Currently, Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia. With a total adult population of 197.1m, Indonesia holds the world’s fourth largest population and is estimated to have a tobacco smoking prevalence of 33% by 2025 according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Indonesia presents significant potential to become a major vaping market; however, it is important to consider the government’s stance against an unregulated vaping industry. E-cigarettes have been integrated into the tobacco framework under a new set of regulations that were passed in July 2024. Key restrictions include a requirement for vape stores to be situated at least 200 m from schools – a challenging rule given Indonesia’s high population density. Additionally, online sales are required to incorporate age-verification processes, otherwise retailers are not allowed to sell online – at least in theory. In practice, based on our research, most online stores are not currently implementing such verification processes. These rules, combined with a complex tax structure for tobacco and nicotine products, helped shape Indonesia’s market characteristics.
This report aims to add more detail to our market snapshot on Indonesia, and offer insights into retail channel evolution, top hardware and e-liquid brands and consumer preferences regarding nicotine strengths and flavours in e-liquids.