Category: Retail

Vuse Market Share Grows to 42%, Juul Drops to 26%

R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. has continued to expand Vuse‘s market-share gap with Juul, according to the latest Nielsen convenience store report released Tuesday.
Vuse’s market share rose from 41.5% in the previous report to 42.2%, compared with Juul declining from 26.1% to 26.1%.
The latest Nielsen analysis covers the four-week period ending March 25, according to media reports.
According to Barclays, Nielsen largely covers the big chains. For the smaller chains, the group extrapolates trends, which is why trend changes don’t appear immediately in Nielsen.
Consumer demand for tobacco products has ebbed and flowed over the past 12 months, mostly from the impact of inflation and recent upticks in traditional cigarette prices.
No. 3 NJoy was unchanged at 2.7%, while Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs was unchanged at 1.4%.
On March 6, Altria Group Inc. delivered another shakeup to the tobacco industry by confirming it would pay $2.75 billion in cash to take full ownership of NJoy.
Altria cleared the way for the NJoy purchase by exiting its minority stake in No. 2 e-cigarette Juul while acquiring global licensing rights.
Juul’s four-week dollar sales in the latest report have dropped from a 50.2% increase in the Aug. 10, 2019, report to a 23.9% decline in the latest report.
By comparison, Reynolds’ Vuse was up 31.1% in the latest report, while NJoy was down 10.9%, blu eCigs down 37.4% and Japan Tobacco’s Logic up 5.2%.
As recently as May 2019, Juul held a 74.6% U.S. e-cig market share.
April 5, 2023
Leaked BAT Data Claims Most UK Disposables are Illegal

Media outlets are reporting that BAT sent vaping wholesalers testing results that claim that nearly all major disposable vaping brands in the UK not produced by a major tobacco manufacturer contain illegal volumes of e-liquid.
Senior wholesaler sources leaked nearly 50 pages of BAT product testing data to betterRetailing, along with a letter from BAT urging wholesalers to stop selling products it claims are failing to comply with the 2ml e-liquid limit. A distributor of many of the brands named denied the claims.
In a letter sent to wholesalers by BAT UK managing director Fredrik Svensson, seen by betterRetailing, the supplier said it had commissioned “independently accredited laboratory” testing on Elf Bar 600 products purchased from supermarkets and independent retailers between 6 September 2021 and 7 March 2023.
The evidence revealed that the tested products “contained significantly more than the legal limit of 2ml of nicotine-containing e-liquid from 2.76ml to 3.88ml, with an average overfill of 58 percent.”
Testing was also conducted at the same lab on Lost Mary, Found Mary, IVG Bar, Klik Klak, SKE Crystal, Smok Mbar Pro and Solo disposable vapes. Test results for all these brands showed illegal levels of e-liquid.
Together, the brands account for nearly all disposable vaping sales in independent shops by both revenue and volume.
BAT’s letter urged: “As a responsible trading partner, we trust that you are taking appropriate steps to ensure that you are not supplying non-compliant products and that you will be urgently reviewing the supply of any products you stock, particularly those which our testing demonstrates do not comply with the TRPR [The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016].”
Elfbar voluntarily pulled its products from UK shelves after finding its products did not meet legal requirements.
Recently, another Elfbar brand was pulled from UK store shelves after finding the products surpassed the legal limit for e-liquid volumes.
March 18, 2023
VPZ Plans to Open 20 More Stores by End of Year
Credit: VPZ
VPZ says it plans to have opened 20 additional stores by the end of the year as its expansion plans continue.
The Scottish vaping group’s director Doug Mutter is calling on the U.K. Government to follow the lead of New Zealand and increase regulation of the vaping market.
Edinburgh-headquartered VPZ plans to grow to 170 stores by the end of the year, according to insider.co.UK.
The chain has this year already opened stores in Hexham, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and Newquay.
It says Falkirk and seven “major shopping center sites” are going through the acquisition process and that further growth is planned in the North East of England and Yorkshire.
Mutter also called for tighter controls and licensing for selling vaping products.
“At VPZ, we are firmly focused on helping adult smokers quit and have helped over 700,000 people quit smoking since we were established in 2012,” he said.
March 13, 2023
ElF Bar Pulled From UK Shelves for E-Liquid Volumes

Elf Bar vapes are being sold with e-liquid volumes more than 50 percent over the UK’s legal limit, an investigation has found, according to reporting in Metro.
The Chinese vaping giant admitted “inadvertently” breaking the law and ‘wholeheartedly apologized’ following lab tests of its 600 brand of disposable vape pens.
E-cigarettes bought at branches of Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons contained between 3ml and 3.2ml of e-liquid, when the legal limit is 2ml (the article states the liquids were over nicotine limits, but there is no evidence of that. The UK limits nicotine strength to no more than 20mg/ml).
The brand, which only launched in 2021, sells 2.5 million Elf Bar 600s in the UK every week, accounting for two in three of all disposable vapes. The devices cost £5.99 each.
An Elf Bar spokesperson insisted the “highly regrettable situation” did not affect the safety of its vapes.
Mark Oates, director of the consumer advocacy group We Vape, said, “The Mail’s findings on Elf Bars are deeply worrying, and it is clear there have been failings on multiple levels.
“Not only are the levels of e-liquid too high, but checks to make sure these guidelines are adhered to either haven’t occurred or are insufficient. Anyone supplying vapes in the U.K. market should be following the legislation.
“It is incredibly frustrating when major players in this sector appear to behave in a way that damages the reputation of something as beneficial as vaping, and we expect the matter to be fully investigated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).”
February 6, 2023
Milwaukee, Wisc. Wants to Ban New Vape Shops

Credit: FellowNeko
Leaders in the U.S. city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, debated a proposal for an ordinance Tuesday that would prevent some electronic cigarette sales across the city in the future.
“The explosion of vape shops, particularly when concentrated in a small geographic area, may have harmful impacts on the public health, safety, and welfare of our residents,” said Milwaukee’s District 3 Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, according to CBS58.
Part of the Milwaukee Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting Tuesday morning discussed a plan to prevent new vape shops from doing business in the city.
The proposal would prevent new shops from selling e-cigarettes for six months.
During this trial period, officials would also prevent other businesses from opening if they plan on selling e-cigs.
“Part of the goal of this is going to be, ultimately, to look at both concentration and location–for example, proximity to schools, things of that nature,” added an Alderman.
Neighborhood Services Commissioner Erica Roberts said this request would be complicated for a number of reasons.
“There are many different types of uses that would sell this type of product, everything from grocery stores to gas stations, convenience stores…” Roberts expressed.
February 1, 2023
Juul’s Market Share Still Falling, Vuse Continues Growth

Credit: Golib Tolibov
The top-selling Vuse electronic cigarette of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. continued to expand the market-share gap with Juul in both monthly and yearly comparisons.
Vuse’s market share rose from 40.7 percent in the previous report to 41.1 percent, compared with Juul declining from 27 percent to 26.7 percent. For 2022 overall, Vuse’s market share was 35.7 percent, compared with 30.1 percent for Juul.
No. 3 NJoy slipped from 2.8 percent to 2.7 percent, while Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs was unchanged at 1.4 percent.
Juul’s four-week dollar sales in the latest report have dropped from a 50.2 percent increase in the Aug. 10, 2019, report to a 23.7 percent decline in the latest report, according to media reports.
By comparison, Reynolds’ Vuse was up 32.7 percent in the latest report, while NJoy was up 0.1 percent, blu eCigs down 33.4 percent and Japan Tobacco’s Logic down 15.1 percent.
As recently as May 2019, Juul held a 74.6 percent U.S. e-cig market share.
On Sept. 30, Altria Group Inc. cleared the way to re-enter the e-cigarette marketplace after choosing to permanently end its non-compete agreement with Juul Labs.
January 12, 2023
Upscale U.K. Grocer Ends Sales of Single-Use Vapes
Credit: Cerib
The upscale U.K.-based grocer Waitrose has halted sales of single-use vaping products due to the impact on the environment and the “health of young people.”
Two types of single-use e-cigarettes have now been removed from sale as a result, Waitrose said.
Waitrose said it has de-listed vaping products containing lithium, which it has historically sold under the Ten Motives label, according to the Daily Mail.
Waitrose commercial director Charlotte Di Cello said the company is “driven by doing the right thing,” and selling single-use vapes is not something Waitrose could justify given the impact on “the environment and the health of young people.”
“We had already decided it wasn’t right to stock the fashionable bright-colored devices, which are seeing rapid growth – so this decision is the final jigsaw piece in our clear decision not to be part of the single-use vaping market,” she said.
January 1, 2023
Scotland may Consider Display Ban for E-Cigarettes
Credit: Paolo Giovanni
A lawmaker in Scotland wants to ban the public display of e-cigarettes in retail shops. Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay wants retailers to treat them in the same way as cigarettes and hide them from view.
“This is beyond the days of smoking behind the bike sheds – this is a multi-million industry leading the nation’s health down a path to disaster,” Mackay said. “It is a ticking time-bomb and, until we know more, that’s not a risk I or anyone else should be asked to accept.”
She has written to shops and vape manufacturers ahead of taking her campaign to the Scottish Parliament, according to the Daily Record.
Mackay, the Green Party’s health spokesman, said there is growing concern that the number of under-age people being attracted by “deliberately sweet-toothed tactics” to market products is spiralling.
She is calling on retailers to lead by example by writing to them urging that they hide the products from view.
December 26, 2022
Vuse Market-Share Lead Over Juul Continues to Grow

The Vuse brand of e- cigarette is widening its market-share gap with Juul in both monthly and yearly comparisons.
The latest Nielsen analysis of convenience-store data, released Tuesday, covers the four-week period ending Dec. 3 and found that the R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company’s Vuse brand vaping product’s market share grew from 40.4 percent in the previous report to 40.7 percent.
Juul Labs’ former market leading Juul device saw its market share shrink from 27.6 percent to 27 percent. Vuse expanded its year-over-year advantage to 34.9 percent to 30.7 percent compared with 34.4 percent to 31.5 percent in the previous report, according to media reports.
According to Barclays, Nielsen largely covers the big chains. For the smaller chains, the group extrapolates trends, which is why trend changes don’t appear immediately in Nielsen.
Juul Labs recently agreed to pay $1.7 billion to settle more than 5,000 lawsuits by school districts, local governments and individuals, which claimed that its e-cigarettes were more addictive than advertised, according to people with knowledge of the deal.
December 14, 2022
FastTech Falls as China’s Vape Rules Slow Sales

Credit: Nikolay N. Antonov
Chinese online retailer FastTech is closing in the wake of strict new vaping regulations, reports Vaping360.
In a Dec. 5 post on its customer forum, the discounter blames restrictions introduced after the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration took control of China’s vaping business. The new measures have increased uncertainty, preventing the company from remaining competitive, according to firm.
China outlawed domestic online vape sales in 2019. The measure was followed by a licensing and sales regulations, along with the new tax scheme. Hong Kong’s ban on importing Chinese vape products for air shipping to export destinations—which is currently being reconsidered—may also have affected FastTech, which shipped many of its products through the city.
FastTech sold Chinese-made vape products, including many semi-legal clones and copies of well-known products, to overseas customers at sometimes near-wholesale prices, and shipped them inexpensively
According to Vaping360, there remain a number of FastTech competitors in China operating on a similar business model.
In October, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily claimed many businesses closed because of the implementation of China’s National Standard for Electronic Cigarettes have begun.
December 9, 2022