42
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
At press time, Vuse was available in
about 21,000 retail locations with the
next distribution wave expected in early
September.
But regardless of which company owns
blu or which company is on top in the
traditional e-cig world, there is a more
pressing issue to consider as the industry
moves forward: the other, more rapidly
growing side to the market. Based on its
conversations with numerous retailers
across the country, Wells Fargo found
that many consumers tried traditional
e-cigs and, dissatisfied, either went back
to combustible cigs or graduated to
personal vaporizer products.
“We think [that] this could be the first
quarter that we start to really see the vapor
trend take hold and drive acceleration in
the combustible cig decline rate,”Herzog
says. “Retailers are starting to either
discontinue or take shelf space away
from disposable e-cigs to make room for
personal vaporizers given their attractive
growth and margins.”
Cynthia Cabrera, executive director
of the Smoke-Free Alternatives
Trade
Association
(SFATA),
represents cig-alike brands as well as
the open vapor products developed
by small, innovative companies who
tend to exclusively carry only open
vapor products, and she is concerned
about the fight Imperial now, along
with the other big tobacco/traditional
e-cig players, will put up against
open vapor. She says that big tobacco
companies who currently have only cig-
alike products “will use every competitive
and regulatory means possible to squeeze
out the little guys, the innovative guys,
because those aren’t their products.” She
doesn’t expect big tobacco to lose market
share to open system/vaping products
easily.
But the RAI/Lorillard merger leaves
RAI with more than just cig-alike Vuse in
its pocket.The deal additionally agreed in
principle to a “joint technology-sharing
initiative” to develop and commercialize
next-generation products such as heat-
not-burn cigarettes
and
vapor products.
Wells Fargo reportedly is “optimistic”
that RAI CEO Susan Cameron will be
able to lead the company into its “next
generation of growth,” which includes
the evolution of Vuse and vaping
products.
TBI
electric
ALLEY
