This blog post takes a look at the current state of the electronic cigarette market and some potential dangers it may face. This is not so much an article about whether or not vaping is bad for you, but rather an examination of the current market and what opportunities it may hold for those looking to enter.
Evidently, there has been a huge increase in e-liquid sales and usage worldwide since their introduction to society which can be attributed to their rising popularity as a stop smoking aid. And with many others using e-cigarettes as vaping devices, this trend is sure to continue growing. But where is the industry going and is it going to play out how some think?
I don’t want to start this with a prediction, but rather an observation. As we all know by now, nicotine is addictive and can also be detrimental to health in certain amounts and it is with this knowledge that we see the market for e-cigarettes and e-liquid growing. But now we must look at the nature of the vaping industry as a whole.
Firstly, let’s take a look at where sales revenue is coming from. E-cigarettes and e-liquid can be sold directly to consumers, but the most popular method is for a retailer to stock a selection of starter kits and E-liquid e-juice in store. Consumers can purchase these products from the retailer themselves, bypassing the need for an online purchase altogether. But, if we look at the statistics of vaping consumption over the past few years we can see that consumption has been increasing exponentially year on year since their inception. In fact, there have been reports that consumption has been doubling every year which would mean 2014 consumption will be 2x 2013 consumption which was two times 2012 consumption and so on. So this would make for an enormous number of product sales by the end of 2014, which is great news for retailers.
Although new on the mainstream market, electronic cigarettes have been around in some capacity since 1931 when Herbert Gilbert patented his device. Since then the industry has seen its fair share of changes, but never on this scale before. New products are being produced every day and with them the need for more e-liquid. This means that more and more e-liquid is having to be produced which in turn means that more and more ingredients will be required to produce it. To add to this, e-liquid production is fairly costly and therefore not everyone can afford to vape or use e-cigarettes. So the growth of the industry means that there has been an increase in working capital and output will continue to grow.
But where does this leave us? Where do we go from here? To make a long story short: who knows. What we need is more data and research and I think it’s safe to say we won’t see this industry slowing anytime soon. But what we can look at is what the pioneers of this industry think about the current growth rate and their predictions for 2014.