A Look into the Growing Vaping Industry

In 2010, vaping was a new technology, but by 2017, it had become a global phenomenon. While adoption was first modest, vaping is now recognised as a potentially essential method for supporting adult smokers in exploring nicotine alternatives.

While smoking cessation is a major reason people opt to use a vaping device, many others are just seeking a nicotine alternative to cigarettes. Public Health England has declared that vaping is 95% less dangerous than smoking, making it an especially suitable option.

Whatever the cause, people have gravitated to vaping in droves over the years. According to the latest surveys, 7-8% (or roughly 3.2 million persons) of the UK population presently vape.

Without a question, the industry's rise has been swift and successful, but it has not been without challenges. Like with any new technology, the general public has expressed concerns about health and safety, as well as the use of vaping as a nicotine replacement for cigarettes.

Slowly but steadily, the concerns are being addressed; as seen by the two most recent government evaluations on the matter, there is growing evidence in favour of utilising vape devices to lessen the harm caused by tobacco. Yet, there are certain key issues that have yet to be addressed and will require long-term data to provide solutions.

Despite this, the retail power of vaping items is growing steadily and will be closely monitored. The vaping environment has the potential to change in 2023/24 as a result of a variety of critical variables, ranging from prospective regulatory changes in reaction to the increased use of disposable vapes among young people to altered consumer behaviour in the middle of the cost of living crisis.

Looking back on 2022

In 2022, vaping reached a tipping point; disposable vapes, the current craze, had been sold in UK stores since 2021. The product's meteoric rise to market dominance had a wide-ranging impact, both positive and negative.

Conventional vaping product sales fell while pre-filled disposable unit sales rose, a trend that will only be reversed in December 2022. This tendency escalated when many customers became financially disadvantaged as a result of the cost-of-living issue, which was exacerbated by Brexit blunders, political infighting, the COVID-19 outbreak, and the Ukrainian war.

The rise and fall of disposable e-cigarettes

Disposable vapes debuted in the UK, providing clients with the most convenient way to vape that we had ever seen. The devices were eye-catching, harsh on cravings but easy on the throat owing to robust yet smooth nicotine salt e-liquid and an incredible array of flavours ranging from standard offerings to sweet and fruity combinations.

Because of their single-use and pre-filled construction, there is no coil to deal with and no potentially messy refilling operation; users merely need to puff and discard. Consumers responded warmly, resulting in disposable vapes capturing a 90% market share in terms of unit sales by November 2022.

Initially, bottled e-liquids and rechargeable devices like those supplied by EDGE Vaping had flat sales. According to data, the significant rise in vaping retail was limited to disposable vapes; these customers had never used other vaping goods previously, implying that the unit sales may be attributable to either nonsmokers or vapers. This is a moral issue in and of itself (you should not begin smoking or vaping if you have never done so), but it also suggests a concerning increase in the number of young people adopting the habit.

The convenience sector drove disposable vape sales, with smaller businesses responding to demand by releasing as many throwaway devices as they could as rapidly as possible. This caused issues since unlicensed, untested variations began to flood the market, failing to fulfil the regulatory safety criteria that all UK vaping items must meet.

While the high demand for disposable vapes offered stores a lucrative opportunity, their rise was halted in December 2022. While there is still an opportunity for distribution development, most retail facilities now have at least one type of disposable vaping device, making further reach difficult. To consider, there has also been a movement in customer perception, which contributes to their recent decrease.

Confidence in these devices has been destabilised for a variety of reasons, including:

Illegal importation and selling of unregulated disposable vapes that fail to meet UK safety standards. These devices frequently violate the regulatory limits for safe nicotine concentration and e-liquid volume (as seen in recent headlines).
Trading Standards has conducted massive stock seizures and investigations around the UK to safeguard customers and educate shop owners on compliance.
The devices are totally constructed from non-recyclable elements such as lithium. They are regularly littered, and those that are properly disposed of are carried to a landfill. This equates to the loss of enough lithium each year to produce 1,200 electric cars.
A severe youth access concern persists. TikTok and other social media platforms are encouraging underage adolescents to buy trendy vaping equipment. According to surveys, one in every five 15-year-olds now uses disposable vapes.
Devices can be obtained by children from a variety of sources. Smaller businesses and marketplaces, as well as large supermarkets, have been highlighted as potential sources of underage sales.

These disputes have begun to have a significant impact on customer behaviour, opening the path for conventional vaping items to have a stronger year in 2023.

The nation is gripped by the cost of living

Economic difficulties had a significant impact on the success of the vape sector in 2022; in many cases, the cost of living crises rendered even the necessities unaffordable.

This covers:

Grocery inflation due to resource limitations in Ukraine as the conflict with Russia escalates
Rising gasoline prices
National shortages of imported commodities due to a weaker post-Brexit infrastructure.

These worries have brought families already battling to recover from the epidemic to their knees.

The public browsed substantially more as a result. Because 33% of purchasers could barely afford the necessities, many had to stop vaping products completely. Discounters offering low-cost disposable vapes performed best in the second half of 2022, however even these saw consumers' average spending decrease.

In November and December, 54% of respondents questioned on the Vyper consumer app indicated they bought less e-liquid to prioritise other costs.

What will 2023 bring?

This year, we're witnessing some encouraging signs of development in the vaping business. This year has seen some encouraging signs of development in the vaping business. While disposable vapes appear to be on the decline for the first time in 18 months, bottled e-liquids and classic vaping devices and pods look to be on the rise, indicating that consumer spending may be levelling out following the biggest Christmas drop in at least three years.

Discount retailers have a significant impact on the vaping sector, with substantial fluctuations in sales as customers rush to them in search of the cheapest method to vape. Customers will continue to search for ways to save since the energy price ceiling is due to be lifted in the coming weeks, so this is unlikely to change very soon.

Drifting customer gazes

The disposable vaping scandals that have been piling up since 2021 are finally taking root and impacting customer behaviour; as we can see, more consumers are now likely to migrate to a reusable pod system if it provides comparative ease.

Innovative brands, such as non-disposable items from previously disposable-only names, have aided in the expansion of pod systems. They've instilled a sense of familiarity in clients, making it simpler for them to reject the convenience of disposables in favour of something more durable and, eventually, less expensive.

Brand loyalty, on the other hand, is at an all-time low, with price and product type being the most important variables in driving sales. While all vaping categories are increasing this year, e-liquid pods stand out because they offer a price/convenience balance that appears to be appealing to the majority of customers. Retailers should remember that disposables are falling but pods are expanding, so stocking them (along with a wide range of 10ml nic salt fruit flavours) is a sure bet for profit in 2023.

Oliver Norman, Content Marketing Manager, EDGE Vaping