74
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2014
No Thanks to Tanks
As more consumers trade cig-alikes for tank-
style vapor devices, can c-stores hang onto their
electronic product market share?
By Jennifer Gelfand
L
et’s face it. Selling cig-alikes, or
electronic tobacco products that
look and feel like cigarettes,
is natural for c-stores. Tank-style
devices—or juice delivery systems—
however, are a different story. Most
c-store retailers aren’t eager to devote
themselves to marketing the various
pieces—tanks, cartomizers, e-liquid
juices, wicks, heads, coils, and the like—
that comprise a refillable tank-style
vaping system. This begs the question:
with more and more consumers
switching to the more economical
systems, what does the future hold for
c-stores’ share of the electronic tobacco
product market?
Despite the tank trend, Wells Fargo
tobacco analyst Bonnie Herzog still
sees plenty of opportunities in the vapor
sector for c-stores. Herzog is quick to
note that c-stores hold the lion’s share
of the market. In a presentation that
she gave at Vapor World Expo, she
said that “c-stores reign supreme in
e-cigarette distribution,” and suggested
that the convenience channel has
vigorously pursued the category largely
because it affords higher margins and
lower maintenance (i.e. no controlling
contracts from manufacturers) than
traditional
combustible
tobacco
products.
However, Herzog did acknowledge
that more and more “vape shops,” or
stores dedicated primarily to electronic
tobacco products and accessories, have
been debuting across the U.S. “Vape
shops have been opening up around the
country, and although they are not (yet)
C-STORE CORNER
In a recent survey
of 19,000 vapers, the
vast majority used
second (eGo-type)
and newer generation
(mod) vaporizers,
with only 3.7 percent
using “cig-alike”
e-cig products.
