Vape Studio

The network of vape shops Vape Studio, focusing on the regions of Russia, knows how to PR. There are publications about the company in the magazine "DublGisa", on VC.ru and "Gubernia daily". “Franchisers often only provide support on social networks and give advice of dubious quality,” the Visi.ru article states. It's marked with an ad. “Vape Studio offers its partners something more tangible and meaningful: a promoted brand […]”. It is not true.

The Vape Studio brand, according to Yandex, is not very popular. According to the search engine’s own data, the phrase “Vape Studio” was searched 355 times in January 2017. The indicator has been steadily falling since September of the previous year, having decreased during this time by almost one and a half times. Similar data is shown by Google Trends: the query "Vape Studio" reached its highest popularity in November 2016 - at the same time, publications about the company were placed on DoubleGise and Gubernia. In January-February 2017, the number of requests (relative to the highest point) decreased four times.

The fee for the right to use the brand - a lump-sum fee - is 70 thousand rubles. The number rises to 100 if the population of the city in which they intend to open a store exceeds 200 thousand people. Regular deductions - royalties - ten thousand rubles a month a month after the opening. According to Vape Studio's presentation, the lump sum guarantees: marketing support, room recommendations, legal guidelines, staff training advice, trademark rights, a well-formed starter range, a fully operational website, and "substantial supplier discounts."

The franchisor is disingenuous about the latter: according to the internal price list (available at ViVA la Cloud), valid as of December 2016, the median benefit from one bottle of liquid is 12% of the wholesale price. Which is logical: two-thirds of the presented liquids are sold at retail at a price cheaper than 500 rubles. However, Vape Studio does not force the franchisee to purchase only from them - the owner of the outlet is free to choose the supplier himself. The company actually sells a trademark. “We do not have a classic franchise, but such a collaboration of business consulting and joint procurement,” explains Yury Grebenkin, Vape Studio franchise manager.

Mostly young entrepreneurs are interested in franchising. People under the age of 20 are denied "automatically," says the DoubleGies note, "without even sending information." Vape Studio is not a business “for the soul” “We are talking about something else,” Grebenkin reminded. - We have data, business model, earnings. All our franchisees are accomplished people; as a rule, for them it is the second or third business. Yes, we have serious requirements, filters, but there is not a single unprofitable store in the network.”

Grebenkin did not communicate in detail with ViVA la Cloud about the franchise. “There is turbulence in the market right now. Even an earthquake, he says. “The franchise terms are being reworked – you can’t buy it at the moment.”

Vape

“Vapshop number 1,” reads the sign of the Vape.ru store. You won't say so. The establishment is located in the courtyard of a house on Tverskaya Street, not far from the entrance, wooden pallets and pieces of iron are piled up. The trade name is given by a separate panel - a bundle of dirty, tape-wrapped wires hangs on it. There is a skewed urn by the stairs.

After the publication of the material, a representative of Vape.ru contacted the editors and said that the neglected appearance of the building was not the fault of the company. “In the summer of 2016, there was a city renovation of Tverskaya, and the builders who took the tender ruined everything. - Kirill Kataev, advertising director of Vape.ru, explained to the editors. “This is a historic building, the company cannot touch it.” At the moment, according to the interlocutor, the company is suing the repairmen to fix everything. According to the law, Vape.ru themselves cannot renovate the facade.

Becoming a Vape.ru franchisee is not easy. Respect must be earned. “People who think that a franchise is a bubble button are eliminated,” Nikolai Kuznetsov, head of the Vape.ru franchise direction, said on the company’s own YouTube channel. The franchise buyer must be a vaping enthusiast - his excitement, the company is sure, will be transferred to sellers, and from those to buyers. In stores, they try to create an atmosphere of goodwill and comfort - like in a "barbershop", one of which, reminds ViVA la Cloud Kuznetsov, he went before the interview.

It is possible to issue a franchise for three types of points: an “island” in a shopping center, a small store and a “premium vape-shop”. Investments, according to the presentation of the franchise, will amount to one, two and two and a half million rubles, respectively. Profit - 300, 500 and 700 thousand rubles a month. On the record, Kuznetsov says that the “internal turnover” averages “from 200 thousand to a million” rubles. He does not name specific figures, explaining: "a non-disclosure agreement."

In the business plan for a franchise store (available to the editors), the numbers are different. According to the premium point, “layout” is not given at all - potential franchisees are guided by the “island”, a small regional store and the same one in Moscow. It is proposed to earn about a million rubles a month from a 30-meter shop - after deducting rent, salaries, and so on, the owner will be left with about 250 thousand rubles. Such a point will pay off in seven months.

The business plan, Kuznetsov admits, is optimistic. It does not include repair costs, and the marketing budget does not grow over time. The franchisee deducts 20 thousand rubles for advertising every month. At the same time, Kuznetsov adds later on WhatsApp, this amount is used in different ways: at first, almost everything goes specifically to the franchisee point, then “up to 80 percent” is spent on the “general brand”.

“We have the best conditions: no royalties and a lump-sum fee,” said Vape.ru CEO Timofey Kazakov on the Life of a Businessman channel. However, this is not entirely true. There is a contribution for Moscow and St. Petersburg - 300 and 150 thousand, respectively (other cities are spared from this). “But due to this, we get a bonus,” Kuznetsov recalls. - If the point is in the capital, then the VKontakte group and the YouTube channel are a bonus. He gives an example: a post “buy liquids from us” is posted on the social network with the address of a franchise store.

The amount of the first purchase is from 700 thousand to a million rubles. Its composition is adjusted, taking into account the "average coefficient of earnings in the region." In the regions, there are more products of the "low and medium" segments, says Kuznetsov, simple devices like RX 2/3 or iJust. Liquids in the regions are put "inexpensive - 990 rubles for 60 or 120 milliliters." Kazakov corrects him in a conversation with ViVA la Cloud: “In any case, this is 20% of sales. The rest - from 290 to, there, 400 rubles.

Vape.ru themselves are reluctant to tell how they make money on the franchise. According to Kuznetsov, for a franchise, the terms of purchases are “10-15 percent” more profitable than wholesale ones. A wholesaler can refuse to cooperate at any time - but franchised stores are bound by an agreement.

In Moscow, near the Baumanskaya metro station, there is. Previously, it was the point of Vape.ru. According to a ViVA la Cloud source familiar with the situation, the store managers were forced to abandon the franchise by the lack of advertising from Vape.ru. “For two months they couldn’t simply put a map of directions to the store on the site,” the source criticizes the network. There was also no support on the Internet and social networks, he says: according to him, Vape.ru was recommended to use word of mouth. As a result, the store removed the Vape.ru sign and became X-Vape.

Kazakov tells a completely different story. Problems, according to him, appeared because the store was opened on credit. “People didn’t have the money to open. The premises were chosen too expensive - 350 thousand rubles only for rent, not counting electricity and water, ”Kazakov lists. He is sure that because of the debts, the employees of the current "X-vape" did not receive a salary for about four months. The businessman "personally came, asked them to twist everything," and the company's lawyer issued a ban on the use of the trademark. The head of Vape.ru expressed his readiness to provide ViVA la Cloud with a copy of the document, but later his colleague Kuznetsov said that the company decided "not to stir up the past."

At the moment, as far as one can tell, X-vape is not doing very well. For December 2016 and January 2017, the store successively promised a 40% discount on liquids, held a contest with 20 prizes, gave a 5% repost discount, and finally expressed a desire to hire two sellers. “Dear girls, we are waiting for you especially!” - the ad says.

Kazakov is talking about a franchise store in Chelyabinsk. Its owner has established "his" accounting base. “So,” Kazakov is dissatisfied, “he got the opportunity to bring in wrong goods, knock out checks that we will not see, and provide services not regulated by the contract.” According to Kazakov, during the preparation of the material with the Chelyabinsk point, the contract was broken.

“The accounting that they gave us did not work. Money was received for the goods sold through the site, but it was listed on our balances, - Andrey, an employee of the Chelyabinsk Vape.ru, tells ViVA la Cloud. “We launched our system.” As a result, the inventory "mess" disappeared. The interlocutor claims that according to the agreement, no sanctions are provided for changing the accounting system. As a result, Andrei continues, Vape.ru refused to restore the original system, and also “turned off the group” of the VKontakte store.

At the time of this writing, the vape shop continued to work under the guise of Vape.ru (there was no mention of it on the network’s website). “From a legal point of view, everything is fine,” Andrey believes. “What will happen next has not yet been decided.”

Vape Flava

The taxi driver taking me to the interview is a vaper. iJust S is charging in his car.

Do you know the Babylon store? - I ask. Taxi driver smiles
- Not. I take everything on the market, - he takes out the device and turns it in his hands. - Five hundred rubles - the whole set. And now, - he shows a 120-ml bottle of liquid, - 200 rubles. Enough for a month.

The main question that seems to be of interest to everyone familiar with Babylon is why the franchise chain stores are called differently. Vape Flava does not explain this. Franchise manager Andrey Kovalev, relying on past work experience - this is not the first network that he "unwinds" - says ViVA la Cloud: "In 99 percent of cases, they do this because of fears that unscrupulous franchisees will cause reputational damage to the main brand." But it is stipulated: it is not at all a fact that in the case of "Babilon" the reasons are just that.

The first Vape Flava opened in March 2016. Since then, brand owners have received about 15 applications per month, most of them from special franchise aggregator sites. The “average” franchise buyer is between 23 and 30 years old. In half of the cases, the franchisee already has a vape shop, in the rest - "comes after his hobby." Almost all Vape Flava are opened for personal savings, says Kovalev. He attributes this to the fact that at the moment “because of some events, banking programs for preferential lending have been curtailed.”

A potential buyer is sent a business plan - it comes true "almost always, plus or minus ten percent," Kovalev recalls. A lump-sum fee is required - 180 thousand rubles or a "deposit at the choice of a partner", according to the presentation of the franchise (available to the editors). Royalties - five percent of the turnover - must be paid after a year of work. At the time of this writing, no Vape Flava has worked so much.

“The optimal footage of a store is from 30 to 50” squares, Kovalev believes. The “accessibility of crowded places for young people” is taken into account, according to the Franchise.ru website. The opening process lasts an average of two months: Vape Flava provides the buyer with a design project, furniture suppliers, and so on.

The amount of the first purchase is "about a million" rubles. “We take a more or less similar Babylon and practically project the assortment,” says Kovalev. However, the partner can "adjust the shipment taking into account the specifics of the region."

Is it the norm that in conditional Syzran the salary is 10 thousand, and the average check in Babylon and Vape Flave is the same? - I'm interested.

We have a lot of liquid - Kovalev lists brands - that can satisfy people with low incomes. They cost 200-300 rubles in retail. Our average bill is 2000-2500 rubles.

The average investment, according to the presentation, is two to three million rubles. The approximate payback period for a franchise store, says Kovalev, is "six to eight months."

The Vape Flava website states that the network has a point in Novosibirsk. But she is not. The VKontakte store group has not been updated since December 2016, the Instagram account has been deleted. The old address is the Easy Vape store.

According to Kovalev, the vape shop has been operating under the guise of Vape Flava since March 2016. “We had a disagreement with the current franchise owner,” Kovalev is cautious. - The guys did not work according to the standards that we need. The partner was not satisfied with the amount of money he was making.” According to Kovalev, at the time of the conversation with ViVA la Cloud Vape Flava, together with the Novosibirsk entrepreneur, were “looking for ways” to get out of the situation.

Roman Shevgenya, co-owner of the Novosibirsk ex-Vape Flava, was unable to promptly answer ViVA la Cloud's questions. He obviously knew Russian business a long time ago: on VKontakte, the vape entrepreneur is subscribed to Channel One, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and the National Liberation Movement coordinated by a State Duma deputy. “People have invested more than three million rubles in the store. And for a year of work, they didn’t see a penny, - a source familiar with the situation explains to ViVA la Cloud the reasons for renaming Vape Flava. “It’s not fun to be a store that has monthly costs of 170-190 thousand, and a turnover of 250.” The interlocutor blames both the store owners and the franchise management for such results. The first, according to him, opened a vape shop without having prepared enough for this: “They themselves did not understand anything in the assortment, they recruited inexperienced sellers.” But Vape Flava is not a saint either: they shipped slow-moving goods to the store - especially liquids. "The range that was, did not satisfy the demand," - says the interlocutor.

The store has been renovated. Changed logos, colors, shelves and assortment. Now it's Easy Vape. Legal subtleties, according to the source, were decided at the time of writing the note.

Vardex

Of all the members of the professional community, Vardex are perhaps the least qualified to be soaring evangelists. They don't even have the word "vape" in their name. And the "head of the development department" - the head of the franchise department - Atmir Tembotov refused to meet with ViVA la Cloud, sending an email instead. The company communicates dryly: in the document, Vardex is called “the undisputed leader of the Russian e-cigarette retail market,” and the franchise program is spoken about not with emotions, but with numbers.

To launch a franchise store, you need from one and a half to three million rubles. Franchisees are expected to have a "suitable retail space" with an area of ​​18 square meters or more. It can be a pavilion in a shopping center or, for example, a separate property with a street entrance. Lump sum - 150 thousand rubles, no royalties. Of the other necessary expenses - an “IT equipment package” for 140 thousand rubles and the first purchase: from 800 thousand rubles for a city with a hundred thousand inhabitants to 1.3 million for, respectively, a millionaire and above.

Franchise stores are given a 15 percent discount "off the base wholesale price." There is already a cheat, the sources of ViVA la Cloud are sure. Immediately three independent interlocutors of the publication call the same numbers: the wholesale price has a 30 percent margin. "This is standard distributor practice," adds one. Thus, we can confidently say that from one product purchased by a franchise store, Vardex has, regardless of other variables, its own 15 percent.

A franchise store, according to Tembotov's data, pays off in 12-14 months. The monthly turnover is a little more than one and a half million rubles, and the average check is 3,700 rubles, according to the company's presentation (available at ViVA la Cloud). The "average store margin," the letter says, is 90 percent. Tembotov did not specify what period he was talking about: the most interesting thing, he later added via Whatsapp, "is sent only after the signing of the contract." It contains a non-disclosure clause.

Tembotov also could not name the current number of franchise stores at the time of writing. “This figure changes frequently,” he tells ViVA la Cloud. - You can specify, "more than 60".

UPD. Added explanation for bad looking Vape.ru. The author apologizes.

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At the end of 2016, ViVA la Cloud how Russian electronic cigarette manufacturers work.

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