[ad_1]
Sales of electronic cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. were halted in China a few days after the launch of its products in the world's largest tobacco market.
Juul's stylish sprays went on sale early last week online on JD.com Inc. and
Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd.
Baba 0.89%
It's Tmall, with refill capsules such as mint, Virginia tobacco, mango and cream. But by the end of the week, they had been removed from both e-commerce sites. This left Juul unable to understand why, according to people familiar with the case.
The San Francisco company said it remained committed to providing adult smokers in China with an alternative to combustible cigarettes. "We look forward to continuing the dialogue with stakeholders so we can make our products available again," said a spokeswoman for Juul.
The start-up strives to expand worldwide as it faces pressure in the United States. The Trump administration announced last week, citing the rise of teenage teens, its intention to remove most of the e-cigarettes from the market.
Juul discusses how to respond to the ban imposed by the United States on most flavored electronic cigarettes, which account for more than 80% of its sales in the country.
Altria, the Marlboro cigarette manufacturer, recently invested nearly $ 13 billion in the Juul electronic cigarette company. According to some experts, in the early days Juul reflected the tobacco industry's promotional game manual in an attempt to attract young people. Photo: Natalia V. Osipova / The Wall Street Journal
Asia is a priority for society, Juul Chief Executive
Kevin Burns
said, citing high rates of smoking there. According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 300 million cigarette smokers in China, where 59% of men smoke. Juul aims to convert some of these smokers.
But the closure of China highlights the challenges that exploitation presents in this country. About 2,400 billion fuel cigarettes were sold in the country last year, most of them being manufactured by China National Tobacco, a state-owned monopoly.
Juul's products were removed from Tmall on Sept. 13, and the brand and platform are in close communication, according to a Hangzhou Taoyatao Information Tech Co. representative, who runs the Juul's Tmall store. Beijing Judian Tech Co, which operates the Juul store on JD.com, has confirmed that Juul's products have been removed from this site, but declined to say why.
The two Chinese dealers refused to say whether the Chinese regulator, the Tobacco Monopoly Administration, was asking them to withdraw Juul's products. The administration could not be contacted for comment after office hours on Tuesday.
-Fanfan Wang contributed to this article.
Write to Jennifer Maloney at [email protected]
Copyright ะน 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
[ad_2]
Source link