U.S. Vapor Sales Still Slow After Enhanced Regulation

Thee market-share gap between the top-selling U.S. electronic cigarettes remained unchanged with both having a slight decline in the latest Nielsen analysis of convenience store data. The report covers the four-week period ending Dec. 18, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Nielsen determined No. 1 Juul was at 37.6 percent, down from 38.2 percent in the previous report.

Meanwhile, the Vuse brand of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. had a 33.5 percent market share, down from 34 percent in the previous report. NJoy was at 3 percent, unchanged from the previous report, while Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs was at 2.3 percent, down from 2.4 percent.

Overall, sales of electronic cigarettes were up 4.8 percent year over year for the latest four-week period, boosted by recent price hikes. Still, e-cigarette sales overall have slumped since February 2020, when the Food and Drug Administration implemented its latest round of heightened regulations on the products.

Those restrictions foremost required manufacturers of cartridge-based e-cigarettes, such as Juul Labs Inc., Reynolds Vapor, NJoy and Fontem, to stop making, distributing and selling “unauthorized flavorings” in February 2021, or risk enforcement actions.

Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog said another factor in the slump is “the impact of e-cigarette market denial orders by the FDA as it continues to work through premarket tobacco applications.”