Over the past 13-19 months, consumer demand for nicotine products has fluctuated due to inflation and rising cigarette prices. However, the Nielsen report shows that the market share of both next-generation and traditional tobacco brands remained stable in the four weeks to December 30.
The report shows that in December last year, Reynolds' best-selling Vuse e-cigarette had a flat market share of 42% in convenience stores. While Vuse's market share was unchanged, No. 2 Juul fell from 24.3% to 24.2% in the four-week reporting period ending December 30.
As recently as May 2019, Juul’s share of the U.S. e-cigarette market was as high as 74.6%. According to media reports, a series of regulatory actions at the time resulted in concessions that reduced the product.
Meanwhile, Altria Group's acquisition of No. 3 NJoy has so far not resulted in substantial market share gains. Nielsen did not include NJoy's update in its latest report, citing a research error. In the previous report, it was 2.6%.
Blu eCigs, a unit of Imperial Brands Plc's Fontem Ventures, was unchanged at 1.2%.
The entire e-cigarette category fell by 9.9%.
Nielsen's latest report also shows that in the field of traditional cigarettes, Philip Morris has the highest market share at 50.6%, while Marlboro has the highest market share at 45.6%.
Meanwhile, Reynolds (33.2%), Newport (12.9%), Camel (7.8%), Natural American Tobacco (3.7%) and Pall Mall (3.7%) followed.
ITG's overall market share is 8.5%, although ITG has said its market share is closer to 10%. The Winston brand, which ranked seventh, still accounted for 2%, while the Kool and Maverick brands tied for eighth, accounting for 1.8%.
“In terms of specific company trends, total nicotine volume declines improved across the board for Altria, BAT, Imperial and Juul, while all Sales of other manufacturers have generally slowed in recent times."
David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and author of several studies on e-cigarettes and health, said the decline in cigarette sales continues at a strong pace.
"However, as Altria's performance and Barclays recently highlighted, this was largely due to migration across industries," Swino said.
"People are moving to far lower-risk options. But disposable vaping products appear to be the biggest factor in this migration right now."
TD Cowen analyst Vivian Azer said consumers' response to cigarettes "continues to be positive for Imperial Tobacco's share price trends due to price cuts and deep discounts."
