Vaping in France: 820 million euros in 2018, 20% of which was sold in tobacconist shops
A new study on the vaping market recently appeared in the specialist magazine Le Losange. Alexandre Masure, an experienced and well-versed research director at Xerfi, wanted to get an idea of the past, present, and future of the vaping market.
While he has noticed a drop in the number of specialty shops in the past few years, he is expecting this number to rise between now and 2023, especially as independent stores and major franchises begin to merge (currently only 40% are franchised).
Tobacconists have not been left out, however, and while specialty shops take in approximately 55% of the market, 20% of the revenue goes back to tobacconists. Indeed, this number may increase in the future. Despite the Internet’s seeming chokehold on the market, it only controls a small quarter of the market, mainly catering to experienced vaping enthusiasts. First-time buyers tend to go through physical locations for their initial purchase, which makes sense: 2,763 of these shops existed in July 2018, and only 37 have closed down since. This is compared to 2780 closings in 2014, which is more than the total number of shops currently in existence!
France, the third biggest vaping market in the world
Taking into consideration all of the world’s vaping markets, France is the third largest after the USA and the United Kingdom, with profits rising to 820 million Euros in 2018. The analyst has predicted an increase to 1.2 billion Euros by 2012, with a projected growth rate of 15-20% per year. In fact, 8 million smokers who have never tried vaping are prospective clients, and 60% of people who pick up vaping stop smoking entirely. The initial investment cost for a first-time vaper is similar to a carton of cigarettes: approximately 80 Euros, for a monthly budget of approximately 45 Euros.
Tobacconists are late to the party
To answer the question, “Why haven’t tobacconists take advantage of the vaping craze?” Alexandre Masure suggests that the initial mistrust of the vaping market was coupled with a fear of losing money. Unfortunately, this was enough to prevent many tobacconists from investing. However, some tobacconists were shrewd enough to see vaping as an opportunity, and the expert at Xerfi has a new message for tobacconists: forget about the “medical” aspect of vaping. Nobody in their right mind would argue that tobacconists are primarily interested in health concerns, so why not instead focus on the numerous social, technological, and economic positives associated with vaping?
