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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
the dynamics of the e-cig/vape industry.
Overseas, blu is expected to strengthen
Imperial’s ability to compete in the
European e-cig market according to
Ilana Elbim, an analyst in London who
was quoted in
Bloomberg Businessweek
.
In the UK alone, the use of e-cigs has
tripled in the past two years, reported a
study by anti-smoking lobby Action on
Smoking and Health (ASH).
Here in the U.S., analysts and experts
are speculating about all aspects of the
newly combined No. 2 player (RAI),
and now a new No. 3 player (Imperial),
including the e-cigarette fallout.
According to recent Nielsen estimates,
blu remains the category leader in
the convenience store channel with a
44-percent dollar market share. Logic
is No. 2 with about a 22-percent share;
NJOY is third with an approximate
14-percent share.
Miguel Martin, president of Logic,
told CNBC.com that he does not believe
that blu’s change of ownership will affect
Logic’s sales.
Trailing behind in fourth and fifth
place is Reynolds’ VUSE (2.7 percent)
and Altria’s MarkTen (1.5 percent), but
those figures were calculated before the
two brands expanded nationally.
According to Wells Fargo, there is
already indication that blu e-cig sales
trends are decelerating rapidly. “As we
anticipated, blu, as the category leader,
will likely be pressured with the current
national rollouts of MarkTen and Vuse,
as well as from the robust growth in the
personal vaporizer/VTM [vapor, tanks,
mods] category,” says Herzog.
“As we anticipated, blu, as the
category leader, will likely be
pressured with the current national
rollouts of MarkTen and Vuse,
as well as from the robust growth
in the personal vaporizer/VTM [vapor,
tanks, mods] category.”
