4
TOBACCO BUSINESS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
Are You Ready
for Vapor World Expo?
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
BY ed o’connor
V
apor World Expo is a business-to-business show
that will be held May 7-8, 2014 at the Rosemont
Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, an incor-
porated city proximate to Chicago, with its own mayor and
political system.
Electronic cigarettes and related vapor devices have
reached the tipping point. Having passed through the fad
stage, the market is trending substantially higher and rap-
idly becoming a tobacco behemoth—innovative, unique
and capturing enormous consumer appeal. All the evi-
dence from recent studies suggests low to no continuum
of health risks from vapor products compared to traditional
cigarettes. What’s more, the American Etiquette E-cigarette
Survey of more than 1,000 individuals, commissioned by
Mistic Electronic Cigarettes, found that 63 percent of re-
spondents did not object to the use of electronic cigarettes
in their vicinity.
Lightning market growth poses complex questions. An-
swers to today’s product, regulatory and distribution is-
sues lag consumer demand for all vapor products, likely to
be the case for the next three to five years as the industry
sorts through the Gordian market knot. Product safety, sci-
ence-based regulation, store layout, dedicated shelf space,
wholesale distribution, advertising, capital planning, human
resource allocation, world supply and competitive position-
ing number are among the major concerns facing this na-
scent category. All this coupled with now-evident product
fragmentation—specifically, differentiation between the
traditional e-cigarette and, as TMA’s Farrell Delman char-
acterizes, the “$/puff” advantage of personal or “tank style”
vaporizers.
The goal of Vapor World Expo is threefold:
1. Gather electronic medium exhibitors and suppliers at
the Vapor World Expo.
2. Bring buyers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retail-
ers from convenience stores, drug and supermarket chains,
and the outlet store communities to consider, evaluate and
make purchasing decisions to support their electronic mar-
keting strategies for the upcoming months.
3. Identify and attract the most knowledgeable market—
product and regulatory specialists—bringing perspective
and direction to burning marketplace issues through semi-
nars, roundtables and attendee collaboration.
The Vapor World Expo vision for long-term electronic
product development and market success needs to evolve
as a “grand bargain” among all stakeholders. Vapor World
Expo seeks to set the stage for innovation, product safety,
harm reduction, education and market profitability. In the
same spirit as the TPC Expo, Vapor World Expo offers a big
tent approach to the market, believing an open source fo-
rum presenting alternative, and at times, conflicting points of
view allows the market to competitively sort and develop in
such a way as to foster safe products, consumer satisfaction
and profitable supply. The fact that not everyone agrees with
this philosophy gives evidence to the potential for conflict.
The Rosemont Convention Center is located proximate
to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Superior accom-
modations and restaurants support an excellent centrally
located venue for the Vapor World event.
Vapor World is a must attend for marketers, distributors
and retailers who have a committed stake in the electronic
cigarette phenomena.
See you at Vapor World Expo!
