The Vuse electronic cigarette of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. continues to widen its market share lead over Juul in both monthly and yearly comparisons.
The latest Nielsen analysis of convenience-store data, released Tuesday, covers the four-week period ending Nov. 5.
Vuse’s market share rose from 40% in the previous report to 40.4%, compared with Juul declining from 28% to 27.6%.
Vuse expanded its year-over year advantage to 34.4% to 31.5% compared with 33.6% to 32% in the previous report.
According to Barclays, Nielsen largely covers the big chains. For the smaller chains, the group extrapolates trends, which is why trend changes don’t appear immediately in Nielsen.
In recent months, the shadow of a potential banning of Juul Labs Inc.’s e-cigarettes from U.S. retail shelves has accelerated the market-share gains of Vuse.
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No. 3 NJoy was unchanged at 2.8% and Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs was unchanged at 1.4%.
Juul’s four-week dollar sales in the latest report have dropped from a 50.2% increase in the Aug. 10, 2019, report to a 20.1% decline in the latest report.
By comparison, Reynolds’ Vuse was up 35% in the latest report, while NJoy was up 7.6% and blu eCigs down 35.4%.
The Food and Drug Administration announced June 23 that Juul Labs would be required to remove all e-cigarette products from U.S. shelves.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted Juul Labs an emergency administrative stay of enforcement on June 24. The hold allows Juul to continue selling its e-cigarettes and related products.
On July 6, the FDA backed off — for now — on proceeding with the ban.
“The agency has determined that there are scientific issues unique to the Juul application that warrant additional review,” the FDA posted. “This administrative stay temporarily suspends the marketing denial order during the additional review, but does not rescind it.”
The FDA did not indicate how long the additional scientific review would take.
On Nov. 11, Juul confirmed it is eliminating up to 400 jobs and obtaining financing from its earliest investors.
Multiple media outlets, first by the Wall Street Journal and cable business channel CNBC, reported the downsizing initiative also includes slashing its operating budget by between 30% and 40%.
Juul said in a statement to the Winston-Salem Journal that it “has identified a path forward, enabled by an investment of capital from some of our earliest investors.”
“This investment will allow Juul Labs to maintain business operations, continue advancing its administrative appeal of the FDA’s marketing denial order, and support product innovation and science generation.”
As recently as May 2019, Juul held a 74.6% U.S. e-cig market share.
That’s when a series of regulatory actions led to product-reduction concessions by Juul Labs.
On Sept. 30, Altria Group Inc. cleared the way to re-enter the e-cigarette marketplace after choosing to permanently end its non-compete agreement with Juul Labs.
Altria spokesman Steve Callahan said that “our decision to terminate our non-compete maximizes our flexibility to compete in e-vapor.”
“It allows us to maintain our economic interest in Juul, to compete organically and through mergers and acquisitions.”
Traditional cigarettes
Industry analysts said the dollar sales decline year over year for traditional cigarettes in the latest Nielson report primarily reflects how inflation, particularly involving higher gas and energy prices, is leading more smokers toward lower-cost options.
Manufacturers have been able to offset some of the recent declines through a series of per-pack list-price increases in recent months. The list price is what wholesalers pay manufacturers for their traditional cigarette products.
The increase typically is passed on to customers at retail.
Altogether, Reynolds has raised its list price by at least $1.05 over the last 10 months for many of its top brands, as well as a combined $1.62 since January 2020.
As of Nov. 5, Philip Morris USA’s traditional cigarette dollar sales were down 5% year over year, while Reynolds was down 6.5% and ITG Brands LLC was up 2.5%.
Philip Morris’ top market share was 51.3%, with top-selling Marlboro representing 45.8% of overall market share.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was at 34.1%, with No. 2 Newport at 13.4%, No. 3 Camel at 8.4%, No. 4 Pall Mall at 4.7% and No. 5 Natural American Spirit at 4%.
ITG was at 8.1%, although ITG has said its market share is closer to 10%. Its Winston brand is No. 7 at 1.9%, while No. 8 Kool is at 1.8% and No. 9 Maverick is at 1.7%.
