The market share of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s top-selling Vuse electronic cigarette edged up during January while Altria Group’s NJoy is slowly gaining traction with smokers, according to the latest Nielsen convenience store report.
Vuse’s market share rose from 42% to 42.4% compared with No. 2 Juul, which dropped from 24.2% to 24% for the report covering the four-week period ending Jan. 27.
As recently as May 2019 Juul held a 74.6% share in the U.S. electronic cigarette market. That’s when a series of regulatory actions led to product-reduction concessions.
Meanwhile, Altria Group’s ownership of No. 3 NJoy hasn’t resulted in a meaningful market-share increase so far. It was at 3% compared with 2.6% in the previous report.
Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs, an affiliate of Imperial Brands Plc, slipped from 1.2% to 1.1%.
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The overall e-cigarette category’s dollar sales fell 11.4% compared with the previous report.
The Nielsen report largely covers the big chains. For smaller chains, the group extrapolates trends, which is why changes don’t appear immediately in the report.
Both Reynolds Vapor and Altria are prodding the Food and Drug Administration for heightened enforcement on “illicit” synthetic nicotine electronic cigarettes in the U.S. vaping market. Both companies have estimated those synthetic products represent about half of the overall domestic e-cigarette market.
Overall consumer demand for tobacco products has ebbed and flowed over the past 20 months, mostly from the impact of inflation and recent upticks in traditional cigarette prices.
The Nielsen report is reflective of California banning menthol traditional cigarettes in December 2022, which represents about 8% of the national marketplace.
Philip Morris’ top market share was at 50.6% in the latest Nielsen report with Marlboro representing 45.5% of overall market share.
Meanwhile, Reynolds was at 33% with No. 2 Newport at 12.8%, followed by No. 3 Camel (7.7%) and Natural American Tobacco and Pall Mall tied for No. 4 at 3.7% each.
ITG was at 8.6% overall, although ITG continues to say its market share is closer to 10%. Its No. 7 Winston brand remained at 2%, while Kool and Maverick remained tied for No. 8 at 1.8%.
The decline in traditional cigarette sales continues at a strong pace, said David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and the author of several e-cigarette and health studies. However, Sweanor cautioned that the overall nicotine market “is not declining, just switching significantly to non-combustible products that points to illicit products taking more market share.”
“A fascinating aspect of the rapid transformation of the market,” he said, “is that Zyn is now a bigger seller than Copenhagen, Grizzly and Skoal.”
Zyn, sold by Philip Morris International subsidiary Swedish Match, is the top-selling U.S. oral nicotine product.
“Those have long been the big brands in smokeless tobacco,” Sweanor said. “That Zyn now has higher unit sales than any of them shows how dynamic this formerly staid market has become.”
According to media reports, Zyn has been the subject of videos on TikTok and elsewhere, prompting worries about its influence on teenagers who cannot legally buy the product.
Zyn’s national profile also has surged in recent weeks after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for federal action on the product. CBS News reported first that Schumer is urging Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration to investigate Zyn over its marketing and health effects.
“It’s a pouch packed with problems — high levels of nicotine,” Schumer said. “I’m delivering a warning to parents because these nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids — teenagers and even lower — and then use the social media to hook ’em.”
Meanwhile, several U.S. House Republicans, including Richard Hudson of North Carolina, rallied to Zyn’s defense for its reduced-risk role compared with traditional cigarettes. Hudson said in social media postings that he consumes Zyn.