LATEST ALERTS
Vapers are switching away from using e-cigarettes as simulators of tobacco smoking and embracing them as a product category in their own right, according to a new market study.
The trend is demonstrated by a shift in consumer preferences from cigalikes to tank systems and from tobacco flavourings to sweeter flavours, surveys of e-cigarette users suggest.
The surveys showed that more than 50% of e-cigarette users regularly vape a sweet flavour, while less than 25% use a tobacco flavour.
Use of cigalikes – particularly disposable pre-filled products – has also continued to fall, in contrast to a growth in popularity of tank systems. This could point to success for e-cigarettes as a tool in smoking cessation, with the surveys demonstrating that vapers with tank systems are significantly less likely than cigalike users to carry on smoking tobacco too.
Further circumstantial evidence for e-cigarettes’ ability to wean consumers off tobacco can be seen in the drop in strength of nicotine e-liquids, with the average potency falling for this year compared to 2013.
These results were drawn from a series of extensive surveys carried out by E-Cigarette Forum in April of this year – largely covering U.S. consumers but also with substantial numbers of responses from the UK, Australia and Canada – along with data from a UK survey conducted by YouGov for ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), a public health charity.
What This Means: Although data from these surveys are not the final word, it is clear that there is a quantifiable shift from cigalikes to refillable tank systems. The constantly changing patterns of use amongst users of e-cigarettes, along with developing preferences for retail channels is further explored in ECigIntelligence’s in-depth report, available to Premium Subscribers.
– Freddie Dawson ECigIntelligence staff
Photo: Sarah Reid
