The top-selling Vuse electronic cigarette of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. continues to widen its market-share gap with Juul in both monthly and yearly comparisons, according to the latest Nielsen convenience store report.
The latest Nielsen analysis of convenience-store data covers the four-week period ending Feb. 25.
Vuse’s market share rose from 41.5% in the previous report to 42.7%, compared with Juul declining from 26.4% to 25.6%.
Over the past 12 months, Vuse’s market share was 36.6%, compared with 29.5% for Juul.
In recent months, the shadow of a potential banning of Juul Labs Inc.’s e-cigarettes from U.S. retail shelves, as well as a potential Juul Labs Inc. federal bankruptcy filing, has accelerated the market-share gains of Vuse.
Also affecting Juul Labs is Friday’s announcement from Altria Group Inc. that it had exchanged its 35% ownership stake for a non-exclusive, irrevocable global license to certain of Juul’s heated tobacco intellectual properties.
People are also reading…
No. 3 NJoy was unchanged at 2.7%, while Fontem Ventures’ blu eCigs was unchanged at 1.4%.
On Monday, Altria announced its plans to pay $2.75 billion in cash for NJoy.
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 25.7% decline in the latest report.
By comparison, Reynolds’ Vuse was up 34% in the latest report, while NJoy was down 8.7%, blu eCigs down 39.5% and Japan Tobacco’s Logic down 4.9%.
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.
Traditional cigarettes
The recent heightened pressure on overall tobacco industry volumes and sales eased off modestly during February.
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.
Consumer demand for tobacco products has ebbed and flowed over the past 12 months, mostly from the impact of inflation and recent upticks in traditional cigarette prices.
The Nielsen report does not reflect the recent banning of menthol traditional cigarettes in California, which represents about 8% of the national marketplace.
On Dec. 12, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal by several Reynolds American Inc. businesses to prevent California from enforcing a voter-approved statewide ban of most menthol and other flavored tobacco products. That ban went into effect Dec. 21.
Reynolds Tobacco increased its list price four times during 2022 and again at a higher-than-typical level on Jan. 2.
The list price is what wholesalers pay manufacturers for their traditional cigarette products. The increase typically is passed on to customers at retail.
For Newport and Camel, the latest list price hike was up 15.6 cents per pack, while the non-menthol brand of Newport rose 25.6 cents per pack.
“Sales growth across the nicotine industry remained under pressure, but declines eased modestly,” Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog said.
“Volume trends appear to reflect modestly lower consumer elasticities as pricing remained broadly stable.”
Philip Morris’ top market share dropped from 52.2% to 51.9% in the latest report, with top-selling Marlboro representing 46.3% of overall market share, down from 46.6%.
Reynolds inched up from 32.6% to 32.7%. Newport dropped from 13.4% to 12.1%, while Camel rose from 7% to 8%, Pall Mall from 4.3% to 4.5%, and No. 5 Natural American Spirit unchanged at 4.1%.
ITG was unchanged at 8.4%, although ITG has said its market share is closer to 10%.
Its No. 7 Winston brand was unchanged at 2%, while No. 8 Kool was unchanged at 1.9% and No. 9 Maverick was unchanged at 1.8%.
