2First Exclusive Interview With China Tobacco Hong Kong: The Secret Behind The Significant Improvement in Competitiveness

2First exclusive interview with China Tobacco Hong Kong: The secret behind the significant improvement in competitiveness

At this exhibition, China Tobacco Hong Kong launched "smokeless medium heating products" for the EU market. 2Firsts conducted an on-site interview with China Tobacco Hong Kong staff to discuss China Tobacco Hong Kong's product innovation, market layout, international development and other aspects.

 

2Firsts Special Article:

 

China Tobacco Hong Kong's global competitiveness has been enhanced

 

Two Firsts 2Firsts conducted an exclusive interview with China Tobacco Hong Kong to in-depth analyze its development status and competitive strategies.

 

Text/Two Firsts

 

One of the world's largest tobacco exhibitions, the Dortmund Tobacco Fair (InterTabac), officially opened from September 19 to 21. China Tobacco International (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Tobacco Hong Kong"), the only listed company in the China Tobacco system whose main business is tobacco and China Tobacco's exclusive export platform for new tobacco businesses, dispatched 13 Chinese tobacco industries. The company's 66-person curatorial team participated in the exhibition with 25 brands and more than 100 varieties of heated cigarettes and 30 cigar products. This exhibition has the largest number of curators and the largest number of exhibits in China Tobacco's overseas exhibitions. At the exhibition venue, China Tobacco Hong Kong accepted a special interview with 2Firsts and introduced the situation in terms of product innovation, market layout and international development.

 

On the morning of September 19, 2Firsts visited China Tobacco's booth in Hong Kong. The staff was busy promoting products to exhibitors from different countries and sharing carefully crafted detailed product manuals. After waiting for a while, the representative of China Tobacco in Hong Kong finally made time and explained: "Today's passenger traffic exceeded our expectations. Then he quickly got into the topic and began to be interviewed."

International customers carefully inquire about product details｜Source: 2Firsts

Significant increase in international market share and systematic upgrade of competitiveness

A representative of China Tobacco Hong Kong told 2Firsts that China Tobacco heated cigarettes have maintained a good development momentum in overseas markets in recent years and have achieved a certain market share and brand influence in some markets. In the Czech market, the market share of China Tobacco COO brand has ranked fourth among international brands; in the Philippine market, the COO brand has been able to compete with international brands, and its market share has increased significantly; in other key markets, China Tobacco Hong Kong's dominance Type products have initially formed a clearer market echelon structure, and sales have also grown steadily.

CTOM products of China Tobacco Hong Kong｜Source: 2Firsts

 

The above increase in international market influence comes from the systematic upgrade of competitiveness. Representatives of China Tobacco Hong Kong revealed the upgrade of competitive strategy to 2Firsts. In terms of product strategy, the products have been completely upgraded, and a new generation of tobacco products represented by new technologies such as natural smoke and air heating independently developed by China Tobacco have been launched, and the needs of different markets have been met through technological innovation product specifications. In terms of marketing strategy, China Tobacco Hong Kong accurately divides key regional markets based on the global competitive landscape, and strengthens its business layout in key regional markets by continuously optimizing market promotion strategies and customer development models. In addition, in terms of system construction, China Tobacco Hong Kong fully utilizes its unique positioning advantages within the China Tobacco system, continuously improves the business-leading function of market expansion, further enhances the unified external image of China Tobacco, and continuously improves the efficiency and effectiveness of market promotion.

 

Launching "Non-smoking medium heating products" in response to the regulatory policies of the EU market

 

"Since the EU TPD policy came out, the threshold for entering the EU market has become higher." The representative of China Tobacco Hong Kong explained to 2Firsts, "Under the adjustment of market regulatory policies, consumer demand has also begun to diverge. Some consumers have more demand for non-smoking medium products, so we developed this ENIF tea-based product for the EU market." The "tea-based" product mentioned by the representative of China Tobacco Hong Kong is the full name of "non-smoking medium heating products (without tobacco ingredients)". Unlike traditional heated tobacco, which uses tobacco leaves as raw materials, the "tea-based" product filler uses tea leaves as the base and is coated with nicotine substances, which achieves the purpose of retaining nicotine efficacy while abandoning tobacco leaves as raw materials.

 

In the supervision of some EU countries, products without tobacco substances have different regulatory policies and tax systems from traditional products. For consumers, it meets their needs to take nicotine when using harm reduction products. It is a common practice for international tobacco companies to launch localized products in response to different market regulatory policies. The launch of "tea-based" products by China Tobacco Hong Kong at the Dortmund exhibition marks a new stage in the customization and localization of its international market development.

 

According to 2Firsts, non-tobacco heated cigarette products represented by "tea-based" originated from the invention of Chinese companies. These cartridges are collectively referred to as "herbal cartridges", usually based on herbal substances such as "tea leaves" and "lotus leaves".

The "tea-based" product launched by China Tobacco Hong Kong has "ZERO TOBACCO" marked on the packaging. Source: 2Firsts

The "tea-based" product launched by China Tobacco Hong Kong, information on the back of the package | Source: 2Firsts

 

Future planning: Focus on the layout of heated tobacco and cigars to create a full tobacco industry chain

 

"Heated tobacco and cigars are the product lines that China Tobacco Hong Kong is currently focusing on expanding in addition to traditional cigarettes. In the future, we plan to build China Tobacco Hong Kong into a world-class tobacco company with a full industry chain." The on-site staff of China Tobacco Hong Kong expressed the company's future plans and vision to 2Firsts.

 

In the field of heated tobacco, China Tobacco Hong Kong not only actively deploys key markets as the overseas general agent of China Tobacco, but also plans to expand market coverage to meet the needs of global consumers.

China Tobacco Hong Kong exhibits heated tobacco | Source: 2Firsts

 

In the direction of cigars, China Tobacco Hong Kong's expansion strategy is also clear. In addition to continuing to expand in the duty-free business, the company also plans to strengthen the global promotion of Chinese cigars for international consumer groups. At present, China Tobacco Hong Kong has established a flagship store of the Great Wall Cigar brand in Hong Kong, and plans to further promote the cigar business in other overseas markets and explore the possibility of more project cooperation.

China Tobacco Hong Kong showcases Chinese cigars｜Photo source: 2Firsts

 

Currently, China Tobacco Hong Kong plans to further expand its overseas market to cover a wider range of business and accelerate the construction of a world-class full-function enterprise.