E cigarette sales reach billions

The sales of e-cigarettes have boomed to £6 billion showing the vaping industry is continuing to thrive.

Worldwide sales reveal there is a strong growing market of e-cigarettes. According to Euromonitor International sales in the US have doubled to £1.7 billion. In the UK, the increasing sales suggest e-cigarettes are being used to help people quit smoking.

British consumers are using e-cigarettes as an alternative method for quitting smoking. Nicotine gum and patches have decreased in sales and the data suggests e-cigarettes are being used as replacements.

Before the worldwide use of e-cigarettes, there was no real threat toward cigarettes. People who wanted to quit smoking used patches and gum as well as other alternatives. E-cigarettes are now being used to replace cigarettes.

Shane MacGuill, senior tobacco analyst at Euromonitor, says: “Up until now there has been no direct competition for cigarettes in a meaningful sense, and nicotine replacement therapies were certainly not providing that.

“The days of the traditional cigarette are numbered – the only question is how long that process will take – and e-cigarettes have the potential to drastically shorten the shelf life of traditional tobacco products.”

Restrictions of where you can smoke, the attempts by the government to standardise cigarette packets and laws against tobacco advertising has made life difficult for tobacco companies and smokers.

Compared to tobacco, there are currently less restrictive laws on e-cigarettes and they are considered to be safer than tobacco cigarettes.

The UK currently has the second largest market for e-cigarettes and data analysis from Euromonitor suggests business will continue to thrive for the next few years.