that has undergone major changes will usher in a new era of splendid chapters.